The African American Tree Troopers
African American Enrollees and the CCC on the Columbia National Forest
Urban Youth Experience Life in the Northwest Forests
Between 1933 and 1942, in the midst of the Great Depression, more than three million young men throughout the United States enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Approximately 250,000 of these young enrollees were African Americans. Most CCC enrollees served in work camps far from home, in remote locations where conditions were quite unlike anything they had known. Urban youth – Black and White - found themselves learning new skills working side-by-side as "tree troopers" in the great forests of the Pacific Northwest.
Imagine moving from the Chicago's south side to a tent camp high in the Cascade Mountains. Enrollees experienced an entirely new and different world when they arrived at camps located in and adjacent to the National Forests of Washington and Oregon. Among these earliest recruits were the first African Americans to become involved in forest conservation work in the Pacific Northwest region.
The young men performed "emergency conservation work" including reforestation, trail construction, building fences, bridges and roads, firefighting, and fire prevention. Across the country, the daily routine for enrollees and the basic structure and organization of the CCC camps were similar.
The administration's quota for African American enrollment was 10% of the overall CCC membership, a figure that approximated their proportion in the U.S. population. Integrated companies from the Chicago area occupied some of the first CCC camps established in the Pacific Northwest in 1933. In 1935 the policy on integration was changed, and segregated camps were established in eastern and southern states.
The Columbia National Forest
Legislation creating the CCC was enacted in March 1933. By May, the first companies of enrollees had arrived on the doorstep of the Columbia (now Gifford Pinchot) National Forest. They included Co. 6O2, assigned to Twin Buttes CCC Camp; Co. 603, assigned to Siouxon CCC Camp; Co. 604, assigned to Peterson Prairie CCC Camp; and Co. 605, assigned to Lookout Mountain CCC Camp. All four companies were organized at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, with most recruits coming from the city of Chicago and surrounding Cook County. A smaller percentage of local Washington enrollees were added to each company once they arrived in the Northwest. Fourteen other companies from the Chicago area went to locations on the Mt. Hood National Forest, Willamette National Forest, and Columbia River Gorge area.
Three of the first CCC companies sent to the Columbia National Forest included African American enrollees. Summary rosters list 173 "White" and 11 "Colored" enrollees in Co. 602; 188 “White” and 4 "Colored" enrollees in Co. 604; and 175 "White" and 3 "Colored" enrollees in Co. 605. The company assigned to Camp Washougal, located outside the National Forest, included 24 African American enrollees. While African Americans remained a minority in the most Northwest camps, Forest Service records indicate that two of the 18 companies dispatched from Illinois were "solid Negro companies."
In Chicago, agents of the Illinois Emergency Relief Commission selected young men between the ages of 18 and 25 for CCC placement. Selection was based on need, as determined by the unemployment relief office. When enrollment began in early April of 1933, the Chicago Defender, an African American newspaper, reported,
"Although no color line has been drawn by the Chicago relief agents in the selection of the men for these jobs, it has been reported that young men of the Race have been indifferent and reluctant to make trips to camp."
Reluctance may have been due to rumors that the CCC companies would be sent to Mississippi and other parts of the South. Several highly publicized incidents of racial violence during the winter of 1932-33 were still fresh in the minds of most African Americans. The Defender tried to dispel the rumors and reported that the Chicago enrollees would be assigned to more local areas "and other northern centers."
Approximately 400 African Americans from Illinois signed up in spring of 1933. Enrollment was for a period of six months. Once enrolled, Chicago area recruits spent two weeks at Fort Sheridan for conditioning training under Army personnel. One member of Co. 604 recalled that enrollees were issued surplus World War I Army uniforms, lived in Army tents, and were taught close order formation drills by their officers. In late May, several trainloads of CCC enrollees, accompanied by officers and enlisted men from Fort Sheridan, made the five-day journey to Vancouver, Washington, and were dispatched by truck from Vancouver Barracks to the Columbia National Forest.
Members of Co. 604 arrived at Guler (Trout Lake), Washington and discovered that Peterson Prairie, the site of their assigned camp, was still under snow. They established a makeshift tent camp along Trout Lake Creek, near the Mt. Adams Ranger Station. While waiting for the snow to melt, company members constructed the rock wall that can be seen today near the front of the station. Companies 602 and 605 were also delayed in reaching their assigned camp locations due to persistent snow.
Advance parties from each of the companies established facilities at each of the camp locations. When finally occupied, the camps included rows of Army tents and several portable buildings, including a mess hall and officers’ quarters. Eight men shared each tent, sleeping on cots.
While the Army handled administration of the camps, Forest Service foremen supervised the enrollees' work. Members of Co. 602 and Co. 604 built roads, fire trails, fire breaks, and installed telephone lines through the forest. The young men were also trained to fight forest fires. Co. 605 was stationed in the heart of the Yacolt Bum, a ghost forest of dead snags left from a major forest fire in 1902. The work emphasis for this company was reforestation. Thousands of young trees were planted by Co. 605 to create a new forest in the old bum.
In September 1933, most of the Chicago enrollees returned to home for discharge from the CCC. The Twin Buttes, Peterson, and Lookout Mountain CCC Camps were closed for the winter. The following spring new companies were organized to occupy these camps. Only one of these, Co. 945, included African American recruits. Co. 945 was organized at Vancouver Barracks, in Washington, and in late May 1934, moved to Twin Buttes Camp. One of their chief accomplishments during the summer of 1934 was the construction of a road connecting the Lewis River area to the Cispus River Valley. Company 945 returned to Twin Buttes in 1935.
According to Ben Marshall, one of the enrollees, the company was made up entirely of young men from Washington. The sole African American enrollee in the company was from Kelso, in Cowlitz County.
In the 1930s, with tension made worse by the effects of the Great Depression. Local complaints, most prevalent in the South, and the conflicting views of Army and CCC administrators, led ultimately to the end of an integrated CCC. In July 1935, CCC Director Robert Fechner issued a directive ordering the "complete segregation of colored and white enrollees" in the CCC. Defending his action to the U.S. Senate, Fechner said, "Whether we like it or not, we cannot close our eyes to the fact that there are communities and States that do not and will not accept a Negro Civilian Conservation Corps Company." New camps were built to accommodate African American companies.
Leaders in the African American community, including the president of the NAACP, charged Fechner and the CCC administration with discrimination. Fechner continued to defend segregation as the best policy, stating that, " ... the negro enrollees themselves prefer to be in companies composed of their own race." From late 1935 to June 1942, when the CCC was disbanded, segregation remained the policy in company and camp organization.
In the Pacific Northwest, there had been few, if any complaints about racial integration of the camps, but racial stereotypes and prejudices did occur. District Forester C.J. Buck, writing from his Portland office, noted, "We have lots of Illinois companies... two [camps] of solid negro companies. Fear they won't be very good on fire suppression. " Camp Washougal, in Skamania County, was an integrated camp, with 24 African-American enrollees. According to the Army commander of the camp, these men slept in separate tents from white enrollees, but ate, worked, and played with other enrollees "on common terms." The commander admitted he had been opposed at first to the idea of an integrated camp, but later reported somewhat condescendingly that the "experiment" was successful, "as the colored boys, ... with their carefree good nature, contributed a lot to the fun and amusement of the company."
At the ground level, in the integrated camps on the Columbia National Forest, enrollees - black and white - shared tents, meals, and work assignments without complaint (except about the mosquitoes or the rain). But among white enrollees, and America in general, condescending attitudes persisted. Racially oriented jokes were commonplace in CCC camp newspapers, and some of what passed for entertainment in the 1930's would be considered inappropriate and demeaning today. One local newspaper reported "CCC Boys Give Fine Negro Show," describing a 1938 community performance by (white) enrollees of Co. 5481: "The boys put on a negro show with a number of jokes and stories in a truly southern manner…”
Despite these prevailing attitudes, the CCC experience was largely a positive one for most African American enrollees. One New York man, discharged from an integrated company in 1935, summed up his experiences by saying, "On the whole, I was gratified rather than disappointed with the CCC. I had expected the worst. . . But as a job and an experience, for a man who has no work, I can heartily recommend it." Money sent home by the enrollees assisted families that had been hard-hit by the Depression. Enrollees were provided with new job skills and educational opportunities. Considerable accomplishments had been made in the restoration, protection, and conservation of the nation's natural resources.
After 1935, there were no African Americans in CCC companies assigned to the Columbia National Forest. All-Negro camps were located in other parts of the country. By 1941, 250,000 African Americans had served in the CCC. Their legacy remains in the roads, campgrounds, trails, park facilities, and forests we enjoy today on public lands throughout the country.
- Prepared by the Heritage Program, Gifford Pinchot National Forest, with contributions by Melissa Williams, Judy Maule, Cheryl Mack, and Rick McClure, February 2002. Research was made possible by a grant from the Civil Rights Office, USDA Forest Service, Washington, D.C.
More information:
- https://livingnewdeal.org/tag/racial-segregation-in-the-ccc/
- https://ccclegacy.org/about_us.html
- http://www.justinmuseum.com/famjustin/ccchis.html