Documenting African American Migration, Segregation, and Civil Rights History at Manhattan Project National Historical Park, Hanford

Project ID: P17AC01288

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Partner Institution: Washington State University

Fiscal Year: 2017

Initial Funding: $73,065

Total Funding: $73,065

Project Type: Research

Project Disciplines: Cultural

National Park: Manhattan Project National Historic Park

Principal Investigator: Mays, Michael

Agreement Technical Representative: Jackson-Retondo, Elaine

Abstract: A. Background

Manhattan Project National Historical Park (MAPR) was established in 2015 to preserve, interpret, and enhance public access to nationally significant resources associated with the Manhattan Project. The park is managed through an agreement between the NPS and the Department of Energy (DOE) and is comprised of three units located at Hanford Washington, Oak Ridge Tennessee, and Los Alamos New Mexico. Together, the units help tell stories about the people, places, events, and developments in science and engineering that contributed to the creation of the atomic bomb. The Hanford Engineer Works (also known as the Hanford Nuclear Reservation or Hanford site) is significant as the site where the plutonium used in the first atomic bombs was manufactured. Early park planning efforts have also focused on the stories of Native tribes and rural communities displaced to make way for the facility, and of the new communities formed in connection with the construction and operation of the site. This emphasis on the experiences of workers and area residents aligns with a broader NPS goal to recognize previously untold or lesser-known stories associated with new and existing park units. These include stories related to the struggles of diverse groups to gain equal rights.

This project addresses a specific need for additional research and documentation of the history and legacy of the thousands of African Americans recruited from the South to work at Hanford during the Manhattan Project and after World War II. Through archival research, oral histories, and the production of a professional publishable essay with accompanying online content, the project will help enhance public understanding of Hanford’s role in the history of African American migration to the Pacific Northwest and its significance as a site of early civil rights activism in the region. Additional research themes include the push and pull factors prompting the workers and their families to migrate, their contributions to the construction and operation of the site, their responses to segregation in the workplace and the community, their reactions to learning that their work contributed to the development of the atomic bomb, and their continuing engagement with civil rights issues at Hanford and other places in the Pacific Northwest after the war.

The project will be carried out by staff of the Hanford History Project (HHP) at WSU Tri-Cities in collaboration with NPS Pacific West Regional Office staff. It will build on a series of ongoing WSU-based partnership projects documenting the stories of the diverse people and places affected by the construction and operation of the Hanford site. The project will involve developing a scope of work, reviewing relevant literature, conducting archival research, identifying oral history narrators, conducting oral histories according to professional and NPS standards, and preparing and presenting the results. It will also involve collaboration with partner organizations including, but not limited to, the Northwest African American Museum, the African American Community Cultural & Educational Society, the Black Heritage Society of Washington State, and the University of Washington to identify research themes, determine the locations and accessibility of relevant collections, and identify and contact oral history narrators.

The results will include a professional quality essay to submit for publication in an appropriate peer reviewed journal, a bibliography of primary and secondary sources, and a collection of new oral histories. The oral histories will be transcribed, edited, archived, and made available through a WSU hosted website. They will also be shared with DOE and linked to the MAPR website along with the bibliography, historic images, and other selected digitized materials. This will ensure that the results of the project are readily available to the public.

B. Objectives

Investigators from WSU and NPS staff will collaborate to accomplish the following specific objectives.

1. Build on existing scholarship and public history projects to further document the African American experience at Hanford and explore its links to the broader national history of African American migration, labor, community building, and civil rights during and after World War II.

2. Document the contributions of African American workers to the construction and operation of the Hanford Engineer Works and identify resources within the Hanford unit of MAPR that can help provide a better understanding of the African American experience.

3. Strengthen collaboration between the NPS and partners including academic institutions, museums, and community organizations to ensure that diverse voices and experiences are represented in the early stages of park planning for MAPR as a new unit of the national park system.

4. Help ensure that the local, regional, and national significance of the African American experience at Hanford is recognized in the process of developing cultural resource documentation, management, and interpretation plans for the park.

C. Public Purpose

This project will generate new information and contribute to further understanding of the role of the Hanford Engineer Works in the history of African American migration to the Pacific Northwest and its significance as a site of early civil rights activism in the region. By making the results directly available to the public through the online component, the project will promote greater awareness and understanding of the contributions that African American workers made to the construction and operation of the Hanford site, their responses to segregation in the workplace and the community, their reactions to learning that their work contributed to the development of the atomic bomb, and their continuing engagement with civil rights issues at Hanford and other places in the Pacific Northwest after the war. The story of the African American experience at Hanford can also be integrated into interpretive programs and other media. The oral history component is especially important in providing an opportunity to record the personal stories of individuals directly associated with the site’s history, and to make those stories accessible to the public. The project will provide for continuing engagement with African American community members and organizations in Central Washington and across the Pacific Northwest to ensure recognition of their historical connections to Hanford and to promote collaboration in the development of cultural resource programs at the park. The final essay and bibliography will ensure that information collected during the research and oral history components will also inform academic interpretations of the role of the Manhattan project in the history of African American migration, civil rights activism, and community formation during and after World War II.