Therefore, the CIO espoused a non-discriminatory policy and became the first union to admit blacks under the same conditions as whites: "There were no constitutional bars, no segregation of blacks into separate locals, no Jim Crow rituals" (Foner, 1974, p. 216). At the CIO's first constitutional convention in 1938, its membership unanimously resolved to endorse voting rights for blacks in the South and further adopted a resolution to initiate an intensive organizing campaign in that part of the country. In the South, CIO organizers routinely faced vicious opposition from white supremacists, including the Ku Klux Klan.
Foner (1974) contends that the CIO made definite gains for black workers. Due to CIO organizing activity, black membership in unions increased fivefold during the decade between 1930 and 1940 (Foner, 1974, p. 231). Union membership meant economic advancement for a significant number of blacks: "The CIO's organizing campaigns in many industries brought higher incomes, better working conditions, and some measure of job security for hundreds of thousands of black workers" (p. 232). Foner (1974) concedes, however, that the immediate effects of the CIO were felt mainly by blacks who were already employed because the unions did little to rectify the discriminatory employment practices of major industries such as General Motors. Consequently, Jim Crow policies continued to thwart the advancement of blacks to higher-level positions. Still, black leaders during the early years of the CIO heaped praise upon the organization for its efforts in aiding the black worker's struggle for equality: "The program of the CIO has become a Bill of Rights for Negro labor in America" (p. 237).
Goldfield (1993) agrees with Foner (1974) that the CIO made significant strides in the black workers' quest for egalitarianism during the 1930s and 1940s. An example of such racial solidarity is the Steel Workers' Organizing Committee (...