In 1941, the Los Angeles Negro Victory Committee was formed to protest racial discrimination in businesses through the city. These industries barred black worked workers. The Committee was organized by Reverend Clayton Russell and Charlotta Bass. The two gathered influential black leaders to help create the organization.

Clayton D. Russell was an influential religious and political leader in the black community during the mid-twentieth century. For much of his life, he was associated with the People’s Independent Church of Christ, one of the largest congregations in Los Angeles. Charlotta Bass was a publisher of the California Eagle, the largest African American newspaper in the state.

The Committee initially sought to gain employment in defense industries that discriminated against black workers prior to and during the early years of World War II. They were one of many organizations throughout the country to galvanize around the “Double V” campaign to fight both international and domestic racism.

The group met on numerous occasions to protest discriminatory practices. The group organized to locate defense industry job training centers in Watts, hire black conductors and locomotive drivers on the Los Angeles Railway (LARY) and challenged exclusion and racism in the armed forces and labor unions. By the end of World War II, the Los Angeles Negro Victory Committee had faded.

sources:

http://archives.nypl.org/scm/20648