Content note: A Black factory worker is shown being invited in by Uncle Sam, with the source's period term 'Negro' in the quoted news item. This object is shown as it was published. Why
"He's willing, he's capable, and we need him - use him!!"
A pencil cartoon shows a Black factory worker in overalls holding a wrench, standing at an open door before a smoking plant, while a figure in a coat marked 'US' on its tails, evidently Uncle Sam, gestures him in toward a white-collar man at right. A quoted news item reports war agencies urging wider use of Black workers. The tell is transfer: Uncle Sam's authority is lent to an employment appeal addressed to employers.
Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Office of War Information (cartoon artwork; artist Charles Alston)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- War and the military, Labor, Race and ethnicity
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 208, Artworks and Mockups for Cartoons (NAID 535594), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Office of War Information. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 208, 208-COM-13 (NAID 535607).
Text on the object
"NATIONAL WAR AGENCIES, ARMY AND NAVY DEPARTMENTS URGE MORE EXTENSIVE USE OF NEGRO WORKERS IN WAR INDUSTRIES"...... NEWS ITEM "HE'S WILLING, HE'S CAPABLE, AND WE NEED HIM -- USE HIM!!" Alston
