Could a black man be a CIA agent in the '30s?

Pier 1981

New member
In the Indy RPG of my site, I'm carrying on a story that involves the CIA. The players encounter an agent, that I described as "...a strong black man...".

Well, yesterday one of the players make me notice that is pretty strange that a black man could be a part of the secret services in the middle of the 1930s...what do u think about this?
 

Finn

Moderator
Staff member
Definately not. Not even a white man... CIA was found after the WW II... in 1946!

It's predecessor was OSS, and about that... well... I really don't know. Unlikely.
 

DaBrode

New member
no. My buddy Fred is a black man and can't even get a job today as a graphic designer. CIA, 1930's, African American, America's poor history of racial acceptance...doesn't add up bro. Try making him greek, or maybe native American, although thats far from credible too now that I think of it.
 

Kumba

Guest
Definetly not possible; if they weren't allowed to vote then they sure as hell weren't allowed to be part of the OSS. As for other government jobs, I'm not quite sure.
 

Felix Underhill

New member
In the 1930's, both black men and women could vote. The 15th amendment (1870) and 19th amendment (1920) had been around for a while at that point. As far as a black man working in OSS, I'm not sure. Btw, OSS was officially created on 13 June 1942. If you're interested in more information, check here:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/oss/ .

Felix

[Edited by Felix Underhill on 06-25-2003 at 09:12 pm]
 

Kumba

Guest
Are you sure? For some reason I was always under the impression that women couldn't vote until the 70s or something, and black men couldn't vote until after WWII.
 
Haven't any of you guys read Rudyard Kiplling's "Kim"?

The best spies come from unexpected or unnoteworthy backgrounds.

A spy in subSaharan Africa would likely to have been black. A spy in the Caribbean would likely be black. You pick spies who fit in to their environments easily. I can imagine a spy in Liberia not being black.

Blacks were in the Armed Forces (though in at least the Navy they did far better before WWI). The Navy had a famous deep sea diver, "Dick" Turpin (look him up on a websearch). Jim Crow came after the great migration north for jobs in the industrial cities. That was when discrimination set in, in both the North and South.

The OSS came in 1942. The CIA in 1946. Lincoln had his secret service and the Pinkertons. In the '20's much of international intelligence was either done directly for the President or by intelligence officers in the armed forces, primarily the Navy and Marines.
 

Patrick

New member
Well, Heat of the Night( a movie) was a story of a well educated cop in the '60s. I think it was true it just matters depending from which state this guy was in and from
and if he was good at the job I think. Also this isn't really important but there was a black regiment for the union (maybe you've seen a movie about it. It's called "The Glory" if you want to rent it or something)
 
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