The Double V at International City Theatre

International City Theatre will present The Double V, a historical drama by Carole Eglash-Kosoff about the first Black civil rights movement in the U.S. Michael A. Shepperd directs the limited, three-week run August 23 through September 8 at ICT’s home in the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, with two low-priced previews on August 21 and August 22.

In 1942, his attempt to enlist in the army rejected because of his color, 26-year-old James G. Thompson of Wichita, Kansas wrote a letter to the editor of The Pittsburgh Courier, at the time the most highly circulated Black newspaper with a readership of over 350,000. “Should I sacrifice my life to live half American?” he asked… leading the Courier to kick off the “Double V” campaign. Building on the popular “V for Victory” slogan that called for triumph in the war, the super-imposed, second “V” called for victory in the fight for racial equality — in the army, the navy, and in all aspects of segregated daily life. Other Black newspapers, including the Chicago Defender and the Amsterdam Star-News, soon took up the call. Under pressure from the campaign, and against the advice of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, the U.S. was forced to adopt a policy of “proportional representation” that allowed Black Americans to participate in the military in direct proportion to their percentage of the population.