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Construction

The Pentagon was designed in accordance with the racial segregation laws in force in the state of Virginia at the time, with separate eating and lavatory accommodations for white and black persons. While the sets of lavatories were side by side, the dining areas for blacks were located in the basement. The Pentagon's cafeteria was segregated by race until May 1942 when Black ordnance worker Jimmy Harold, a draftsman and engineer, refused to eat in the Blacks-only cafeteria at the Pentagon. He and a number of other black workers continued to eat in the whites only cafeteria for several days until things turned violent as Jimmy Harold was beaten by a white security guard. Judge William Hastie, the Black civilian aide to Secretary of War Stimson, soon learned of the incident and was able to get an investigation authorized. Upon hearing about this general Brehon B. Somervell ordered for there to be "discontinuance of any enforced segregation of negro employees in the cafeterias in the Pentagon building." When Roosevelt visited the facility before its dedication, he ordered removal of the "Whites Only" signs in segregated areas. When the Governor of Virginia protested, Roosevelt's administration responded that the Pentagon, although on Virginia land, was under federal jurisdiction. In addition, its military and civilian federal employees were going to comply with the President's policies. As a result, the Pentagon was the only building in Virginia where racial segregation laws were not enforced (these laws were not overturned until 1965). The side-by-side sets of restrooms still exist, but have been integrated in practice since the building was occupied.