Life on the Home Front during World War II

Transcription

1 Name Life on the Home Front during World War II Station # 1: Experiences of Women During World War II 1) Created a list of THREE different things women did on the home front to help in the war effort? 2) What was the purpose of Rosie the Riveter? 3) How many women were employed in 1941? By March 1944, how many women left the labor force? Station # 2: Experiences of African Americans during World War II 1) List TWO ways World War II effected African Americans. 2) How was the military segregated? Give at least ONE specific example. 3) Who were the Tuskegee Airmen?

2 4) What role did Native Americans play in the war? 5) Why did race riots occur in places like Detroit, Michigan? Station #3: Rationing During World War II 1) Why was rationing used during World War II? 2) List THREE items that were scarce during the war. 3) What was a rationing book and its stamps used for? Station #4: Japanese Americans & Korematsu v. United States 1) What was Executive Order # 9066? 2) How many Japanese were ordered into internment camps? 3) In 2-3 sentences, briefly describe the internment camps. 4) What happened in the Supreme Court case Korematsu vs. United States? What was the ruling? 5) Read Marielle Tsukamoto s first-hand account. What was his saddest memory?

3 Station #5: Advertisements during World War II Examine 4 slides of advertisements and summarize the main idea for each slide in the chart below. Slide # Subject of Advertisements What is the message and purpose of the advertisements?

4 Japanese Americans During World War II STATION 4

5 History of the Japanese in the U.S. Late 1800s: Pacific to Hawaii to the U.S. for land and work STATION 4 Discrimination: illegal for first generation Japanese- Americans to own land, farm, or grocery store 1924: Japanese immigration halted Executive Order # 9066 issued by FDR, February 1942, ordered the removal of 120,000 civilians of Japanese ancestry, including 71,000 American citizens, from the western United States, placing them in internment camps. 70,000 were U.S. citizens. Called the greatest civil rights violation in U.S. History 1988: Reparations paid to internment survivors

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12 Station 5 Advertisements STATION 5

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16 STATION 2 African Americans and the War The war also had a profound social impact on African Americans. Many joined the military and saw other parts of the country and the world for the first time. The demand for labor in northern and western industrial cities also prompted more than 5 million blacks to move out of the agricultural South and to the cities during the 1940s. A Segregated Army Although basic training promoted unity, most units were segregated. White recruits did not train alongside African American recruits. African Americans had segregated barracks, mess halls, latrines, and recreational facilities. African Americans were organized into their own military units, but white officers general commanded them. Most military leaders wanted to keep African Americans soldiers out of combat and assigned them to construction and supply units. Some African Americans did not support the war. As one student at a black college wrote, The army Jim crow is us Employers and labor unions shut us out. Lynchings continue. We are disenfranchised.

17 AFRICAN AMERICANS IN COMBAT STATION 2 Under pressure from African American leaders, President Roosevelt ordered the army, air force, navy, and marines to recruit African Americans and he told the army to put African Americans into combat. He also promised Colonial Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. the highest ranking African American officer, to the rank of brigade general. One million African Americans served in the U.S. military during World War II. Most served in segregated units due to a military policy that remained largely intact throughout the war. The Red Cross even maintained separate blood supplies for whites and blacks. In 1940, however, the government ended segregation in all officer candidate schools except for those training air cadets. About 600 black pilots received their training at a special military flight school established at Tuskegee, Alabama. Many of these Tuskegee Airmen went on to serve in decorated combat units.

18 STATION 2 The above poster is of Dorie Miller, who died in World War II. Here is what it says about him in Portrait of a Nation Men and Women Who Have Shaped America: At the outbreak of World War II, the armed services practiced a rigid discrimination against African Americans that included a stubborn reluctance to acknowledge black capabilities, no matter how obvious. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Miller was stationed there on the West Virginia. By the time he abandoned ship, he had braved enemy fire to carry his wounded commanding officer to safety and, thought not trained for combat, had manned an antiaircraft gin, possibly downing at least one enemy plane. His bravery initially went unrecognized, however, and only after much pressure from the nation s black press did Miller finally receive the Navy Cross. But once acknowledged, Miller s heroism became a means, through posters such as this one, for rallying African-Americans to the war effort.

19 AFRICAN-AMERICAN EMPLOYMENT STATION 2 In 1941, A. Philip Randolph, the head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, announced plans for a massive March on Washington. This march was to demand that the government require defense contractors to integrate their workforce and open more skilled-labor jobs to African Americans. Afraid of racial violence, Roosevelt convinced Randolph to cancel the march in exchange for creating the Fair Employment Practices Commission. During the war, the commission helped reduce black unemployment by 80 percent.

20 NATIVE AMERICANS AND THE WAR STATION 2 More than 25,000 Native Americans served in uniform during World War II, often in integrated units. Some of the most famous were the Native American Code-talkers who used their native languages to encode important military messages. Many Native Americans also worked as laborers alongside whites in various war industries. Those who left their reservations for military service or war work acquired new skills, came into close contact with whites for the first time, and discovered new opportunities in American society.

21 STATION RACE RIOTS 2 The influx of African Americans into the workforce and cities, combined with growing demands for equal rights, created serious tensions with white Americans. During 1943, 242 separate incidents of racial violence occurred in forty-seven different American cities, the most serious being the Detroit Race Riots, in which twenty-five African Americans and nine whites died.

22 World War II poster detailing how those at home -- especially women -- could work for victory overseas by efforts at home Poster artist: Francis Criss. STATION 1

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24 WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE STATION 1 At the height of the war, there were 19,170,000 women in the labor force. Between 1940 and 1945, the female labor force grew by 50 percent. One in ten married women entered the labor force. The percentage of working women with children under 10 years of age increased from 7.8 to 12.1 from 1940 to At the height of the war, women comprised 4 percent of skilled workers. In 1944, skilled female workers made an average weekly wage of $31.21 while skilled male workers made $54.65 weekly From 1940 to 1944, the percentage of women workers employed in factories increased from 20 to 30 percent. From 1940 to 1944, the percentage of women workers employed as domestic servants declined from 17.7 to 9.5 percent. Female employment in defense industries grew by 462 percent from 1940 to Between 1943 and 1945, polls indicated that 61 to 85 percent of women workers wanted to keep their jobs after the war. Source: Susan M. Hartmann, The Home Front and Beyond: American Women in the 1940s (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1982).

25 Who was rosie the riveter? When the United States entered the Second World War, "Rosie the Riveter" became the symbol for women workers in the American defense industries. The diversion of men from the labor pool into the military, as well as the increased production needed to support the war effort, prompted the federal War Manpower Commission and the Office of War Information to undertake a nationwide campaign to recruit women into the labor force. From 1940 to 1945, the number of female workers rose by 50 percent, from 12 million to 18 million. In 1940, women constituted 8 percent of total workers employed in the production of durable goods. By 1945, this number increased to 25 percent. During the war years, women became streetcar conductors, taxicab drivers, business managers, commercial airline checkers, aerodynamic engineers, and railroad workers. Women operated machinery, streetcars, buses, cranes, and tractors. They unloaded freight, built dirigibles and gliders, worked in lumber mills and steel mills, and made munitions. In essence, women occupied STATION 1

26 PROPAGANDA AND WORKING WOMEN STATION 1 The government s war time efforts to recruit women had several themes, the main one being patriotism. The campaigns told women that the war would end sooner if more women worked. Women were also warned that if they did not work then a soldier would die, people would call them slackers, and they were equivalent to men who avoided the draft (Rupp 96). Women who took war jobs were praised. Another propaganda theme was high pay. The government cautioned, though, that wages should not be overemphasized or women might spend too much and cause inflation (Rupp 96). The government s propaganda also called on husbands to encourage their wives to take jobs. It emphasized that it would not reflect poorly on the husbands and their ability to support their families if their wives worked (Rupp 96). The campaigns told men that they should feel pride when their wives took a job much the same way that they felt pride when their sons enlisted. This campaign was based on the assumption that women did not work because of their husbands objections (Rupp 153). The propaganda campaigns used during the war never had any intention of bringing about permanent changes in women s place in society. Rather, the government used them to fill temporary labor shortages with women workers.

27 Images from the collection of The Virtual Motor City: (c) 2003 Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University. All images associated with the Virtual Motor City Collection are protected by United States copyright law. Duplication or sale of all or part of any of the data or images is not permitted without consent of the STATION 1 Women welders at the Landers, Frary, and Clark plant, New Britain, Conn. osi.html#black Ida Laktos working at a milling machine in a Cadillac plant, September, 1942.

28 STATION 1 MOVEMENT OF WOMEN INTO AND OUT OF THE LABOR FORCE, PERIOD OF EMPLOYMENT NUMBER OF WOMEN Employed Dec ,090,000 Not in Labor Force 33,260,000 Entered Labor Force, Dec March ,000 Employed March ,480,000 Stayed in Labor Force, Dec March ,230,000 Left Labor Force, Dec March ,180,000 Source: C.W. Gregory, Women in Defense Work During World War II

29 World War II poster promoting home gardens and home canning to save money and to free food production for the military Artist: Al Parker. STATION 1

30 World War II poster showing a way that women can help win the war by carrying their groceries and packages Artist: Valentino Sarra. STATION 1

31 STATION 1 Production. B-17 heavy bomber. A woman riveter at the Boeing plant in Seattle attaches a sheet of the gleaming outer covering of a fuselage section for a new B-17F (Flying Fortress) bomber. The Flying Fortress has performed with great credit in the South Pacific, over Germany and elsewhere. It is a four-engine heavy bomber capable of flying at high altitudes Part of: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)

32 STATION 1 TITLE: The more women at work the sooner we win! Women are needed also as: farm workers, typists, salespeople, waitresses, bus drivers... : see your local U.S. Employment Service. SUMMARY: Reproduction of photo of woman working with her head and shoulders through the bombadier nose section of a B-17F navy bomber. ISSUED BY: Office of War Information. Division of Public Inquiries. DATE: 1943 (

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34 Rationing During World War II STATION 3 What was Rationing? Rationing was a system that provided everyone with the same amount of scarce goods. The system was designed to keep prices low and to make sure people had what they needed. Some things were scarce because they were needed to supply the military - gas, oil, metal, meat and other foods, for example. Some things were scarce because they normally were imported from countries with whom we were at war or because they had to be brought in by ship from foreign places. Sugar and coffee were very scarce. They didn't make Coca-Cola during the war because sugar was so scarce. Other things disappeared entirely as well, like silk stockings. New things were made of wood instead of metal or rubber. But rationing made sure no one went hungry. Everyone was given a ration book. Each book had a bunch of ration stamps in it. Grocers and other business people would post what your ration stamps could buy that week. It was up to you to decide how to spend your stamps.

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39 STATION Ration books became a way of life for everyone at home during World War II. 3 Ration books were about the size of a postcard. Each one was filled with ration stamps. Ration stamps themselves were very small. It would take two ration stamps to be about the same size as a modern 32 cents postage stamp. Although tiny in size, ration stamps packed a whollop. You had to have ration stamps to buy things at the store. It still cost money, but you couldn't even buy it unless you had stamps. The instructions on the back of the booklet read: 1. This book is valuable. Don't lose it. 2. Each stamp authorizes you to purchase rationed goods in the quantities and at the times designated by the Office of Price Administration. Without the stamps you will be unable to purchase these goods. 3. Detailed instructions concerning the use of the book and the stamps will be issued. Watch for those instructions so that you will know how to use your book and stamps. Your Local War Price and Rationing Board can give you full information. 4. Do not throw this book away when all of the stamps have been used, or when the time for their use has expired. You may be required to present this book when you apply for subsequent books. 5. Rationing is a vital part of your country's war effort. Any attempt to violate the rules is an effort to deny someone his share and will create hardship and help the enemy. 6. This book is your Government's assurance of your right to buy your share of certain goods made scarce by war. Price ceilings have also been established for your protection. Dealers must post these prices conspicuously. Don't pay more. 7. Give your whole support to rationing and thereby conserve our vital goods. Be guided by the rule: "If you don't need it, DON'T BUY IT." - U.S. Government Printing Office 1943.

40 STATION 3 War Ration Book One with stamps, front (#1) and stamps (#2). Donated by Mary Lucille Hargrove, accession 235. Mary was a riveter at the Fort Motor Co. in Ypsilanti, MI for 1 year. Size of closed book: 4 x5. Source: