USA Homefront Women

Create a Chart

Latinos Japanese American African American Navajo (Native Americans) After War?

U.S. Home front

Rationing of war supplies Buying Liberty bonds to help finance the war

Women and Minorities in WWII

   Following the United States' entry into World War II, women filled male jobs left vacant by those who had gone off to fight. Helped in the production of military hardware . women who wore hard-hats and overalls and operated heavy machinery represented a radical departure from the traditional American feminine ideal of housewife and mother.

"Do the Job He Left Behind" was a campaign slogan that emphasized women’s patriotism for the war effort. Norman Rockwell portrayed Rosie as a monumental figure clad in overalls and a work-shirt with the sleeves rolled up to reveal her powerful, muscular arms

The entire country pulled together to support the war effort and build the "Arsenal of Democracy."

Rose Will Monroe, riveter at the Ford Willow Run airplane factory, became a "Rosie the Riveter" icon by starring in a film campaign to increase the sale of war bonds.

Women Produced Wartime goods

Millions of women nationwide support their families.

joined the work force both as a matter of patriotic duty and to

Rosies worked on all phases of manufacturing, from electrical wiring to putting the finishing touches on a bomber.

The government attempted to alleviate some of this stress between two demands--country and home--by creating federally funded daycare centers . There were about 130,000 children in over 3,000 daycare centers at the height of the War

Nurses in the army

WWII Women •(+) 250,000 women joined the military/ Wacs & Waves •(+) 6 million women joined the workforce “Rosie the Riveter” •(+) 3 million women joined labor unions •(-)

Government Girls

•(-) Work still categorized by gender and race •(-) Women pilots not considered as vets •(-) Lack of day care facilities led to Latch-Key Children •(-) Increased divorce rate

Did women stay in the workforce??

    Soldiers began returning home and they wanted their jobs back. By late 1944, magazines were advertising "after victory" homes, hoping to promote women’s return to their previous role as homemaker. Some women, who needed to work in order to survive, were forced back into lower-paying jobs consisting mostly of the stereotypical female occupations. The labor division between men and women was never totally eliminated, and attitudes returned to their original position that women’s first priority should be as homemakers.

The reversed strategy was to push the women back into the home with promise of new and wonderful consumer goods to make their housewife role easier and to ensure that their real happiness was in caring for their men and children



Imagine you are living in the United States during World War II. The United States government feels that your ethnic group is a threat to national security. The president issues an order that states, “If you are of Japanese ancestry, you must report to a ‘relocation camp’ with only the belongings you can carry.” You can no longer report to your job, attend school, or worship at your usual place of worship. You are given a place to sleep in a barracks with hundreds of others now interned with you. You must eat and sleep at scheduled times, and you are restricted to the perimeter of the camp, which is guarded by armed military personnel.

 

This scenario was reality for Japanese-Americans during World War II as a result of Roosevelt issuing Executive Order 9066 .

The Plight of Japanese Americans

• After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, fear of a Japanese invasion and of subversive acts by Japanese Americans prompted the government to move more than 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry to 10 relocation camps.

More than 120,000 Americans of Japanese Ancestry were incarcerated in 10 camps scattered throughout Western states during World War II

 Japanese Americans, half of whom were children, were incarcerated for up to 4 years, without due process of law or any factual basis, in bleak, remote camps surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards.

 They were forced to evacuate their homes and leave their jobs; in some cases family members were separated and put into different camps.

President Roosevelt himself called the 10 facilities "concentration camps."  Some Japanese Americans died in the camps due to inadequate medical care and the emotional stresses they encountered. Several were killed by military guards posted for allegedly resisting orders.

Korematsu v. United States

Fred Korematsu was arrested and convicted for not reporting to an assembly center in May 1942 The court ruled during WWII, that the internment of Japanese Americans such as Fred Korematsu was legal because the posed a potential threat to the United States .

This illustrates the idea that freedoms of liberty and speech can and have been restricted during the extreme cases, such as wartime .

What about Native Americans; How were they affected by WWII?

Navajo Code Talkers The Code used by the Navajo Code Talkers created messages by first translating Navajo words into English, then using the first letter of each English word to decipher the meaning. Because different Navajo words might be translated into different English words for the same letter, the code was especially difficult to decipher Navajo Code Talkers were used in Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima and Okinawa and were a major reason for the success of the U.S. Marines . According to Major Connor, "Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima."

World War II African American

    

African Americans (+/-)

(+) 700,000 African Americans served in the war (+) Creation of the Office of FEPC / investigate discrimination in the War Industries (+) Racial discrimination was prohibited in the War industries (+) 1944 -CORE’s victory / elimination of segregation in DC restaurants

World War II African Americans

 (+) Partial integration of the Army & Navy  (+) push towards post war Civil Rights movement    (+) Improved economic condition (-) Not allowed to serve in the Marines (-) Not allowed to join the Air Force at first

World War II Latinos



Hispanic Americans (+/-)

 (+) 300,000 Hispanic Americans served in the war  (+) Economic conditions improved (farm to war industries)  (+) Braceros Programs / war time labor shortages