C H A P T E R 2 7 , S E C T I O N 2

THE HOME FRONT

PROMOTING THE WAR

• Families proudly displayed window banners with a star• Blue star = loved one in service• Gold star = death in combat

• Government encouraged media to keep national moral high• War bond sales

• Question: How does a war bond work to help the war effort?

ROSIE THE RIVETER

• Daily life of women changed• Backbone of WWII

• Rosie the Riveter is the symbol of patriotic female defense workers.• Without women, U.S.

could not have produced the materials needed for the war.

WOMEN IN WORLD WAR II

• 1940-1944 – number of women in the workforce increased by about 6 million• Married women began working outside of the

home for the first time.• Left “women’s work” such as domestic service to work in

factories

• New sense of pride and self worth• Still paid less for the same work

WOMEN IN WORLD WAR II

WRITING ACTIVITY

• Use the hand out to summarize three changes women underwent while contributing to the war effort.• Use three complete sentences.• 5 minutes.

DISCRIMINATION DURING THE WAR

• African Americans:• Greater opportunities:• Better paying jobs in industrial sector• Key role in military effort

• Continued discrimination:• Kept out of some work – struggled to gain acceptance• Segregated units• Kept out of combat• Hate strikes staged by white workers

• Designed to keep black workers out of high paying factory jobs

• Housing• Competition for limited housing created tensions which led to

outbursts of violence

DISCRIMINATION DURING THE WAR

• African Americans:• A. Philip Randolph

planned a march on Washington, D.C. to protest discrimination against black workers.• Called off after

Roosevelt issued an executive order forbidding racial discrimination in defense plants and government offices

DISCRIMINATION DURING THE WAR

• To enforce the order, Roosevelt created the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC)• June 25, 1941

• FEPC:• Investigated companies engaged in defense work to

make sure all qualified applicants, regardless of race, were considered for job openings

• May 27, 1943 – executive order requiring nondiscrimination clauses in all war contracts

• Lacked strong enforcement powers and unable to prevent widespread abuse

DISCRIMINATION DURING THE WAR

• Mexican Americans:• Opportunities:• More than 300,000 served the military

• 17 earned Congressional Medal of Arms

• 88th Division – top combat unit known as the Blue Devils• Consisted mostly of Mexican American soldiers

• Helped home front needs• Carlos E. Castaneda served as assistant to the chair of the FEPC &

worked to improve working conditions for Mexican Americans in Texas.

• Moved from the Southwest to industrial centers in the Midwest and on the West Coast

• 1942 agreement between U.S. and Mexico – thousands of braceros came north to work in the Southwest

DISCRIMINATION DURING THE WAR

• Mexican Americans:• Discrimination• Jobs, housing, and recreational facilities

• Especially Los Angeles

• Zoot-Suit Riots• Zoot-suit – long, wide-shouldered jackets, trousers pegged at the

ankle, and wide-brimmed hats• June 1943 – U.S. sailors attacked youths wearing zoot-suits• Viciously beat many Mexican Americans before U.S.

government stopped them• Los Angeles police responded by arresting Mexican Americans

DISCRIMINATION DURING THE WAR

• Japanese American Relocation:• Internment – forced relocation and imprisonment• Japanese Americans living on Pacific Coast• Issei – born in Japan, regarded by U.S. as aliens ineligible for

U.S. citizenship• Nisei – born in U.S., U.S. citizens• No evidence of disloyalty of either types of Japanese

Americans

• Federal government removed people of Japanese descent from the West Coast• Anti-Japanese feelings among some politicians and residents

DISCRIMINATION DURING THE WAR

• Japanese American Relocation:• Ordered to detention

camps in Wyoming, Utah, and other inland states

• Hawaiian islands placed under martial law for the duration of the war• Japanese population too large

to relocate

• U.S. Supreme Court upheld internment in 1944• Many Japanese Americans

remained imprisoned until 1945

DISCRIMINATION DURING THE WAR

• Japanese Americans:• Patriotism and the desire to disprove accusations of

disloyalty inspired many young men in the camps to volunteer for military duty• Served in segregated units• Combat team, 442nd – one of the most decorated units in the

armed services• Military Intelligence Service

• Interpreters and translators

http://www.the442.org/tributes.html

ACTIVITIES

1. Complete the graphic organizer about discrimination during the war.• You have 8 minutes

2. Discrimination was widespread during the war, even though African, Mexican, and Japanese Americans were helping with the war effort.• Draw an image or icon that represents this problem and how

it worked in America• Surround your image with a word cloud including at least 5

nouns, 5 verbs, and 5 adjectives• Discuss and develop with your partner• You have 6 minutes