Transcript Slide 1
Women WAC’s WAVE’s Not allowed to fight in combat Rosie the Riveter Recruitment of Women (video) Setting the Scene To win the war, the United States needed to draw on all its resources, including its people For many groups, this opened up new opportunities that had not existed before the war Prejudices still existed for many, however African Americans Early in the war, defense industries refused to hire African Americans Phillip A. Randolph, a powerful union leader, called for an end to racial discrimination in the workplace (by the government) Despite the need for workers under the Lend-Lease Act, 1 in 5 African Americans still found themselves unemployed African Americans June 25th 1941, Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802, opening jobs and training programs to all “without discrimination because of race, creed, color or national origin” Black/whites blood still separated, black soldiers put in steerage in bottom of navy ships when moved overseas, not allowed to fight in combat situations Many blacks found Europe much more accepting of them Mexican Americans By 1944, about 17,000 Mexican Americans held jobs in Los Angeles shipyards-3 years before, none had worked there The Bracero Program Many earned citizenship fighting in the war Mexican Americans Barrios spring up in California/New Mexico Zoot suiters were often the target of roaming soldiers, who saw them as looking "un-American" In June 1943, a full scale riot ensuedwith the victims being arrested The Army and Navy finally intervenedrestricting GI's off-duty access to L.A. Japanese Americans • Feb 1942, FDR signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing military zones to “remove any and all persons” from these zones About 110,000 JapaneseAmericans were “interned”, or confined in camps in the US Most lost businesses and homes when they were interned Japanese Americans Japanese Americans were denied entrance into the armed forces until early 1943 Soldiers of the all-Japanese 442nd Regimental Combat team won more medals for bravery than any other unit in U.S. history In early 1945, the Japanese were released from the camps In 1988, Congress passed a law awarding each surviving victim a tax free payment of $20,000- a small price for such a large error Women See video