The Social Impact of WWII on the U.S.

1. The Social Impact of WWIIon the U.S.

2. African Americans • The precedent of the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case allowed for the creation and enforcement of “Jim Crow” laws, essentially establishing the Constitutionality of racial segregation. • As in the Sp/Am War and WWI, the U.S Armed Forces remain racially segregated.

3. African Americans • Executive Order #8802 is signed in June of 1941, making discrimination based on race illegal against workers in ANY defense related industry. • This creates the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) to enforce XO#8802 • Eleanor Roosevelt leads a public campaign for it • It is minimally funded and not very well enforced

4. African Americans • Because of infighting and a lack of will, FDR strengthens the FEPC in 1943 with another XO that requires companies with government contracts to have a non-discrimination policy in place. • The press in the black community becomes an active advocate for equality before the law. • “Soldiers Without Swords”

5. African Americans • The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is founded in 1942 by James Farmer, Bernice Fisher, and George Houser. • Membership is 2/3 white and 1/3 black • The first group to use non-violent civil disobedience to challenge segregation • Later becomes one of the “Big Four” groups on the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement

6. African Americans • By the numbers: • 1,000,000 serve in uniform during the war • Only 125,000 serve overseas • 708 are killed in action • Another 1,000,000 migrate to the north for employment • 2,000,000 serve in defense related industries

7. African Americans • Important events: • Spring of 1941- A. Philip Randolph leading the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and backed by the NAACP threatens a 150,000 person march on Washington to protest discrimination in defense related industries (prompting XO 8802 and the FEPC) • 1943- Detroit race riots in new Federal housing projects kill 35 blacks and 9 whites. Similar riots occur in several major U.S. cities.

8. African Americans • Important events, con’t: • July 1944- The Port Chicago Disaster: 2,000 tons of ammunition explodes during loading. 320 mostly black workers are killed resulting in a labor strike, and the only full military trial in the U.S. Navy’s history. • All 50 black defendants are convicted • Thurgood Marshall, later to become the 1st black SC Justice, observes and uses the event as a later rallying point for desegregation.

9. Indigenous Americans • Many indigenous Americans migrate to cities for work, remaining after the war, furthering the Federal Government’s goal of “assimilation”. • Native men were eager to become warriors, and returned to high status in their tribes. • 99% of all eligible Natives registered for the draft.

10. Indigenous Americans • Natives bought $12.6M in “Liberty Bonds” • Navajo “Code Talkers” use their unwritten language and symbologyto create an UNBREAKABLE code. This was instrumental to U.S. victory in the Pacific.

11. Hispanic Americans • Shortage of labor in defense industry leads the U.S. and Mexico to agree to the 1942 Bracero Program. It remains in effect until the 1960s. • 150,000 imported workers during the war years • Millions of imported workers in the post-war years • Represents an attempt to solve the problem of undocumented migrant workers

12. Hispanic Americans • Racial tensions escalate during the war, culminating in the Zoot Suit Riots • CA cities, especially Los Angeles, June of 1943 • Background: A controversial murder trial and negative depictions of Mex-Americans in the press set the stage • White servicemen and some civilians riot, attacking people of Mexican descent • 150 injured, 500 arrested (all Latinos)

13. A witness to the attacks, journalist Carey McWilliams wrote, • "Marching through the streets of downtown Los Angeles, a mob of several thousand soldiers, sailors, and civilians, proceeded to beat up every zoot suiter they could find. Pushing its way into the important motion picture theaters, the mob ordered the management to turn on the house lights and then ran up and down the aisles dragging Mexicans out of their seats. Streetcars were halted while Mexicans, and some Filipinos and Negroes, were jerked from their seats, pushed into the streets and beaten with a sadistic frenzy."

14. Women • Integrated into the workforce in larger numbers than ever before • 25% worked outside the home • 27% of workforce in 1940, 37% by 1945 • 400,000 served in direct or support roles (all theaters)

15. Women • College attendance • 1947: 523,000 (12.2%) • 1970: 2,600,000 (34.6%) • 1988: 7,166,000 (45.8%) • Increased opportunity in College/Work after WWII resulted in women’s activism of the 1960s and 1970s.

16. America and the Holocaust • The true nature and scale of the Holocaust was largely unknown to mostAmericans until after the war was over. • Beginning in 1940s, Jews were delayed in getting U.S. Visas • By June of 1942, intelligence begins to report systematic concentration of Jews and transportation to the labor camps. This information becomes public in November.

17. America and the Holocaust • 12/17/42: Allied powers condemn Nazi Germany’s treatment of Jews • These events helped lead to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1947, and the alliance with U.S. in the modern age.

18. Poster (issued by the Jewish War Veterans of the United States) calling for a boycott of German goods. New York, United States, between 1937 and 1939. • — Jewish War Veterans Museum

19. American Anti-Jewish propaganda