Download
1 / 31
E N D
Document 1 I applied to the U.S. army in the middle of ’41. Of course I was treated with the utmost discourtesy. I was disgusted and wrote to Eleanor Roosevelt, who responded in three days and told me there was a program for black fliers in Tuskegee and apologized for the segregated nature of things. As a result, in September 1942, I had an opportunity to go to Tuskegee for flight training… However, the town of Tuskegee itself was not a good place to be in. they had a sadistic sheriff name Pat Evans, who loved hassling black soldiers, and we got hassled at every opportunity. _Captain Charles Bussey, pilot Tuskegee Airman
Document 2 WHEREAS it is the policy of the United States to encourage full participation in the national defense program by all citizens of the United States,… in the firm belief that the democratic way of life within the nation can be defended successfully only with the help and support of all groups… NOW THEREFORE,… I do hereby reaffirm the policy of the United States that there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin… _President Franklin D. Roosevelt Executive Order 8802, June 25, 1941
Document 3 1946 Drawing by Charles White Depicting the Experiences of African-Americans in the South Post World War II
Document 1 …men called to war service actually have been replaced by women in types of work formerly not done, or done only rarely by women. …They include… taxi drivers, bank tellers, electricians… Women are operating service stations. They are replacing men as finger-print classifiers. A southern city reports a woman manager of a parking lot. _The Woman Worker, U.S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau, 1942
Document 2 Had it not been for the war, I never would have played professional baseball. That started because of the war. People didn’t have money to go places. Phil Wrigley of the Chicago Cubs was certain that all the men would be drafted, and the major league ballparks would be empty. That’s the reason he started that league, the All-American Girls’ Professional Baseball League. So, because of the war, I got the chance. That league started in 1943… I met a lot of people from all over the US, Canada, and Cuba, which I never would have done. I traveled, lived in the best hotels, ate in restaurants… I think it gave me the courage years later to say, “I think I’ll go to college” _Wilma Briggs, “A Farm Girl Plays Professional Baseball”
Document 3 The war years had a tremendous impact on women. I know for myself it was the first time I had a chance to get out of the kitchen and work in industry and make a few bucks. This was something I had never dreamed would happen. In Sapulpa all that women had to look forward to was keeping a house and raising families. The war years offered new possibilities. You came out to California, put on your pants and took your lunch pail to a man's job. In Oklahoma a woman's place was in the home, and men went to work and provided. This was the beginning of women's feeling that they could do something more. We were trained to do this kind of work because of the war, but there was no question that this was just an interim period. We were all told that when the war was over we would not be needed anymore. This excerpt is a personal account by Sybil Lewis, which was taken from Mark Jonathan's The Homefront: America During World War II.
Document 4 This World War II poster was produced by Westinghouse for the War Production Co-OrdinatingCommitte.
Document 1 …when we are dealing with the Caucasian race we have methods that will test the loyalty of them, and we believe that we can, in dealing with the Germans and the Italians arrive at some fairly sound conclusions… But when we deal with the Japanese we are in an entirely different field… Their method olf living, their language, make for this difficulty. Many of them who show you the English language because…when they were 4 or 5 years of age they were sent over to Japan to be educated… and then they came back here thoroughly Japanese… _Earl Warren, Attorney General of California, testifying for the relocation of Japanese Americans, 1942
Document 2 I am strongly opposed to mass evacuation of American-born Japanese. It is my honest belief that such an action would not solve the question of loyalty. …I would like to ask the committee: has the Gestapo (German police that forces Jews into concentration camps) come to America? Have we not rise in righteous anger at Hitler’s mistreatment of the Jews? Then, is it not incongruous that citizen Americans of Japanese descent should be similarly mistreated and persecuted? …We cannot understand why General DeWitt can make exceptions for families of German and Italian soldiers in the armed forces of the United States while ignoring the civil rights of the Japanese Americans. Are we not condemned merely on the basis of our racial origin? _James Omura, a Japanese American testifying against the relocation of Japanese Americans
Document 1 It is estimated that between 375 and 420 Navajos served as code talkers. The program was highly classified throughout the war and remained so until 1968. Though they returned home on buses without parades or fanfare and were sworn to secrecy about the existence of the code, the Navajo code talkers are now making their way into popular culture and mainstream American history. The "Honoring the Code Talkers Act," introduced by Senator Jeff Bingaman from New Mexico in April 2000 and signed into law December 21, 2000, called for recognition of the Navajo code talkers. The act authorized the President of the United States to award a gold medal, on behalf of the Congress, to each of the original twenty-nine Navajo code talkers as well as a silver medal to each man who later qualified as a code talker. Excerpt from Adam Jevec, "Semper Fidelis, Code Talkers," Prologue (Winter 2001) 33:4:
Document 2 In early 1942 the Marines started to recruit Navajo men to serve as code talkers in the Pacific. The Marines were searching for a code, which the Japanese would be unable to break. Since the Navajo language is incredibly complex it was an ideal code. The original 29 Navajo Code Talkers developed a code dictionary, which had to be memorized. This code consisted of English translations of Navajo phrases. The Japanese were never able to break the complicated code. The Navajo Code Talkers successfully sent thousands of messages, enabling the Marines and this Nation to achieve victory. The war in the Pacific was brought to a close with the help of these original 29 Navajo code talkers and the hundreds of code talkers who followed. The Navajo, who bravely served this country, despite poor governmental treatment at home, should be commended for their service. — Tribute to the Original 29 Navajo Code Talkers, Congressional Record
Document 3 Navajo code talkers (and cousins), Preston and Frank Toledo at Ballarat, Australia. (July 7, 1943). Picture from the Smithsonian, courtesy of the National Archives.
Document 5 Popular 1900s advertisements.
Document 1 The Emergency Farm Labor Supply Program (The Bracero Program) Agreement was signed on July 23, 1942, between the United States Government and the Mexican Government, providing for the importation of Mexican nationals for employment as agricultural workers. General provisions of the agreement were: It is understood that Mexicans contracting to work in the US shall not be engaged in any military service. Mexicans entering the US as a result of this understanding shall not suffer discriminatory acts of any kind. Mexicans entering the US under this understanding shall enjoy the guarantees of transportation, living expenses. Mexicans entering the US under this understanding shall not be employed to displace other workers. Source: Oregon Public Broadcasting: Oregon Experience
Document 2 MARIA Serrano held up an enlarged picture of her late husband, Rico Serrano. She was onstage, where a panel of speakers were taking turns explaining why they were in New York. When it was Serrano’s turn to speak, she said in her soft voice, that her late husband Rico was an ex-Bracero. “He came here in the United States three times under the Bracero program,” Serrano said in Spanish through an interpreter. “And he told me about the humiliation and maltreatment that they had to suffer.”
Document 5 Photograph by Leonard Nadel. Note from the photographer: “This is housing provided by a Texan farmer for 200 braceros in this long building, with the beds made out of stretched canvas, upper and lower. Such close living conditions make for high incidences of respiratory illnesses among the braceros.”
World War II DBQ: The Homefront Historical Context: American life changed significantly from the end of the Great Depression to the beginning of the Cold War. The experiences of Americans, including social, economic, and political changes were a result of American involvement in World War II.Task: Using information from the documents and your knowledge of United States history, write an essay in which you indentify and discuss one social, one economic, and one political change in American society that occurred as a result of World War II. Include whether the changes were positive or negative.
