Life on the Home Front

1. Life on the Home Front Section 3

2. Women and Minorities Gain Ground • WWII had a positive effect on American society • Devastation to Europe and Asia’s large ports • WWII put an end to Great Depression • War created 19 million new jobs and doubled the average family’s income • Women and minorities began playing a huge role in American factories

3. Cont. • Factories wanted white men only • Too many were going to war; not enough left to work in factories • Factories left to recruit women and minorities to fill jobs

5. Women in Defense Plants • During Depression people felt women shouldn’t work outside the home • Shouldn’t take jobs away from men trying to support their families • Women went to work when men were called to duty • Rosie the Riveter • 2.5 million women went to work in shipyards, aircraft factories, etc.

6. Rosie the Riveter

7. African American Demand War Work • Factories were now hiring women but they refused to hire African Americans • A. Philip Randolph- head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters • Major union for African American railroad workers • Informed President Roosevelt he was organizing a march of 10-50 thousand to march on Washington in the “interest of securing jobs, in national defense, and integration into military and naval forces”

8. Cont. • Roosevelt responded with Executive Order 8802 • “there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or government because of race, creed, color, or national origin.” • President created the Fair Employment Practices Commission in order to enforce the order

9. Mexicans become Farmworkers • Read this section • Bracero Program

10. A Nation on the Move • Wartime created millions of new jobs • Americans didn’t always live nearby • 15 million Americans moved during the war • Most headed west and south in search of jobs • Growth of southern California and the expansion of cities in the Deep South created a new industrial region called the Sunbelt • South and West led the way in manufacturing and urbanization for the fist time since the Industrial Revolution

11. The Housing Crisis • Read this section

12. Racism Explodes into Violence • Great Migration slowed during Great Depression • Why? • Picked back up again during WWII • Why?

13. Cont. • African Americans were not met with open arms when they moved north • They were usually met with suspicion and intolerance • Led to violence • Worst racial violence of the war erupted in Detroit on Sunday, June 29, 1943 • Hot day and people met at Belle Isle to cool off

14. Cont. • Fights erupted between gangs of white and African American teenage girls • Chain reaction followed • Full-scale riot erupted across the city • When it was over 25 African Americans were dead as well as 9 whites

15. Belle Isle Park

16. Police defend African American Youth

18. Next Day Tigers Game

19. The Zoot Suit Riots

20. Cont. • Zoot Suit people came across as unpatriotic • Everyone was trying to save fabric for war • Victory suit- suit with no vest or cuffs, short jacket, and narrow lapels • Mexican American teenagers adopted the zoot suit • After a rumor of several sailors being attacked by zoot suiters, 2,500 soldiers stormed Mexican American neighborhoods

21. Cont. • Mexican American teenagers were attacked, their hair was cut, and clothes torn off of them • No police interference • Went on for several days • Los Angeles responded by banning the zoot suit

22. Zoot Suit Riots

23. Japanese American Relocation • Read this section

26. Read the rest of Section 3 • Wage and Price Controls • Office of Price Administration • Blue Points, Red Points • rationing • Victory Gardens and Scrap Drives • Victory Gardens • Paying for the War • E bonds • “V” for Victory