History U3L11: The War at Home

civil rights

-discrimination in northern cities -civil rights protests increase -victory against fascism and Jim -FEPC

African Americans and WW2 opportunities

-military -work in war production factories -mass migration to the urban North -less dependency and indebtedness -work as federal employees

Civilians help out on the home front

-planted victory gardens -flew missions to spot German submarines -worked as air-raid wardens and auxilliary fire -volunteered with the Civil Defense Corps -adhered to government rationing -led scrap metal and "tin foil" drives

African Americans and WW2

-restricted to menial jobs -armed forces -segregated (except Navy) -defense industries wouldn't hire -economic hardships -excluded from labor unions

12. How many states had population losses of more than 300,000 people between 1941 and 1945?

3

Millions of men served in the armed forces

A large number of women joined the civilian workforce; 19 million women accounted for a third of America's workforce; women worked in traditionally male jobs.

New defense industries on the West Coast needed workers.

California's population increased by almost 75%.

Ships and Planes: Henry Kaiser and Henry Ford applied assembly line production methods to war manufacturing

Kaiser built: Liberty ships Ford built: B-2 bombers

War production often centered in the big cities of the North and the growing cities of the West and Southwest.

Millions of Americans relocated to cities.

Military Contracting: a policy that guaranteed factory owners a profit if they agreed to produce airplanes and guns

The Army and Navy formed public-private partnerships in order to meet the demands of wartime productions

A large number of military bases and war production factories were built in the South.

The South grew into a prosperous region during and after the war.

The government needed to persuade women to work in war industries

The War Manpower Commission embarked on a campaign to urge women to do their part by working in war industries.

3. World War II benefitted organized labor because all companies that produced anything for the war had to allow their workforce to join labor unions. In return, however, union leaders had to accept wage freezes for the duration of the war.

True

Children at the Weill public school in San Francisco pledge allegiance to the American flag in April 1942, prior to the internment of Japanese Americans. Most of the 112,000 Japanese Americans who were relocated to internment camps were infants, school-age children, and young adults. Virtually all were born in the United States and were U.S. citizens. Many did not even speak Japanese.

True

In 1941, approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans lived on the West Coast of the United States, most of them in California. Though many were naturalized citizens and even more were born in the United States, they faced widespread discrimination. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, a majority of Americans believed that every person of Japanese descent could be a potential spy. A Japanese American business owner displayed this banner the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Three months later, after FDR had signed Executive Order 9066, the man, an American citizen, was forcibly removed to a war relocation camp.

True

Japanese Americans were relocated to camps in remote areas in states like Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah. The camps were surrounded by barbed wire and patrolled by armed guards. "In the detention centers, families lived in substandard housing, had inadequate nutrition and health care, and had their livelihoods destroyed: many continued to suffer psychologically long after their release."—Personal Justice Denied: Report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians

True

Most Japanese Americans lost their homes and businesses and most of their possessions. From an official notice issued by the Western Defense Command and Fourth Army Wartime Civil Control Administration: Evacuees must carry with them on departure for the Assembly Center, the following property: (a) Bedding and linens (no mattresses) for each member of the family; (b) toilet articles for each member of the family; (c) Extra clothing for each member of the family; (d) Sufficient knives, forks, spoons, plates, bowls, and cups for each member of the family; (e) Essential personal effects for each member of the family. The size and number of packages is limited to that which can be carried by the individual or family group.

True

Today you will learn how the constitutional rights of approximately 112,000 Japanese Americans were violated as wartime hysteria escalated in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

True

World War 2

World War II transformed the American economy, society, government, and military, as women and blacks entered the workforce, industries expanded, and new technologies were developed. The United States would emerge from the war as the most powerful nation in the world.

WPB: War Production Board

assisting civilian factories in retooling for military manufacturing

14. Where were most of the Japanese American internment camps located—east or west of the Rockies?

west

16. Why were 112,000 Japanese Americans forcibly relocated and imprisoned during World War II?

• After the attack on Pearl Harbor, racial prejudices toward Japanese Americans emerged. Then a Supreme Court justice charged that Japanese Americans had assisted Japan in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Wartime hysteria exploded, and Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. This resulted in Japanese Americans being sent to "relocation centers."

2. What did the government do because it feared factories would run short of the raw materials needed to produce goods for the war effort and food to feed its servicemen?

• It rationed resources like oil, synthetic rubber, and aluminum. It also restricted civilian purchases of meat, coffee, and sugar.

4. What effect did the shift to a war economy have on the Great Depression?

• It ultimately led to the end of the Great Depression. The government borrowed a lot of money, which it spent on war goods. Unemployment dropped.

How did the war affect the personal finances of working Americans?

• Most Americans had to pay federal income taxes, and the taxes were withheld from weekly and monthly paychecks.

13. What explains the population gains that the state of Washington experienced between 1941 and 1945?

• People moved there to work in the shipyards and aircraft factories.

11. Which states had population gains of 200,000 to 300,000 people between 1941 and 1945?

• Washington, Michigan, and Maryland

7. What effect did the shift in women's roles during the war have on them and on society?

• Women came away with a sense of financial and social freedom. These feelings laid the foundation for changes in traditional gender roles after the war.

6. List three organizations in which women volunteered during World War II:

• Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAACs) • Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service (WAVES) • Red Cross