16.2

War Production Board

The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it on January 16, 1942, with Executive Order 9024.

A. Philip Randolph

Asa Philip Randolph was a leader in the African-American civil-rights movement, the American labor movement and socialist political parties. He organized and led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first predominantly black labor union.

Selective Training and Service Act

The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, also known as the Burke-Wadsworth Act, Pub.L. 76-783, 54 Stat. 885, enacted September 16, 1940, was the first peacetime conscription in United States history.

Fair Employment Practices Committee

On June 25, 1941, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802 creating the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC).

Braceros

The bracero program was a series of laws and diplomatic agreements, initiated by an August 1942 exchange of diplomatic notes between the United States and Mexico, for the importation of temporary contract laborers from Mexico to the United States. Zoot-Suit Riots - The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of riots in 1943 during World War II that broke out in Los Angeles, California, between Anglo American Sailors and Marines stationed in the city, and Latino youths, who were recognizable by the zoot suits they favored. Mexican Americans and white military personnel were the main parties in the riots, and some African American and Filipino/Filipino American youths were involved as well. The Zoot Suit Riots were in part the effect of the infamous Sleepy Lagoon murder trial which followed the death of a young Latino man in a barrio near Los Angeles. The incident triggered similar attacks against Latinos in Beaumont, Chicago, San Diego,Oakland, Detroit, Evansville, Philadelphia, and New York City.