The Front is Right Here
make war machines, Hough Shade employees turned out curtains to black or dim windows against air raids, Ossit Church Furniture had a war contract making special seats for air-testing chambers, and residents from all walks of life helped can vegetables at the canning factory rather than let the crops rot.
For the first time in history women were being encouraged to work. There were essential factory jobs and the men who had done them were now in the service. Women and minorities were being sought to fill the needed slots. We have all heard of Rosie the Riveter but women filled positions in civil service and other jobs as well. For the first time many blacks were able to get a good job.
In most cases, both women and blacks lost these jobs when the servicemen came home and needed jobs. But this period in history opened the doors to civil rights for both women and minorities. The next several decades would play out the scenarios started during WW II - on the Homefront.
Mankato Memories This website is dedicated to recording oral histories about the World War II years. Eighth graders who interviewed people living in the Mankato, Minnesota area, created this project.
World at War By Steve Wiegand and Marcos Bretón, Bee Staff Writers
What did you in the War, Grandma? An Oral History of Rhode Island Women during World War II Written by students in the Honors English Program at South Kingstown High School
Homefront warriors fought their own battles By Sid Schwartz, Gazette Staff
Being Rosie the Riveter and Suzie the Homemaker: The Complexity of Women's Lives in WW II America as Viewed in Advertisements in Ladies Home Journal A thesis submitted to the faculty of the History Department By Lauren Mandel, Poughkeepsie, New York February 2001
FACTS about this decade. Kingwood College Library - American Cultural History - The Twentieth Century - 1940 -1949
Timeline of Costume History 20th Century Western Costume: 1940 - 1950
WOMEN IN THE WEATHER BUREAU DURING WORLD WAR II Edited by Kaye O'Brien and Gary K. Grice
Don Mabry's Historical Text Archive
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