The Role of Women and

African Americans in WWI

IB 20th Century Topics

Opportunities for

African-Americans in WW1

e “Great Migration.” 1916 – 1919 500,000

e War industries work.

e Enlistment in segregated units.

WW I:

The Great Migration Demographics…Great Migration of

Blacks from South to the Northern US

(Race Riots 1917-19) The Great Migration

The war opened thousands of industrial jobs to

black laborer

500,000 migrated north

increased presence and demands for change

Dozens of blacks were killed during a 1917 riot in

East St. Louis, Illinois

African Americans and WWI

Black leaders saw the war as an opportunity for

advancement

World War I did not bring significant gains

navy barred blacks, army segregated

Also riots and lynching increased in the South

Violence led to a silent march of protest on NY

5th Ave – “Mr. President, Why Not Make

America Safe for Democracy?”

Chicago Race Riot, 1919

Because of industrial jobs available in WWI, the African-American population in Chicago increased from 44,000 to 109,000, for a total of 148 percent during 1916-1919.

The postwar period found tensions rising in numerous cities where populations were increasing rapidly

The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 was a major racial conflict that began in Chicago, Illinois on July 27, 1919 and ended on August 3.

During the riot, dozens died and hundreds were injured.

It is considered the worst of the approximately 25 riots during the Red Summer of 1919, so named because of the violence and fatalities across the nation

“Rescuing a Negro During the

Race Riots in Chicago”, 1919

WWI:

African Americans

Many were forced to work behind the lines jobs

The 369th Harlem Hellfighters fought with the French The 369th Infantry Regiment was known for being the first

African American Regiment during WWI

During the war the 369th's regimental band (under the direction of James Reese) became famous throughout Europe, being the first to introduce the until-then unknown music called jazz to British, French and other audiences, and starting a worldwide demand for it

US Troops were segregated black and white

True Sons of Freedom

Women’s Service in WWI Held Home Front jobs

RR Workers, cooks, bricklayers, dock

workers, coal miners, clerks, teachers,

and helped to sell liberty bonds

• Warfront Jobs of Women

Red Cross Nurses

Radio operators

Ambulance drivers

YWCA – The Blue Triangle

Munitions Work

Women Used In Recruitment

The Red Cross - Greatest

Mother in the World

WW I:

Suffrage-The Women’s

Movement…

National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA) Carrie Chapman Catt

National Women’s Party –Alice Paul

Women’s Suffrage America’s entry into the war threatened to

tear apart the suffrage movement

Jeannette Rankin opposed war first woman member of congress

women in general supported the war

The National Woman’s Party was militantly fighting for suffrage

Alice Paul compared Wilson to the Kaiser denying democracy, chained herself to white house fence, force fed in prison

Women’s Suffrage

The combined efforts of women during the war

won them suffrage –Wilson finally gave in

January 1918 Wilson withdrew his opposition

to female suffrage amendment

Took until Aug 1920 to have the

amendment ratified

72 years after goal of women’s suffrage

declared at Seneca Falls in 1848

New faces in the Workforce

Mexicans crossed the borders for industrial

jobs in southwestern cities (100,000)

Women joined workforce in record numbers

(one million)

Most people believed this would be a

temporary change

World War I

Just as women used their participation

in the war effort to fight for their rights,

African Americans also hoped to use

the war to improve their status.

Leaders like W. E. B. Du Bois and the

NAACP officials protested strongly

when initial mobilization plans did not

include African Americans.

A unit of the Women's Defense League

drills in its camp at Washington, D.C.

Although some in the women's suffrage

movement refused to support the war

effort until women were granted the right

to vote, other suffragists took a role in

mobilizing women into the war effort and

used women's support as an argument in

favor of their enfranchisement.

How did the war affect the U.S.?

Women

•Women filled factory jobs

•Women’s war effort

helped bring about

passage of the 19th

Amendment after the war

giving women the right to

vote.

•Black soldiers still served in segregated units.

African Americans

•In the “Great Migration” thousands of African

Americans moved to the North to work in factories.