Chapter 25

Section 5: The Social Impact of the War

African Americans

• Economic discrimination

–Employers requested “whites only” during the Depression

–June 25, 1941 FDR signed Executive Order 8802, opening jobs & job training programs in defense plants to ALL Americans

• Also created the Fair Employment Practices Committee to hear complaints about job discrimination in defense industries & the government

• Committee had no real power

• March to protest was called off

• African Americans shared in wartime prosperity

• 1940’s more than 2 million moved to the north to find new job opportunities, but encountered new problems

–Segregation

–Fear & resentment from whites

•Escalated into violence

Divided Opinions

• 1942 poll: 6 of 10 whites thought African Americans were satisfied with existing conditions & needed no new opportunities

• Launched a “Double V” campaign–Victory against the Axis

–Victory in winning equality

• Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Chicago 1942

–Believed in using nonviolent techniques to end racism

•Sit ins

Mexican Americans

• The Bracero Program

–1942 agreement between Mexico & the US that provided transportation, food, shelter, & medical care for thousands of braceros

–1942-47 more than 200,000 worked on farms

Zoot Suit Riots

• Mexican Americans began to wear “zoot suits” (long draped jackets & baggy pants with tight cuffs)

• Often wore slicked back “ducktail” haircut

• Offended many people

• Groups of sailors roamed the streets in search of zoot suiters & would beat & humiliate them for looking un-American

• June 1943- street fighting grew into full scale riots

• Newspapers usually blamed the Mexicans

• Army & Navy eventually intervened by restricting GI’s off duty access to LA

Native Americans

• 25,000 joined the armed forces

• Many migrated to urban centers to work in defense plants

–23,000 worked in war industries

Japanese Americans

• Experienced strong racial prejudice after Pearl Harbor

–Hostility grew into hatred & hysteria

Japanese Internment

• Government decided to remove all “aliens” from the west coast

• Executive Order 9066

–Authorized the Secretary of War to establish military zones on the west coast & remove “any or all persons” from such zones

• Government set up the War Relocation Authority to move out everyone of Japanese ancestry

• They would be interned in camps in remote areas far from the coast

• Many lost their businesses, farms, homes, & other assets

• All camps were located in desolate areas

• Families lived in wooden barracks covered with cots, blankets, & a light bulb

• Shared toilets, bathing & dining facilities

• Barbed wire surrounded the camps & armed guards patrolled the grounds

Legal Challenges

• 4 cases eventually reached the Supreme Court, which ruled that war time relocation was constitutional

• Korematsu v. US (1944)- ruled that the relocation policy was not based on race

• 1945- government allowed Japanese Americans to leave the camps

• 1988- Congress passed a law awarding each surviving Japanese American internee a tax free payment of $120,000

Japanese Americans in the Military

• Refused to accept them until 1943

• More than 17,000 fought

• More were Nisei

Working Women

• New Kinds of Job

–Before the war, most who worked were young & single

–Mainly as secretaries, sales clerks, servants, etc.

• Except teaching & nursing few entered professional careers

• Almost everywhere women earned less than men

• Number of working women rose by 1/3

• Rosie the Riveter

Benefits & Problems of Employment

• Gave them self confidence & economic independence

• Generally African American women worked in cooking, cleaning, child care, & other domestic jobs

• When they applied for defense jobs, they were often prejudiced against

• Some fought back through lawsuits

• 1940-44 percent of African American women in industrial jobs increased from 6.8% to 18%

• Problems

–Hostile reactions from other workers

–Earned less pay

–Child care issues

•Had to rely on family & friends

–Also has household chores

After the War

• Assumed that when the war was over, women would leave their jobs & return home

• Many wanted to continue working