Rosie the Riveter World War II, Research Paper Example

Rosie the Riveter World War II, American Home Front Oral History Project

Introduction

During World War II, the United States government determined that they needed to revamp their industrial economy by allocating necessary resources to the existing factories and industries. The National War Labor Board (NWLB), in collaboration with War Industries Board (WIB), selected and converted some of the U.S. industries and factories into military productions. They also set the prices for the war products from such industries. National War Labor Board (NWLB) regulated the labour at the military production by offering the women workers equal pay as their male counterpart. The military production workers also had to work for 8 hours a day. The period followed the Great Migration that the United States experienced during the first world war. However, most Americans, especially the women, migrated from the rural areas to work in the military productions, which had rapidly expanded and needed many labourers. Newson Mary (2007). Rosie the Riveter World War II, American Home Front Oral History Project: An Oral History with Mary Newson is essential in understanding the world war II period because it presents historical accounts of how many American women joined the labour force in 1940 and 1945. It is the same period; the United States participated in World War II. These women account for their experiences during this period, as captured in Rosie the Riveter World War II American. The source, therefore, provides an insight into the intrigues of World War from the American perspective.

Rosie the Riveter World War II, American Home Front Oral History Project: An Oral History with Mary, presents an interview on the Newson’s home front experiences during her migration into the Bay Area. Bay Area is the region that hosted most of the American military productions. All the women who participated in the interview represented “Rosie the Riveters” during the second world war. However, Mary Newson’s form the basis of this paper. The source provides an insight into why the women chose to migrate to the Bay Area, their economic activities upon migration, lessons from the flux and fluidity of wartime life, and their decisions fowling the end of world war II. The interview also unveiled some insight on the interviewee’s lessons on the relationship between her family and work life, their attitude towards education, the effects of war on race relations, and civil rights activities. Mary Newson’s interview in the source provides insight on to what extent did the migration and war affected the religious organization.

As a source, Rosie the Riveter World War II American Home Front Oral History Project: An Oral History with Mary Newson presents an interview on May Newson’s journey from rural Texas to Bay Area. Mary Newson reveals to the interviewer, Ehrlich, in the first tape that she was born in Teague, a rural area in Texas and got married at the age of 16 years to a man who had come back home from California in search of a wife (Newson, 2007). She first moved with her husband, California, before moving to Bay Area in search of a wartime job.

At Bay Area, Mary applied for a riveter position in the Naval Air Station. She worked alongside her workmates to build the planes by riveting the parts. During World War II, women got job opportunities without any form of racial segregation. According to Mary Newson, black and white women worked alongside one another in the various jobs they served (Newson, 2007). It is the period between 1940 and 1945 when American actively participated in the second world war.

In 1943 while still working as a riveter when Detroit experienced the most significant riot in the city’s history. It was only two years before the end of the second world war, and Newson, alongside other riveters, was working for the naval station to make more ships for war. Detroit, a cosmopolitan city which had before 1943, welcomed at least 100 000 from the rest of the world, and almost a half of them were blacks from the South (Staff, 2018). The black’s presence in the already racially segregated and overcrowded city made it possible for the riot that left 31 people (25 blacks and nine whites) dead and several injured (Staff, 2018).

During the same period, Los Angeles experienced the Zoot Suit Riots. It was one of the riots against race in the city’s history. The Anglo American servicemen invaded the Mexican American borders for ten consecutive nights and attacked young Mexican teens who, during that period, wore zoot suits (Valdez, 1981). The young Mexicans retaliated and attacked the American servicemen, whose majority were whites. The Anglo Americans attacked the Mexican Americans without any evidence of criminal activities. The Zoot suit riot marked the beginning of resistance against racial discrimination among the people of colour (Valdez, 1981). Like the Detroit riot, the U.S. involvement on World War II led to the quick resolution of the zoot suit riot in Los Angeles. Both the zoot suit and Detroit riots marked the beginning of the civil rights movement’s renewed course. Even though the riots stopped, they marked the beginning of the war against racial discrimination. It intensified in the 1960s when the U.S. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act that legally ended racial segregation in the United States. Mary Newson noted in the interview that the second world war stifled civil right movement activities between 1940 and 1945.

After the World war II, America slowed down its military productions, and job opportunities decreased. The era marked the beginning of fight against racial segregations. The whites found it inhumane to work alongside the blacks. However, she noted racial segregation elements when she moved to Richmond as a receptionist (Newson, 2007). The whites exerted racial oppression by sidelining the African American workers. The postwar presented its struggles as most of the people of colour lost jobs.

Conclusion 

Rosie the Riveter World War II, American Home Front Oral history project, is a rich source for the world war II historical analysis. The interviews of Mary Newson, an African American woman who served as one of the Rosie the riveter, provided chronological events that transpired before, during and after the war. Before the war, racial discrimination existed in most parts of the United States, and people of colour had limited employment opportunities, especially women. The situation changed during the second world war when using United State revamped its participation in the war by increasing military productions. Every American citizen united for the same course, whether black or white. The coloured received employment opportunities to work as riveters in military productions. However, the privilege lasted until the end of the war. Racial discrimination increased, prompting the formation of the civil rights movements. Activities of the civil rights movements caused several riots, such as that of Detroit in 1967.

References

Newson, M. (2007). Rosie the Riveter World War II American Home Front Oral History Project: An Oral History with Mary Newson conducted by David Washburn and Susie Dodge, 2005, Regional Oral History Office,  The  Bancroft   Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Staff, S. (2018). 1943 race riots paved the way for Detroit’s civil rights movement. Michiganradio.org. Retrieved 14 April 2021, from https://www.michiganradio.org/post/1943-race-riots-paved-way-detroit-s-civil-rights-movement.

Valdez, L. (1981). Alexander Street, a ProQuest Company. Video.alexanderstreet.com. Retrieved 14 April 2021, from https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/zoot-suit-riots.