The Social Impact of the WarChapter 25-Section 5

Rebecca A VallsPeriod 2

African Americans

• Jim Crow System still in South– state and local laws in the US enacted between 1876 and

1965. They mandated de jure segregation in all public facilities, with a “separate but equal" status for black Americans and members of other non-white racial groups

• Discrimination in the North• Lend-Lease Program– was the name of the program under which the US supplied

the UK, the Soviet Union, China, France and other Allied Nations with vast amounts of war material between 1941 and 1945 in return for, in the case of Britain, military bases in Newfoundland, Bermuda, and the British West Indies

Continued…

• 1/5 African Americans are jobless• In 1940s, more than 2 million African

Americans migrated from South to North for new job opportunities– Upset many whites who were resenting

newcomers• June 1943-race riot in Detroit killed 34 people

Continued…• African American and white soldiers segregated.• They lived life equally in the war– But when they returned home, nothing had changed

and they still faced prejudice– 6 out of 10 whites believed black Americans were

happy with the conditions• Congress of Racial Equality– Founded in 1942 by James R. Robinson, James L.

Farmer Jr., Joe Guinn, George Houser, and Homer Jack• deeply influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings of

nonviolent resistance– Began protests against segregation in public

accommodations by organizing sit-ins

Mexican Americans• New job opportunities in defense industries• In 1944, 17,000 Mexican American citizens working in

Los Angeles shipyards– Some headed for war-production centers in Detroit,

Chicago, Kansas City, and New York• Bracero Program-US seeks help from Mexico when

there was a shortage of farm laborers– Between 1942-1947 more than 200,000 working on

American farms– Brought a rise in Latino population

• Formed barrrios-Spanish-speaking neighborhoods , often with crowded conditions and discrimination

Native Americans• No group that participated in World War 2 made

a greater per-capita contribution (in defending their country) and no group was changed more by the war

• More than 44, 000 Native Americans sought military service

• Wartime economy and military service took thousands of Indians away from the reservations. – Many of these Indians settled into the mainstream,

adapting permanently to the cities and to a non-Indian way of life.

Japanese Americans• Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066.

– The evacuation order commenced the round-up of 120,000 Americans of Japanese heritage to one of 10 internment camps• officially called "relocation centers"—in California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona,

Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas• Interned-confined• U.S. internment camps were overcrowded and provided poor living

conditions– Coal was hard to come by– internees slept under as many blankets as they were allowed– Food was rationed out at an expense of 48 cents per internee– Leadership positions only allowed to American-born japanese– Eventually internees allowed to leave if they enlist in the Army-only

1,200 did so

Continued…• Hirabavashi v. United States (1943), and

Korematsu v. United States (1944). – The defendants argued their fifth amendment

rights were violated by the U.S. government because of their ancestry.

– In both cases, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the U.S. government.

• 1944, two and a half years after signing Executive Order 9066, fourth-term President Franklin D. Roosevelt rescinded the order. – The last internment camp was closed by the end of 1945.– In 1968, nearly two dozen years after the camps were closed,

the government began reparations to Japanese Americans for property they had lost.

Women• all three services were open for women to join - the army, air force and

navy. Women were also appointed as air raid wardens• Women experienced new opportunities, sense of independence,

experiencing own individuality • Women did receive wage cuts after war

• Still made progress• War allowed women to make decisions, gave them a chance to fight for

their rights• WWII led to development of many of the civil rights movements of the

1950’s• women who had found alternate employment from what was normal for

women, lost their jobs• when women found employment in the Civil Service, in teaching and in

medicine they had to leave when they got married• many women decided that they would work in a factory• Unskilled men getting paid more than skilled women

– Led to strike at Rolls Royce factory in Glasgow