Chapter 17 Section 4

							Chapter 17 Section 4
    The Home Front
Brainstorm:
What impact would the
 war have on American
 minorities and women?
Objective:
 Describe the economic & social changes
  that reshaped American life during World
  War II
 Summarize both the opportunities and
  discrimination African Americans and
  other minorities experienced during the
  war
How did the war and its
immediate aftermath
affect the following?
1. Labor
 Defense Industries boom
 Unemployment at 1.2%
 Able to save $ because their pay went up
  10% even with price fixing & inflation
 Some complaints about long hours, not
  enough pay & night shifts
 People buy war bonds
 35% or 6M women in work force
2. Agriculture
 1940s provides good growing weather
 Improvements in machinery & fertilizers
 Crop prices increase / farm income triples
 Crop production increases by 50%
 Some farmers pay off mortgage
3. Population Centers
 One of greatest mass migration in history,
  look at page 591
 1941 to 1944 1M newcomers to CA
 Towns with defense industries triple in size
 African Am look for jobs in the North
 Soldiers training in different parts of US
4. Family Life
 Soldiers at war / moms home alone
 Children taken care of by relatives or first
  day care centers
 Teenagers run into trouble
 Marriage increases & Baby Boom
 Tension with returning soldiers
5. Returning GIs
 Serviceman’s Readjustment Act or GI Bill
  of Rights helps with education or training
  for veterans
 50% take advantage / get education or
  training
 Lower interest rates or loans to help buy
  homes, farms or businesses
How did these groups
react to discrimination and
racism during and after the
war?
6. African Americans
 Majority of Southern Af. Am move to
  Midwest for better jobs
 1940 to 1944, Af Am increase from 16%
  to 30% in work force
 Farmer & CORE in 1942 (Congress of
  Racial Equality / interracial) founded to
  confront urban segregation in the North /
  sit-ins
 Race riot in Chicago: all is not well
7. Mexican Americans
 1943 Zoot Suit riots in LA
 Refer to page 593
 11 sailors claimed they had been attacked
  by Mexicans / 1 week
 Mexicans believe their sacrifices would
  lead to a better future
8. Japanese Americans
 Fear of J-A sabotaging or mining coastal
  harbors & poisoning food supply
 War Dept orders General Delos Emmons, the
  military governor of Hawaii to evacuate J-A
  from Hawaii
 Emmons declines because 37% of population
  is J-A. / Economy & war effort / 1%
  internment camps
8. Japanese Americans
 110K J-A from CA, WA, OR, & AZ sent to
  internment camps in CA, ID, WY, UT, CO,
  AZ, & AK
 Supreme Ct ruled this was justified
 Korematsu v. United States
 1965 Japanese American Citizens League
  gets Congress to allocate survivors $38M
 Ronald Reagan & Congress allocate $20K
  to each survivor