Women and Minorities during World War II

During World War II, over 15 million men served in the armed forces, leaving their families and jobs behind. To keep the American economy and the war effort going, new workers were needed to replace those individuals. As a result, from 1942 to 1945 six million women entered the workforce. Many performed the same labor men had done. They worked in shipyards, manufacturing plants, and factories. They operated construction equipment and maintained the railroads. For the first time in American history, women of all ages were encouraged to take on jobs outside the home. Women from the working class were first to join in. As increasing numbers of women were needed, the government turned to middle-class women, most of whom were domestic homemakers. To persuade these prospective laborers, the government opened some 3,000 day care centers across the nation to help working mothers. Rosie the Riveter was a character based on a photo of Naomi Parker Fraley, a real factory worker who became the face of the government's campaign to draw more women into the workforce. Above her determined face and muscular arm appeared the slogan, "We can do it!"

In addition to those entering the civilian workforce, roughly 350,000 American women volunteered to serve in the armed services. Most became members of the Women's Army Corps (WACs) or the navy's equivalent, the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES). Members of the WAC and WAVES served in noncombat positions, such as secretaries, radio operators, air traffic controllers, and instructors. Not everyone approved of women actively taking part in the war effort. However, the director of the Women's Army Corps, Oveta Culp Hobby, reminded objectors that every woman who served would "release a man for combat."

With millions of men off at war, American farms faced a serious labor shortage. To keep up food production, the U.S. government worked with Mexico in 1942 to establish the Bracero Program. This program allowed Mexican farm workers, or braceros, to legally cross the U.S.-Mexico border and work on farms in the American West. Mexico permitted its workers to participate—as long as the United States agreed to pay decent wages, honor its contracts, and provide transportation. In addition, the United States was not to entice or force Mexican workers to enlist in the armed forces. Although the program represented a sudden reversal of prewar immigration policy, it reflected the desperate need for workers in the United States. Between 1942 and 1946, approximately 250,000 braceros crossed the border to work on farms, and over 80,000 more came to work for the railroads to keep the tracks in good repair.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, many Americans feared that Japanese Americans living on the West Coast had an allegiance to Japan and would try to sabotage the war effort. Despite the lack of any evidence to support this suspicion, officials at the U.S. War Department decided to round up and detain all people of Japanese descent living on the West Coast. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt approved the plan by signing Executive Order 9066, which gave the U.S. military authority to evacuate from the West Coast any people thought to be a security risk. Civilians of Japanese descent were not specifically mentioned in Executive Order 9066, but they were the only ones affected.

The War Relocation Authority was established to oversee the process of forcibly removing nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans from their homes, taking them into custody, and transporting them to detention camps. Over 30,000 of those detained were children under the age of 19. After each individual or family registered their names at local control stations, they were allowed as little as four days to prepare for relocation. They had to pack their possessions, make arrangements to leave their jobs, and find caretakers for their properties. Some local residents harbored racial prejudice and economic envy toward their Japanese American neighbors. They were eager to acquire Japanese Americans' homes, farms, businesses, and other property for ridiculously small amounts. The experience of Japanese Americans during World War II is explored in David Guterson's 1994 novel Snow Falling on Cedars.

Some Japanese Americans resisted the relocation order. One example was Fred Korematsu, a young California-born man. Like some two-thirds of the individuals affected by Order 9066, Korematsu was an American citizen. He refused to leave his home in Southern California and was arrested in 1942 for disobeying the mandate to evacuate. Representing Korematsu, American Civil Liberties Union lawyers argued that the government's imprisonment of Japanese Americans was unconstitutional. When two federal courts ruled against him, Korematsu appealed his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1944 the Supreme Court also decided against Korematsu, stating that forced relocation was a military necessity.

Korematsu was incarcerated at an internment camp in Utah. An additional nine camps were located in southern California, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, and Wyoming. The camp residents were housed in uninsulated barracks. They ate in mess halls and shared communal bathrooms. They were prisoners, living behind barbed wire fences and under the watchful eyes of armed guards. Despite the hardships, people did their best to recreate a normal life. The children attended schools, played sports, and formed clubs. The adults attended church and started camp newspapers. Some were able to get jobs outside the camps. Many of the young men enlisted in the U.S. Army in the hopes of proving their loyalty. Most people, however, stayed in the camps for over three years. The last camp closed in March 1946. The government made no effort to provide reparations to help former detainees rebuild their lives after they were released from the camps.