Topic 6, Lesson 10: What were the social effects of WW2?

Topic 6, Lesson 10: What were the social effects of WW2?

Japanese American WW2 Internment

Toward the end of 1941 (as American-Japanese relations worsened) 2,000 Japanese-labelled subversives had been rounded up.

Increasing fears of a Japanese attack on the West Coast led to calls for internment (arrest and imprisonment without trial)

General John L Dewitt (Chief of the Army West Coast Command) said it was impossible to distinguish between loyal and traitorous Japanese and therefore all should be locked up.

Dewitt decided on ten ‘relocation centres’ throughout the west where 100,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly sent

• Japanese Americans had to leave their property unprotected

• Much looting went on in their absence

• Estimated the community suffered losses worth $400 million

By 1944, as fear of Japanese attack receded, the internees began to return home.

Topic 6, Lesson 10: What were the social effects of WW2?

American Women during WW2

At the beginning of the Second World War, there were about 13 million female workers and at the height of WW2 in 1944, this figure had increased to 19 million.

Eleanor Roosevelt, the First Lady, was a powerful spokeswoman for female workers during WW2.

Women worked in traditionally male occupations such as shipyards, aircraft factories and munitions.

1 in 3 aircraft workers were women.

In 1942, a poll showed that 60% of Americans were in favour of women helping with the war.

African-American women were almost always the last to be hired and the first to be fired.

“Hate strikes” took place as a result of employment of African American women.

At the end of WW2, most women gave up their wartime jobs.

Problems faced by women at the end of WW2:

1) Exclusion from top, well-paid jobs.

2) On average, women earned 50-60% of the wage that men earned for doing the same job.

3) A woman could still be dismissed from her job when she married.

Topic 6, Lesson 10: What were the social effects of WW2?

African American Soldiers during WW2

Employment

In 1940, there were 12.9 million African Americans in the US.

Of this number 5.4 million were employed.

Unemployed African Americans did not benefit from the employment opportunities at the start of WW2 that whites did.

A survey in 1940 among the defence industries indicated that more than half would not employ African Americans.

Wages

The average annual wage was $537 for men in 1939 and $331 for women.

Both men and women earned less than half that of their white counter parts.

Topic 6, Lesson 10: What were the social effects of WW2?

A Philip Randolph March on Washington Movement

A Philip Randolph was an African American trade unionist leader.

• considered “the most dangerous negro in America”

Randolph was appalled at the discrimination faced by African Americans in industry and in the military.

Randolph organised the March on Washington Movement.

Topic 6, Lesson 10: What were the social effects of WW2?

Fair Employment and Practices Commission (FEPC)

Roosevelt was concerned that the March on Washington Movement would discredit the government, and more importantly, the country.

Roosevelt and Randolph came to a compromise: Randolph called off the march and Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 which set up the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) in June 1941.

Paragraph 3 of Executive Order 8802 permitted the FEPC to investigate complaints and take action against alleged employment discrimination.

In 1943, Roosevelt issued Executive order 9346 which gave the commission greater powers and increased its budget to nearly half a million dollars.

Topic 6, Lesson 10: What were the social effects of WW2?

The Double V Campaign

An African American newspaper, Pittsburgh Courier, created the double V campaign.

Double ‘V’ meant victory at home in terms of improved civil rights as well as victory abroad against fascism and dictatorship.