War on the Homefront

War is good for business.. Defense industries (making tanks, planes, guns) experience a huge boom during wartime, and they need everyone they can get to come work for them in the factories. Farmers prosper too, the weather was better than it had been for the Depression, technology was improving, plus they had to grow and sell all that food for the soldiers.

Women during wartime. Due to many men being overseas fighting, women picked up the slack back home. Over 6 million women enter the workforce, many for the first time. The war created openings for women in fields like journalism and other “professional” jobs.

Population shifts African American southerners were especially mobile during this period, often heading out West to California and Northern cities.

Social changes Women struggled to raise the family and work at the same time, kids were often sent to relatives or child-care centers Teens had trouble without solid structure and delinquency was a problem. People are getting married like crazy! Couples, some who weren’t dating for very long, would get married prior to the man taking off for war. Men returning to their families had a hard time adjusting to civilian life, adding to the strain on families. The government created the “GI Bill of Rights,” which provided job training and education for returning soldiers.

Racial Tensions As African Americans poor into new cities, longtime white residents were resentful. Detroit experienced a race riot that went on for three days before FDR had to send federal troops in stop it. Mexican Americans also experienced discrimination, and Los Angeles had a similar riot to Detroit

Japanese Internment After the Pearl Harbor attacks, Americans became increasingly prejudiced toward Japanese Americans. Newspapers printed stories that said all Japanese were plotting against the United States. America was angry and fearful, and demanded something be done.

FDR Signs an Executive Order. In early 1942, he signed an order requiring the removal of people of Japanese ancestry from California and parts of Washington, Arizona, and Oregon. In the following weeks the army rounded up 110,000 Japanese Americans and placed them in “relocation centers,” which was a nice way of saying prison camps. Families were forced to sell their homes and businesses and only bring with them the bare necessities.

Korematsu v. United States The relocation was challenged in Supreme Court, however the court decided that the actions were lawful on the basis of “military necessity.”