Minorities During WWII

CA Standards 11.7.3 Identify the roles and sacrifices of individual American soldiers, as well as the unique contributions of the special fighting forces (e.g., the Tuskegee Airmen, the 442nd Regimental Combat team, the Navajo Code Talkers). 11.7.5 Discuss the constitutional issues and impact of events on the U.S. home front, including the internment of Japanese Americans (e.g., Fred Korematsu v. United States of America) and the restrictions on German and Italian resident aliens; the response of the administration to Hitler's atrocities against Jews and other groups; the roles of women in military production; and the roles and growing political demands of African Americans.

What were the contributions of minority groups in World War II? Essential Question What were the contributions of minority groups in World War II?

Objective Students will be able to identify the contributions of minority groups in World War II by completing CLOZE notes and review questions.

Film Clip: America Enters the War

In what ways did the American Home Front change during World War II? Pair-Share In what ways did the American Home Front change during World War II?

Rosie the Riveter Propaganda to encourage women’s participation in the war. A symbol of women’s patriotic duty. Showed women as capable of working in traditionally male jobs.

Women at work As millions of men joined the armed services, more women than ever before entered the labor force. The government, newspapers, radio, and newsreels encouraged women to take factory jobs as a patriotic duty, and 5 million American women entered the workforce. “Rosie the Riveter,” became the national symbol of the vital contribution women were making to the work force .

More than ever before, women filled jobs that were not for traditional females. They worked on production lines, in steel mills, on the docks, and in other jobs that required heavy manual labor. To encourage women to work, the government offered job training courses, and Congress appropriated funds for child care centers, and women’s wages rose although they only earned 60 % of a man’s wages.

442nd Regimental Combat Unit

442nd Regimental Combat Unit After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, all Japanese Americans were reclassified to enemy aliens and were not allowed to enlist in the U.S. military. However, in January 1943, President Roosevelt decided to allow these Japanese Americans to volunteer in the war. In May 1943, approximately 1,500 volunteers from the mainland and 3,000 from Hawaii assembled for training at Camp Shelby, Mississippi.

The troops of the 442nd Regiment fought in 8 major campaigns in Italy, France and Germany, including the battles at Belmont, Bruyeres and Biffontaine. At Biffontaine , the unit fought perhaps its most famous battle, the “Rescue of the Lost Battalion ". In this bloody confrontation, the 442nd unit lost more than 800 troops to rescue 211 members of the Texan 1st Battalion of the 141st Regiment. In less than two years of combat, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team earned more than 18,000 honors including one Medal of Honor, 53 Distinguished Service Crosses, 588 Silver Stars, 5,200 Bronze Star Medals, 9,486 Purple Hearts, and eight Presidential Unit Citations (the nation's top award for combat units). The 442nd Regimental Combat Team is the most decorated unit in U.S. military history.

Navajo Code Talkers

Navajo Code Talkers Code talkers were Native American soldiers serving in the U.S. armed forces who primarily decoded secret military messages. The Code Talkers transmitted these messages over radio network or military communications nets using formal or informally developed codes built upon their complex languages. The name is strongly associated with Navajo speakers specially recruited, for the first time during World War II, by the United States Marine Corps, under the Dept. of the Navy to serve in their standard communications units in the Pacific Theater.

Navajo Code Talkers

Tuskegee Airmen

Tuskegee Airmen The Tuskegee Airmen was the first African-American flying unit in the U.S. military. Before 1940, African Americans were banned from flying for the U.S. military. African Americans could only serve as cooks, janitors and other service occupations. In response to pressure from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the black press, and others, the War Department in January 1941 formed the all- black 99th Pursuit Squadron of the U.S. Army Air Forces, to be trained using single-engine planes at the segregated Tuskegee Army Air Field at Tuskegee, Alabama.

Tuskegee Airmen

Tuskegee Airmen The Tuskegee Airmen fought in the European theatre and was noted as the Army Air Forces' only escort group that did not lose a bomber to enemy planes. Altogether 992 pilots graduated from the Tuskegee airfield courses; they flew 1,578 missions and 15,533 sorties, destroyed 261 enemy aircraft, and won over 850 medals. The Tuskegee Airmen overcame segregation and prejudice to become one of the most highly respected fighter groups of World War II.

Fair Employment Practices Commission

Fair Employment Practices Commission Men at war meant job vacancies in factories. African Americans moved from the south all over America to fill these jobs. White Americans protested over the influx of African Americans A. Philip Randolph threatened to lead 100,000 protestors to protest the discrimination in defense jobs. FDR didn’t want the protest in Washington DC so they compromised FDR established the Fair Employment Practices Commission to promote minority hiring . Therefore, during WWII, African Americans demanded more political power and rights .

Essential Question What were the contributions of minority groups in World War II? What changes for minority groups do you predict will take place in the U.S. after World War II?

Homework Complete the questions and activities on the right side of your notes. Be prepared to share your answers tomorrow!