1. Lesson Objectives: Section 4 - The Impact of War (Home Front )
Standard Addressed: Students analyze America’s participation in World War II.
Lesson Objectives: Section 4 - The Impact of War (Home Front )
1. Describe the economic and social changes that reshaped American life during World War II.
2. Summarize both the opportunities and the discrimination African Americans and other minorities experienced during the war.

2. CARES
Commitment
Attitude
Respect
Encouragement
Safety
A BULLDOG ALWAYS

3. PRIVATE SNAFU
TRAINING FILMS

4. SECTION 4: THE HOME FRONT
The war provided a lift to the U.S. economy
Jobs were abundant and despite rationing and shortages, people had money to spend
By the end of the war, America was the world’s dominant economic and military power

5. The Home Front Opportunity and Adjustment Economic Gains 4
SECTION
The Home Front
Opportunity and Adjustment
Economic Gains
Defense industries boom, unemployment falls to 1.2% in 1944
- average pay rises 10% during war
Continued . . .
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6. ECONOMIC GAINS
Unemployment fell to only 1.2% by 1944 and wages rose 35%
Farmers too benefited as production doubled and income tripled

15. A – How did World War II cause the U.S. population to shift?
In towns and cities with defense plants, population increased.
African American left the South for factory jobs in the North and West.

16. GR:The Impact of the War
How did the war and its immediate aftermath affect the following?
Labor:
Unemployment fell
average weekly paychecks rose;
women entered the workforce in record numbers and were then forced out of it after the war;
women and minorities were offered better pay and more challenging jobs.

17. The Home Front Opportunity and Adjustment Economic Gains 4
SECTION
The Home Front
Opportunity and Adjustment
Economic Gains
Farmers prosper from rising crop prices, increase in production
- many pay off mortgages
Continued . . .
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20. How did the war and its immediate aftermath affect the following?
The Impact of the War
How did the war and its immediate aftermath affect the following?
2. Agriculture:
Farm machinery and fertilizers improved;
crop prices, crop production, and farm income increased;
many farmers were able to pay off their mortgages.

21. B – How did the war affect families and personal lives?
During the war, mothers became single parents and women took jobs outside the home.
The war helped create new families.

22. 4
SECTION
continued Opportunity and Adjustment
Population Shifts
War triggers mass migrations to towns with defense industries
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23. POPULATION SHIFTS
The war triggered the greatest mass migration in American history
More than a million newcomers poured into California between
African Americans again shifted from south to north

25. How did the war and its immediate aftermath affect the following?
The Impact of the War
How did the war and its immediate aftermath affect the following?
3. Population centers:
The population of states, cities, and towns with military bases and defense industries increased dramatically.

26. Percentage of women in work force rises to 35%4
SECTION
continued Opportunity and Adjustment
Percentage of women in work force rises to 35%
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27. WOMEN MAKE GAINS
Women enjoyed economic gains during the war, although many lost their jobs after the war
Over 6 million women entered the work force for the first time
Over 1/3 were in the defense industry

30. How did the war and its immediate aftermath affect the following?
The Impact of the War
How did the war and its immediate aftermath affect the following?
4. Family life:
The number of women juggling work and family (and raising children alone) increased dramatically;
the marriage rate increased dramatically.

31. 4
SECTION
continued Opportunity and Adjustment
Social Adjustments
Families adjust to fathers in military; mothers rear children alone
Families must get to know each other again after fathers return
Many couples rush to marry before husband goes overseas
1944 GI Bill of Rights or Servicemen’s Readjustment Act:
- pays education; loan guarantees for homes, new businesses
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32. GI BILL HELPS RETURNING VETS
To help returning servicemen ease back into civilian life, Congress passed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill of Rights)
The act provided education for 7.8 million vets

33. How did the war and its immediate aftermath affect the following?
The Impact of the War
How did the war and its immediate aftermath affect the following?
5. Returning GI’s;
GI Bill of Rights provided free education and job training, as well as federal loan guarantees for buying homes and farms or starting businesses.

34. Discrimination and Reaction4
SECTION
Discrimination and Reaction
Civil Rights Protests
• Racial tensions rise in overcrowded Northern cities
James Farmer founds Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
- works on racial segregation in North
• 1943 racial violence sweeps across country; Detroit riots worst case
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35. James Farmer founds Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

37. The Impact of the War
How did these groups react to discrimination and racism during and after the war?
6. African Americans:
Defended their nation by joining the military and working in defense industries;
founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE);
staged sit-ins; founded committees to improve race relations

38. Discrimination and Reaction4
SECTION
Discrimination and Reaction
Tension in Los Angeles
Anti-Mexican zoot suit riots involve thousands servicemen, civilians
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39. ZOOT SUIT
A zoot suit is a men's suit with high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed, pegged trousers, and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders.
This style of clothing became popular within the African American, Chicano and Italian American communities during the 1940s.

40. The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of riots in 1943 during World War II that broke out in Los Angeles, California, between Anglo American sailors and Marines stationed in the city and Latino youths, who were recognizable by the zoot suits they favored.
Mexican Americans and military servicemen were the main parties in the riots, and some African American and Filipino/Filipino American youths were involved as well.

41. The incident triggered similar attacks against Latinos in
The Zoot Suit Riots were in part the effect of the infamous Sleepy Lagoon murder trial which followed the death of a young Latino man in a barrio near Los Angeles.
The incident triggered similar attacks against Latinos in
Beaumont, Texas;
Chicago;
San Diego;
Oakland, California;
Detroit;
Evansville, Indiana;
Philadelphia; and
New York.

45. Amelia Venegas Pachuca
arrested for carrying brass knuckles during the Zoot Suit riot summer of 1943 in Los Angeles
22 year old Venegas, a wife of a sailor (fighting overseas),
was going to the store with a baby in her arms to get some milk

47. C – What caused the race riots in the 1940’s?
Discrimination, racism, concentration of minorities in cities.

48. The Impact of the War
How did these groups react to discrimination and racism during and after the war?
7. Mexican Americans:
Defended their nation by joining the military;
the zoot suit rebellion against tradition

49. Internment of Japanese Americans4
SECTION
Internment of Japanese Americans
Japanese Americans Placed in Internment
Camps
Hawaii governor forced to order internment (confinement) of Japanese
1942 FDR signs removal of Japanese Americans in four states
U.S. Army forces 110,000 Japanese Americans into prison camps
1944 Korematsu v. United States—Court rules in favor of internment
After war, Japanese American Citizens League pushes for compensation
1988, Congress grants $20,000 to everyone sent to relocation camp
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50. INTERNMENT OF JAPANESE AMERICANS
When the war began, 120,000 Japanese Americans lived in the U.S. – mostly on the West Coast
After Pearl Harbor, many people were suspicious of possible spy activity by Japanese Americans
In 1942, FDR ordered Japanese Americans into 10 relocation centers
Japanese Americans felt the sting of discrimination during WWII

51. Executive Order 9066 is a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, authorizing the Secretary of War to prescribe certain areas as military zones.
Eventually, EO 9066 cleared the way for the deportation of Japanese Americans to internment camps.
The executive order was spurred by a combination of war hysteria and reactions to the Niihau Incident.

52. 10 interment camps

53. Jerome camp in Arkansas

54. U.S. PAYS REPARATIONS TO JAPANESE
In the late 1980s, President Reagan signed into law a bill that provided $20,000 to every Japanese American sent to a relocation camp
The checks were sent out in 1990 along with a note from President Bush saying, “We can never fully right the wrongs of the past we now recognize that serious wrongs were done to Japanese Americans during WWII.”
Today the U.S. is home to more than 1,000,000 Japanese-Americans

55. Nearly 59 years after the end of World War II, the National World War II Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, May 29, 2004 to honor the 408,680 Americans who died in the conflict

56. D – Why did President Roosevelt order the internment of Japanese-Americans?
Because some people perceived them as a threat to national security.

57. The Impact of the War
How did these groups react to discrimination and racism during and after the war?
8. Japanese Americans:
Defended their nation by joining the military;
fought against forced relocation·;
founded the Japanese Americans Citizens League (JACL);
sought compensation for those forced into internment camps