Winning the War

1. Winning the War SWBAT: explain how women, African Americans, Native Americans, and Asian Americans contributed to the war effort despite racismand sexism from the US government. Homework: Finish paragraph response on the back of the chart if unfinished in class. You’re responding to the statement: Agree or disagree: minorities did nothing to help the war effort during WWII. Do Now: Imagine you are a Native American living on a reservation in 1941. Your family was forced there by the US gov’t, you have only been considered a US citizen for ~20 years, and you still face racial discrimination by outsiders. Pearl Harbor has been attacked, and the US is at war. Do you volunteer to fight for your country, or not? Explain.

2. Let’s do an activity… • Everyone stand up. • Sit down if you have ever had any of the following: • A hernia, you’re anemic, have braces/retainer, diabetes, had knee surgery to fix an ACL/meniscus, etc., asthma, epilepsy, severe migraine headaches, psoriasis, scoliosis, bee, peanut, or gluten allergy. • If you are a girl, sit down. • If you wear glasses, contacts, or hearing aids, sit down. • If you identify as being a minority, sit down.

3. Let’s discuss • We started with ~28 people. How many were left? • How would you describe the people standing? • Why do you think minorities were kept out of the draft?

4. The Draft • The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 was the first peacetime draft in American military history enacted in Sept., 1940. • Required all men between 21 and 35 to register with the US military. • This was later changed to 18 and 45. • In the US, there were 20 million men who fell in this age bracket. • 50 percent were rejected the very first year, either for health reasons or illiteracy. • Minorities and women were originally not eligible for the draft.

5. America enters the war…and needs more men • As war continued, it became clear that more men were needed. • At this point, the US military had to consider allowing men of color to join the armed forces. • Why do you think Asian Americans (specifically, Japanese Americans) were considered fit for military service? • By 1943, however, the military had no choice. • Men who were minorities were finally allowed to join and were placed in segregated units.

6. Women join the effort • With millions of men overseas, there was a sudden need for people in the workforce. • Winning a war meant building guns, airplanes, boats, and cars and without men, someone had to fill in the gaps. • Women were called to fill in these gaps and help with wartime production. • Women in Great Britain and Russia had already joined men in the armed forces and for the first time in US military history, military high command considered letting women join the armed forced.

7. Group Activity • To examine how each group helped fight the war, you will break up into groups, read an info sheet, and fill in a chart that documents how that group contributed. • Each person in your group will be responsible for one group. • You will spend 10 minutes reading and filling in the chart for your assigned minority. • Once everyone in your group is done, you will go around and present your minority to the other group members. • By the end of the class, you should have all parts of the chart filled in. • Then on the back of your chart, respond to the following statement: Agree or disagree: “Women and minorities did not do much to help the war effort during WWII”. Use evidence in your chart to back up your answer.

8. Discussion Questions • What kind of discrimination did minorities face? • Is it surprising then that they would have volunteered? • Do you think the double v campaign fought by African Americans was successful? • Why were the Japanese eventually allowed to fight? Do you think they would have been allowed to eventually anyway?