World War 2 and the Asian Population

Chinese American Women Defense Workers in World War II: Article Review
In the article entitled “Chinese American Women Defense Workers in World War II” by Xiaojian Zhao, the author examines that role that Chinese American women played during WWII when they went to work for the Defense Industry and essentially acted as Chinese American versions of the famous Rosie the Riveter who was popularized during the Women’s Movement of 1970s as a throwback to the wartime era and the empowering position that women assumed on the home front as the men went off to war. Overall the works is very fascinating and provides a lot of details about the lives of many of the Chinese American women who helped make the planes and claim their piece of history in the 1940s. The author’s main purpose in writing the article was to show how Chinese American women were not left out of this dramatic shift during the wartime era but were rather at the front and center of it as it quickly became their opportunity to become respected American citizens in a land where Asians had long been socially and politically marginalized.
As Zhao notes, “the war created a favorable climate for Chinese Americans to be accepted by American society” (140), though a strong anti-Asian sentiment still ran through American society following Pearl Harbor. The article shows that Chinese Americans were happy to be welcomed into society during WWII but that many still felt that they had to prove their patriotism because of the “day of infamy” in Hawaii, in spite of the fact that the Japanese were who attacked—not the Chinese. In focusing on this point, Zhao challenges the common narrative that only white women in the U.S. during the war were riveting the planes: in fact, on the West Coast, many Chinese American women were playing a huge role in supporting the war effort.
The author’s use of primary evidence—stories taken directly from women who lived during that time—helps to build the author’s case. The author was able to obtain these stories directly from the sources themselves, and that is what I liked most about the article. It had a very realistic sense about it because it presented real people with real names—not abstractions, but actual members of this community, who lived, married, worked, and died.
I especially liked the fact that the article had pictures that could provide the proverbial “thousand words” to back up the images and ideas that the author was creating between the lines. The pictures of actual Chinese American women outside the home in the factories supporting the war effort helped to establish the fact that these women did have a great sense of patriotism for their country and were very happy to be part of the effort.
As Foner notes, history is so often portrayed as “what the present chooses to remember about the past” (19)—and that means a great deal is likely lost in the passing down of history from one generation to the next. Thankfully, Zhao chooses to remember the Chinese American women who represented America well during WWII in spite of the oppressive laws that they had endured in the decades prior. This article helps to contribute to an understanding of American history by including a chapter on a people that otherwise might have been forgotten—the Chinese American women of WWII.
This article is important for the fact that it reminds today’s readers of how it used to be for people of different ethnicities—how it wasn’t always easy, or equal, for all citizens. America has a dark history at times, and that has to be remembered in order for the truth to endure. I would suggest the book Fighting for the Dream: Voices of Chinese American Veterans from WWII to Afghanistan by Victoria Moy as an accompaniment to this article.
Works Cited
Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History. W. W. Norton, 2016.
Zhao, Xiaojian. “Chinese American Women Defense Workers in World War II.” California History, Vol. 75, No. 2 (Summer, 1996), pp. 138-153