World War II's Impact on Race, Gender, and Social Change in America

Introduction: America Enters World War II

The United States entered the Second World War late, and reluctantly. In spite of the Nazi death camps, the United States remained decidedly neutral until the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The bombing of Pearl Harbor may not have been the only reason why the United States entered the war, but it was a single and tremendous precipitating event that necessitated a quick and decisive response. Entering the war had a huge impact on America's domestic as well as global affairs. The effects of the American entry into World War II on world history included securing an Allied victory and paving the way for a new world order symbolized by the Cold War. Less obvious from a global perspective, but no less important to most Americans, was the fact that entry into World War II led to dramatic social, economic, and political changes at home. Most of those changes can be viewed in the context of prevailing issues related to race, class, gender, and power.

Race relations were severely strained in the United States following generations of failed Reconstruction after the Civil War. Slavery had been abolished, but racism had not. African-Americans were, on aggregate, poor and politically disenfranchised. When the United States entered the war, however, Black soldiers fought alongside their white counterparts — ironically, for a country that dismissed them as second-class citizens.

Race Relations and African-American Soldiers

The armed forces were segregated when the United States entered the Second World War, with separate infantry units for different races and differential status and treatment for African-American combat troops. African-American soldiers were rarely serving in positions above first lieutenant (O'Neil). In general, African-American troops held lower collective status than their white counterparts. Black soldiers were "confined largely to service rather than combat units, excluded entirely from the Army Air Corps and Marines, and from the Navy except as messmen" (O'Neil 1). Prevailing and entrenched racism prevented troop integration, as white soldiers refused to fight alongside their own countrymen. It was no small wonder that the American armed forces were able to create a unified front.

Gender relations were also strained, several years after universal suffrage. Although women had won the right to vote, they were systematically excluded from positions of power and had largely failed to achieve financial independence. Women were barred from combat altogether during the Second World War.

Entering the war had nearly immediate consequences for improving both race and gender relations in the United States, however. As the ironies and paradoxes of American society were exposed through participation in the war, many Americans saw clearly — perhaps for the first time — the pressing need for social justice and change. As Harris puts it, "the battle against Nazi racism exposed America's own prejudices as peacetime never could" (1). The United States, a nation with endemic racism and prejudice, was fighting for freedom in Europe.

Gender, Women, and the Wartime Labor Market

The war also stimulated the domestic economy, particularly in the industrial and manufacturing sectors. Jobs were opening up rapidly, and because so many white men were fighting overseas, many Black men were available to fill them. "For black workers World War II opened up opportunities that had never before existed" (O'Neil 1). The same was true for women, as the war left significant gaps in the labor market that needed to be filled in unconventional ways. At the same time as the war exposed American prejudice, "World War II gave many minority Americans — and women of all races — an economic and psychological boost" (Harris 1). The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was founded during this period, and overall, the war "jump-started the civil rights movement" in the United States (Harris 1; "Identify the Impact of World War II on Minority Groups in America").

African-Americans may have been the largest aggregate non-white group in the United States, but the Second World War had a strong impact on other social and cultural groups as well, including Asian-Americans, Native Americans, and Latin Americans. Native Americans served in the war, and many became heroes after the Army discovered a use for the Navajo language as a viable code. While the war effort did not necessarily improve the lives of most Native Americans, their participation bolstered popular images of indigenous people in American culture.

The war also had a major impact on the personal and collective lives of Mexican-Americans. Many fought in combat, and like African-Americans, many found jobs that would otherwise have been unavailable due to prejudice. Lingering racism, however, led to episodes such as the Zoot Suit Riots, and similar incidents erupted around the country as non-white minorities entered the labor market ("Identify the Impact of World War II on Minority Groups in America"). Prejudices against Asian-Americans surfaced in different ways: Chinese-Americans were suddenly treated as allies, whereas the Japanese American internment camps stand as perhaps the greatest reminder that many Americans clung firmly to prejudices favoring a dominant white culture (Takaki). Likewise, the war exposed domestic anti-Semitism, as immigration quotas on Jewish refugees remained in place in spite of Nazism (Harris).

Conclusion: A Slow Path Toward Social Justice

Takaki, Ronald. Double Victory. New York: Time Warner/Little Brown.