The Impact of WWII On American Minorities

manpower. It is not that we do not have enough people in this country to do the job. The

In the United States World War II has been one of the most remembered wars of all time. Acclaimed historian Ronald Takaki asserts that for many Americans, World War II was fought for a “double victory”: on the battlefront as well as on the home front. Takaki’s book Double Victory: A Multicultural History of America in World War II reminds the audience that there was much, much more happening at home and on the frontlines during World War II than in the battlefield. Takaki presents a strong central argument; it illuminates the incongruity of America's own oppressive behavior toward minorities at home, even while proclaiming the role in World War II as a fight against oppression abroad. It also pays tribute to the determination and perseverance of ethnically diverse Americans in their two-front war against prejudice and fascism. In addition Takaki tells the story through the lives of ethnically diverse Americans: Japanese Americans who felt betrayed by their own country when families were sent to internment camps; For African Americans, the war for freedom had to be fought in their country’s own backyard; a Navajo code talker who uses his complex native language to transmit secret battle messages and confound the Japanese, while his people are living in desperate poverty on a government reservation. Their dual struggle to defeat the enemy abroad and overcome racism at home gives the Double Victory its title and its texture.

World War II was a war for democracy that brought the nation out of the Great Depression, but it was also a war that exposed the dark side of Americans, which made them resemble their enemies. This is evidenced by the American decision to use the atomic bomb to cause the destruction described by Hersey, and Churchill and Kennan’s portrayal of the Russians as “other.” Ngai discusses the challenges Mexican and Japanese immigrants faced at the time, and the inherent racism behind these challenges. Around the mid-twentieth century, America started importing braceros, \ to satisfy labor demands, and to limit wetbacks. Many joined the bracero program because it offered high wages, but broke their contracts when they faced mistreatment and illegal

Part one of this book “Dignity Denied: Youth in the Early War Years”, discusses the political and economic context of the United States in the early 1940’s, when the zoot suit style grew popular (Alvarez, p. 10). During world war two, many African and Mexican Americans contributed to the war effort, because they thought it was what they needed to do in order to improve their standard of living. African Americans and Mexican Americans even fought in the war. However they were still excluded from feelings of patriotism and national belonging because of their race. Even though they were essential in the war effort, they were still being discriminated against. They were expected to join the military and protect a country that failed to acknowledge their civil rights at home (Alvarez, p. 239).

When World War I began African Americans citizens saw it as an opportunity to gain more respect and equal treatment. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case, when the war ended on November 11, 1918, African Americans optimistically hoped that their patriotic sacrifices would have a positive impact on race relations and expand the boundaries of civil rights, but instead when they returned home they were subjected to increased racism and discrimination. After World War I African American men weren’t the only people who had to face discrimination in Cleveland. In Cleveland: A Metropolitan Reader (pp. 192) it stated that, “The city’s African American population grew from approximately 10,000 before World War I to 34,451 people by 1920.” The greatest effect of World War 1 on African American life was the triggering of the first phase of the Great Migration, the unprecedented movement of southern blacks moving towards the north. Which led to African Americans attempting to escape the legacy of slavery and the economic injustices of the South by migrating to Northern cities such as Cleveland, in hope to led a different life. There was a rise in hostility towards blacks because the white community of Cleveland became fearful and surprised as the pace of the migration quickened and the black community was increasing

In the mist of the countries involvement in one of the most grueling wars in history new barriers were broken to make room for an equal America. Although true equality was not reached, these short four years would lead to the turning point in American acceptance toward diversity, both in and out of the work place. The movement of thousands of men overseas create a substantial gap in the work place, creating a never before seen chance for women, Blacks, and immigrants to flood the many war based jobs. At the same time, the Japanese faced radical discrimination for the events in which provoked the United States entry in to the War. In the years incasing WWII opportunity opened to those who had been affected hardest but

Double Victory: Multicultural History of America in World War 11”, is a book written by Ronald Takaki was published in the early 2000s. Double Victory shows the wartime responses from many ethnic backgrounds as well as the war at home against racism and the war abroad against fascism. Takaki also shows the roles of; African-Americans, Native-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and Asian-Americans, during the war and the sacrifices made for their country. In Double Victory, Takaki introduces different revisionist arguments that I will be discussing in this essay along with the connection it has to previous knowledge of the World War II era, and the relation it has to the understanding of the expansion and contraction of citizenship and equality throughout history.

In American Dilemma (1944), Gunnar Myrdal, a Swedish sociologist, writes about the economic conditions that plagued the Negro race in 1944 during World War II. According to Myrdal, “except for a small minority enjoying upper or middle-class status, the masses of American Negroes, in the rural South and in segregated slum quarters in Southern and Northern cities, are destitute. They own little property; even their household goods are mostly inadequate and dilapidate. Their incomes are not only low, but irregular. They live from day to day and have scant security for the future” (Katznelson 29).

During the early twentieth century, the United States was enduring significant social and economic changes due to its transformation into a commercial and industrial world power. As the need for labor escalated within many urban areas, millions of Europeans emigrated from Southern and Eastern Europe with the hopes of capitalizing upon these employment opportunities and attaining a better life. Simultaneously, many African-Americans migrated from the rural South into major cities, bearing the same intentions as those of the European immigrants. The presence of these minority groups generated both racial and class fears within white middle and upper class Americans. The fervent ethnocentrism resulting from these fears,

officials eventually began to recruit these internees into the American army. Not only was WWII a war about political alliances and geographical sovereignty, but it was also a war about race and racial superiority throughout the world. Propagating this idea, Dower (1986) argues, “World War Two contributed immeasurably not only to a sharpened awareness of racism within the United States, but also to more radical demands and militant tactics on the part of the victims of discrimination” (War Without Mercy: p.5). In elucidating the racial motivations and fallout from WWII, Dower helps one realize the critical role that race and racial politics played during the war and are still at play in our contemporary world. An analysis of this internment process reveals how the ultimate goal of the U.S. internment of Japanese Americans and the United States’ subsequent occupation of Japan was to essentially “brainwash” the Japanese race into demonstrating allegiance to America.

During the time of World War II, there was a dramatic change in the society of America and its way of life. Men were needed at war and the women were left at home. People were mistrusted and were falsely accused of something they didn’t do. Some people were even pushed away because they were different. These people were the minorities of America. Some of the minorities it affected the most were the African Americans, women, Japanese Americans, and even young adults. What is a minority? A minority, in this case, is a person or group of people who are discriminated against because there is something about them that makes them different. Some of these reasons why they are different are things like race, gender, and even age. However, the real

When learning information about important facts, dates, and the influential people who made up U.S. history, I do not remember learning much of anything regarding the Irish, Chinese, or Japanese. Well, except for Pearl Harbor and the U.S. retaliating against Japan by dropping atomic bombs. I definitely learned that people from around the world immigrated by boat across vast amounts of ocean for a chance to thrive in the land of freedom called America. I learned that millions of people entered through Ellis Island in the late nineteenth century, looking upon the Statue of Liberty, in hopes of finding their right to life, liberty, and happiness. I learned that the majority of these people were stricken of their identities and provided new American names that were easier to pronounce. I did not however, learn about the great discrimination and hardship that these people suffered at the hands of white Americans. The major theme presented is labor discrimination, unequal and unfair pay, long hours, and harsh working and living environments in regards to the Mexican Americans, Chinese, and Japanese. Takaki (2008) paints a vivid picture of discrimination and suffering of the people known as the “others” living and working in the multicultural “melting pot” United States, in his book A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America.

After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, The United States declared war against Japan and joined the Second World War. In 1942 President Roosevelt signed an executive order and put 127,000 American citizens of Japanese descent out of their homes and into ten inland internment camps since they were considered enemy aliens. As the war went on, the United States realized that they were in need of more troops. President Roosevelt approved to create a combat unit that consisted of only Japanese-Americans. When the army called for volunteers to fight in the unit, 10,000 Japanese-Americans showed up from Hawaii and 2,100 volunteered from internment camps. The segregated unit was formed 1943 and became known as the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

The Second World War transformed the United States in several different ways. Over twelve million Americans will serve in the military, women will work in positions previously held by men in defense factories, along with blacks and whites working side-by-side in the military and war jobs, and the mass movements of the population throughout the country to find high paying defense job. Beth Bailey and David Farber’s book, The First Strange Place: Race and Sex in World War II Hawaii discusses the “cultural contact” between Americans. Men and women who are joined by common nationality, but are “divided by other identities – those of region, religion, gender, class, of race and ethnicity.”

The United States was a divided nation at the time of World War II. Divided by race and racism. This Division had been much greater in the past with the institution of slavery. As the years went by the those beliefs did deteriorate slowly, but they were still present during the years of World War II. This division was lived out in two forms, legislation and social behavior. The legislation came in the form of the “Jim Crow” laws. The belief that some people were naturally superior and others inferior, scientific racism, was the accepted belief of the time These cultural traits were waning. After World War II ended they would decline even more rapidly.