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Homefront Dbq

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World War II was the last total war in American history, meaning that it was the last war in which the United States mobilized all of its resources, civilian and military towards winning a war. Because of this, World War II affected civilians on the homefront more than any since. It is a worthy endeavor to analyze the primary documents from civilians of the time to get a better understanding of their perspective. All of the primary documents deal with how the war affect racial minorities and women on the homefront during an immediately after the war. Men went off to fight the war, and many of the white men who went off to fight in the war left open millions of open job positions. These job gaps were filled by racial minorities and women. The documents suggest that the civilian attitude on the homefront was the beginning of changes for many minority groups. Sybil Lewis was a young black woman …show more content…

Phillip Randolph called for an end to employment discrimination against African Americas (Randolph, 1942). Randolph’s main argument was that with so many men off fighting the war, there were many jobs critical to the war effort that were going unfilled due to discrimination against African-Americans (Randolph, 1942). Randolph also argued that while many African Americans didn’t want to see America lose the war, they often questioned what they were fighting for since they are mistreated more from the U.S. government than any government the U.S. is fighting (Randolph, 1942). President Roosevelt heard the arguments from the African American communities and shortly after Randolph’s speech he passed an executive order banning employment discrimination against African Americans in wars related to the war effort. This was one of the first times African Americans had won equality, if only in a specific area. African Americans serving on the homefront in World War II changed the way African Americans were

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