Double Victory: How African American Women Broke Race and Gender Barriers to Help Win World War II

Double Victory: How African American Women Broke Race and Gender Barriers to Help Win World War II — page 5
5 In August 1944 factories across the country were in dire need of workers to build guns bombs planes and ships for the US mili tary The country had been at war for almost three years The government contracted with factory owners to provide the mil itary with critical supplies but thousands of men had left their factory jobs to join the fighting overseas With the urgent need for skilled workers defense plants looked first to unmarried white women to fill the positions As the war effort mounted and the need for defense workers increased the plants began to recruit and hire married white women Some plants hired black men Last to be considered for employment were black women But in some plants the hiring of colored women was never 1 war workers Negroes Cannot Be Accepted I stood in line with the others but a guard came up and said it was no need to wait that there was no hiring of colored women Miss Ethel Bell