We, too, are Americans'
As demands on them intensified, the women working to provide American troops with clothing, medical supplies, and support services became increasingly aware of their key role in the war effort. Middle-class African Americans worked to desegregate voluntary associations such as the Red Cross and the USO, and institute a policy of respectability that would undercut pernicious racial stereotypes. Working-class black women began to use their indispensability in industry to leverage demands for equal employment, welfare and citizenship benefits, fair treatment on factory floors, good working conditions, and other considerations previously denied them.
- Creator
- Shockley, Megan Taylor