Hello, I'm Mr. Marchin, and thank you for joining me for today's history lesson.

I'll be guiding you through all of our resources today, and my top priority is to make sure that by the end of our lesson, you are able to successfully meet our learning objective.

Welcome to today's lesson, which is part of our unit on the New Deal and World War II in the USA where we are asking ourselves, how far did the American economy recover in the 1930s and 1940s? By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain how the second World War affected American society.

There are five key words which will help us navigate our way through today's lesson.

Those are home front, censorship, rationing, riveter and segregated, the non-military people of a country at war and their activities in support of the war effort are described as the home front.

Censorship is the act of preventing certain information from being seen or made available to the public.

Rationing is a system of limiting the amount of something that each person is allowed to have.

A riveter is a person whose job involves joining pieces of metal together.

This was a common job in ship building and aircraft manufacturing and groups of people are segregated if they are separated from one another.

In the USA, people were often segregated based on their race.

Today's lesson will be split into three parts and we'll begin by focusing on rationing and censorship.

The demands of fighting the Second World War led to greater government interference in American's Day-to-Day lives on the home front, the government took more control over the information people received and their freedom to buy and consume goods as they wished.

Censorship began in 1939 and rationing began in 1941.

So we'll think about each of these and their impact on American lives.

So let's start by thinking about censorship.

Censorship was introduced to prevent sensitive information reaching the enemy, and to help maintain the morale of the American public.

Newspapers and radio stations were required to receive approval before they could report on topics such as factory production, military operations, and even the weather, which were all considered sensitive information that could help the enemy.

Audience participation in radio shows was even stopped in case it was used by enemy spies to share secret messages.

So let's reflect on what we've just heard about censorship.

Identify three things the media required government approval to report on.

Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your answers.

Okay, well then to everybody who said three things, the media required a government approval to report on included factory production, military operations, and even the weather.

All these things were considered sensitive information that could help the enemy or hurt public morale if they were reported without censorship.

So now we can think about rationing.

Rationing was introduced to guarantee supplies that were needed for the war.

A wide range of items were rationed in the USA, this included fuels and tyres, clothing, meats, cheese, and other foods.

All Americans were given ration books including President Roosevelt, so this was something that affected the entire country.

Rationing did take account of the needs of different groups of Americans though, so not everybody got the exact same rations as one another.

For example, police officers received higher fuel rations and pregnant women got higher food rations.

So let's reflect on what we've just heard.

Which statement is most accurate about rationing in the USA, rations were based on people's needs, rations were based on people's race or rations were based on people's wealth.

Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well then to everybody who said the correct answer was a rations were based on people's needs.

For example, police officers got higher fuel rations than other Americans to make sure they could still carry out their important jobs.

And let's try another question.

This time we have a statement on the screen that says a wide variety of items were rationed.

Is that statement true or false? Pause a video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was true, but we need to be able to justify our response.

So two justifications have appeared on the screen.

The first says that cigarettes and alcohol were rationed.

The second says that food, fuel, and clothing were all rationed.

So which one of those two justifications is correct? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Oka, well then to everybody who said justification B was correct, food, fuel and clothing were all rationed, which shows us that rationing applied to a wide range of items in the USA.

So now we're ready to put our knowledge of rationing and censorship into practise.

I want you to study the three statements below.

They say rationing generally treated Americans equally.

The government gained more control over the information Americans received, and censorship could prevent Americans on the home front from receiving useful information for their day-to-day lives.

For each of those statements, I want you to provide an example to demonstrate that it is correct.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your responses.

Okay, well done for all of your hard work on that task.

So we had three statements and I asked you to provide an example to demonstrate that each one was correct.

Your answers may have included rationing generally treated Americans equally.

All Americans received ration books including President Roosevelt.

The government gained more control over the information Americans received, newspapers and radios had to gain approval from the government before reporting on censored topics such as factory production or military operations.

And censorship could prevent Americans on the home front from receiving useful information for their day-to-day lives.

Censorship was even extended to weather reports.

So really well done.

If your free examples look something similar to those which we've just seen in our models.

So now we're ready to move on to the second part of our lesson where we are gonna focus on women and the war.

Before World War II began, most American women focused on domestic responsibilities or worked in traditional female jobs like nursing and teaching.

World War II led to changes in both the scale of female employment and the type of work completed by women in the USA.

American women played a significant role in the eventual victory of the country and its allies.

Around 350,000 women joined the US Armed Forces during the war.

Although women could not serve in combat roles alongside men, they did perform important duties.

For instance, the 150,000 female volunteers who joined the Women's Army Corps or the WAC, took on a range of responsibilities, including work as mechanics, drivers and switchboard operators.

One American general Douglas MacArthur called the WACs, my best soldiers claiming that they worked harder, complained less and were better disciplined than men.

Women in the armed forces also provided important medical services, although less than 1000 women had been part of the Army Nurse Corps when the US went to war in December, 1941, 60,000 had served in the Corps by the time the war ended in 1945, a further 14,000 women joined the Navy Nurse Corps during the war.

So let's reflect on what we've just heard.

Which of the following jobs were women in the armed forces excluded from during World War II? Was it active combat, mechanical engineering, nursing, or operating switchboards? Pause video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was A, women were allowed to serve in a range of different roles in the US armed forces during World War II, but they continued to be excluded from active combat roles.

The overwhelming majority of Americans who served in the armed forces during the Second World War were men rather than women.

However, as 16 million men joined the military, it was critical that new workers were found to replace them in their previous jobs on the home front, the US government actively encouraged women to join the workforce to make up these numbers.

Propaganda posters, including a fictional character, Rosie the Riveter, were published to convince women to take on new responsibilities.

A poster featuring Rosie Riveter, who's shown as the character on the very far right is included on the screen.

Between 1940 and 1945, the number of women in work increased from 12 million to nearly 19 million.

Whereas in 1920, just 20% of the workforce had been made up by women.

This had risen to 36% by 1945.

This growth in female employment was particularly dramatic in engineering and electrical roles where women had traditionally been excluded in favour of male workers.

In the shipbuilding industry for example, there had been only 36 female workers in 1939, when World War II broke out.

But by 1942, that figure had risen to 200,000 as women took on roles as Riveters and engineers.

Despite these gains, inequalities remained not least the fact that women were still paid less than men to do the same jobs.

So let's check our understanding of what we've just heard.

I want you to write the missing number from the following sentence.

The amount of women in work increased from 12 million in 1940 to blank by 1945.

So what's the missing number? Pause the video here and press play when you are ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the missing number was 19 million, the amount of women in work increased from 12 million in 1940 to 19 million by 1945.

This meant that by the end of the war, 36% of the workforce in the USA was made up by women.

And let's try another question.

This time we have a statement which reads, women continued to face discrimination from employers during World War II.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was true, but we need to be able to justify our answer.

So two justifications have appeared on the screen.

The first says that few women worked in traditionally male industries such as shipbuilding, and the second says that most women were still paid less than men even when doing the same work.

So which one of those two justifications is correct? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay well done to everybody who said the correct justification was B, most women was still paid less than men.

Even when doing the same work, we can tell that women were actually often able to overcome some of the exclusions from particular types of work during the war, as well as there'd only been 36 female workers in ship building in 1939, this increased to 200,000 women working in ship building as riveters and engineers by 1942.

And let's try one more question.

This time we have a poster on the screen, and you can use this to help answer the question.

What was the name of the fictional character included in propaganda posters to encourage women to join the workforce? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was Rosie the Riveter.

Rosie the Riveter was a fictional character created as part of the government's propaganda campaign to encourage women to join the workforce.

So we are now in a good position to put all of our knowledge and understanding of women in the war into practise.

I want you to study the poster shown on the screen and we are gonna answer two questions linked to it.

Firstly, I want you to give one inference from the poster about the work completed by American women during World War II.

So in other words, what's one thing you can conclude about the work completed by American women during World War II? Based on what you can see or what it says in the poster, you should support your answer with a specific detail from the poster.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for all your hard work on that task.

So I asked you to give one inference from the poster about the work completed by American women during World War II.

And your answer may have included, women worked in a range of different jobs during World War II.

The poster shows one woman in front of a typewriter and another Rosie the Riveter dressed in overalls.

Women worked in some traditionally male jobs during the war.

The poster shows one woman wearing a safety mask, usually worn in some engineering and manufacturing jobs and women's work on the home front was an important part of the war effort.

The poster describes the women it shows as soldiers without guns.

So really well done if your own inference looked anything like one of those models we've just seen.

So now we can move on to the second part of task B.

I now want you to explain one way in which the poster may be considered an accurate representation of women's work during World War II.

You should include examples from your own knowledge as part of your answer.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for all of your effort on that task.

So I asked you to explain one way in which the poster may be considered an accurate representation of women's work during World War II.

And your answer may have included.

The poster accurately suggests that women worked in a range of different jobs during World War II.

For example, 350,000 women join the armed forces taking on jobs such as switchboard operators, nurses, mechanics, and more, other women on the home front also worked in a range of jobs, including as engineers in the ship building industry.

Alternatively, your answer may have looked like the post that accurately suggests that women worked in some traditionally male jobs during the war.

For example, there were only 36 female workers in the ship building industry in 1939.

But by 1942, that figure had risen to 200,000 as women took on roles as Riveters and engineers.

This shows that women were able to take on jobs in industries that they had previously been excluded from.

And your answer may also have looked like the poster accurately suggests that women's work on the home front was an important part of the war effort.

As 16 million men served in the armed forces, 7 million women entered the workforce.

This ensured that there was still enough workers to produce the large amounts of goods required to supply the USA's armed forces and support its allies.

It's really well done if your own answer looks anything like those three models, which we've just seen.

So now we're ready to move on to the third and final part of our lesson for today where we are going to focus on African Americans and the war.

World War II created new opportunities for African Americans.

However, we must also keep in mind that discrimination continued to affect African Americans working in the USA as well as those who joined the armed forces.

Around 1 million African Americans served and fought in the US armed forces during World War II.

However, African Americans in the military faced considerable discrimination.

African Americans were not allowed to become officers and served in segregated units.

Black sailors in the Navy were initially only allowed to work in ships' kitchens, whilst the Air Force refused to train black pilots at all.

Even African American women working in the Army, Nurse Corps faced discrimination.

Despite the high demand for medical care, the army restricted the number of black nurses in the Corps and only allowed them to treat black soldiers.

As the war continued and more servicemen were killed or injured, some racial barriers began to break down.

The Air Force began accepting African American pilots, although they could only serve in segregated squadrons.

Similarly, the Army, Navy, and Air Force all began to train black officers.

But again, these men were only allowed to command African American soldiers in segregated units.

They were never given command over white soldiers.

So let's make sure we have a secure understanding of what we've just had.

Which statement is most accurate? African Americans were not allowed to serve in the armed forces, African Americans joined the armed forces but served in segregated units or African Americans join the armed forces and served in mixed units? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was B.

African Americans joined the armed forces but served in segregated units.

They were not allowed to fight alongside white soldiers.

And let's try another question.

How did discrimination affect black nurses in the Army Nurse Corps? `Was it that they were not paid for their work, that they could not treat white patients or that they were not given proper training? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was B.

Black nurses in the Army Nurse Corps were not allowed to treat white patients.

This was despite the fact that they received the same training as white nurses.

And despite the heavy demand for medical attention for the many wounded soldiers in the US Army.

Many African-Americans on the home front were able to find jobs as wartime production increased.

African Americans benefited from higher wages during the war, but they still tended to be paid less than white Americans for the same work.

Many employers were also less willing to hire black workers.

One aircraft manufacturer employed only 10 African Americans in a workforce of 30,000 people.

A protest against racial discrimination was planned to take place in Washington DC in 1941, which pressured the government into introducing the Fair Employment Practise Committee or the FEPC.

The FEPC could not force companies to change, but it could persuade them to do so by recommending that the government refuse to give contracts to companies which continued to discriminate.

Within a year of the FEPC being set up, African American employment in the defence industry had increased, especially in areas such as ship building.

Nevertheless, discrimination continued across the USA and in the South, Jim Crow laws, which discriminated against African Americans, remained in place throughout the war.

This led to the start of a movement known as the Double V campaign in 1942.

The campaign called for a Double Victory.

It supported the USA's war aims to promote democracy and freedom abroad.

But the Double V campaign also argued that a second victory was necessary to achieve the same for African Americans at home.

Although the Double V campaign enjoyed widespread support amongst African Americans, it led to little immediate change.

So let's make sure we have a really secure understanding of what we've just heard.

What was the name of the government agency set up in 1941 to monitor and challenge discrimination in the workplace? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the answer was the Fair Employment Practise Committee or the FEPC.

The FEPC was set up in 1941 after the government came under pressure for continued widespread discrimination against African Americans in the workplace.

And let's try another question.

This time we have a statement which reads the Double V campaign opposed the war.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody, who said that the statement was false, but we need to be able to justify our response.

So two justifications have appeared on the screen.

The first justification says that it supported the USA's fight for freedom abroad, but highlighted that African Americans still lacked freedom in the USA and the second says that it supported the USA's fight for freedom, but argued that African Americans should not fight abroad until discrimination ended.

So which one of those two justifications is correct? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct justification was A.

The Double V campaign supported the USA's fight for freedom abroad, but highlighted that because of widespread discrimination in the USA, many African Americans still lack freedom at home.

And so a second victory was necessary.

So we are now in a good position to put all of our knowledge of African American experiences of World War II into practise.

I want you to answer the following question.

How are the lines of African Americans impacted by the Second World War? I want you to write two paragraphs explaining two separate impacts of the war for African Americans.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for all of your effort on that task.

So I asked you, how were the lives of African Americans impacted by the Second World War? And your answer may have included The Second World War provided African Americans with new job opportunities.

For example, around 1 million African Americans served in the US armed forces during the war, even taking on some roles as officers.

On the home front, many African Americans were able to find work as wartime production created new jobs in industry and agriculture.

This helped many African Americans to escape poverty and unemployment after the Great Depression, however, discrimination continued to limit African American employment opportunities compared to white Americans.

Initially, the Air Force refused to employ black pilots at all.

Whilst one aircraft manufacturer was found to employ just 10 African Americans from a total workforce of 30,000 people.

So while don't make your own answer looks something like that model, which we've just seen, your answer may also have included, the Second World War led to increasing challenges to the discriminatory treatment of African Americans.

Some of these challenges were led by the government.

For example, in 1941, the government set up the FEPC, which monitored discrimination in workplaces.

However, the FEPC could not force employers to change their behaviour.

So discrimination in the workplace continued.

Nevertheless, discrimination was also challenged by African Americans themselves.

For instance, many black people supported the Double V campaign.

This campaign highlighted the continued problem of discrimination in the USA by arguing that African Americans needed a double victory for freedom and democracy both abroad and at home.

So again, well done if one of your paragraphs looked like that model, which we've just seen, and that means we've now reached the end of our lesson for today.

So in a good position to summarise our learning, we've seen that Americans on the home front experienced new restrictions on their day-to-day lives during the war, including the introduction of censorship and rationing, 7 million women entered the workforce even taking on traditionally male jobs, such as working as riveters.

Opportunities for employment for African Americans grew inside and outside of the military.

And African Americans continued to face discrimination.

Jim Crow laws remained in place in the south, and military units were segregated.

So really well done for all of your work throughout today's lesson.

It's been a pleasure to help guide you through our resources, and I look forward to seeing you again in future as we think further about the New Deal and World War II in the USA.

And ask ourselves how far the American economy recovered during the 1930s and 1940s, and what different groups of Americans experiences of these years were like.