he role of American women on the WWII homefront is forever etched in our minds, thanks to the iconic image of Rosie the Riveter and the indomitable words “We Can Do It!” But the stereotypical story of white women employed in factories and shipyards only hints at the American workforce that emerged as thousands of men fought a war overseas.
Richmond, California, is the home of the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park, designated only six years ago. As the Park Service moves forward with a management plan to shape the visitor experience and define the park’s role in the community, it’s becoming clear that the city of Richmond has many more stories to tell.
Of all the industrial ports in the nation, Richmond was chosen as the park’s home because it contains more WWII-era structures than any other city. Richmond was home to 56 different war industries. Its four shipyards produced a staggering 747 ships. Nearly 50,000 Jeeps rolled out of its factories, along with tanks, armored cars, half-tracks, and other vehicles.
But that productivity did not come without a cost. People flooded the city looking for work, expanding Richmond’s population from 24,000 to 100,000 overnight, and overwhelming the available housing stock, roads, schools, businesses, and community services. In the beginning, white women filled the jobs, but black men and women soon joined the effort, coming from as far away as the deep South to lend their muscle.
African Americans needed the jobs, and Kaiser’s shipyards needed their skills. But while the “Rosies” were the darlings of the propaganda effort, there were few songs written about African Americans, few posters trumpeting their efforts, and, when the war was over, few opportunities to continue working.
“After the war, the Kaiser Corporation picked up and moved on,” says Betty Soskin, an African American who worked at a segregated union hall during the war, and now conducts community outreach for the Park Service. “The housing units constructed for black workers were bulldozed within three weeks of the war’s end. The rusting elephants that remain on the shoreline aren’t still standing because they were revered—they’re here because of benign neglect.” While the economy of nearby San Francisco took off in the latter half of the century, Richmond struggled in the post-war years.
Even so, the achievements of Afri-can Americans in Richmond created a baseline for much of the social change that followed 20 years later with the civil rights movement. Despite the fact that the Kaiser Corporation was more concerned with building ships than promoting social change, African Americans had seen opportunities they’d never seen before, and it made a difference. Today, African Americans in the city have a strong presence in the professional ranks and in politics. But Richmond remains a working-class community where crime and deteriorating housing conditions are all too common. Many residents look back on the ways the city changed during the war, and believe the park has simply enshrined a period of segregation. They anxiously anticipate the day that WWII-era buildings are torn down and replaced by something better.
The Park Service is hoping to change that by fostering a dialogue. The community relations staff has produced a short DVD that tells the overlooked stories of African Americans on the home front. Park Service employees are leading guided tours of downtown Richmond for community leaders including representatives of city government, local historical societies, and business owners, giving them glimpses of the city’s history at every turn.
“Many people don’t even realize we’re living and working in a national park and that they’re surrounded by all these amazing historic structures,” says Naomi Torres, community outreach specialist for the Park Service. “We’re starting to change the way they see these old structures. Where they once might have said, ‘This is a thing of the past—when are we going to knock it down and create something that’s economically vibrant?’ now they’re realizing how important these structures are in telling their story. We’ve really raised that level of consciousness—people are already asking us, ‘What can we do to save these buildings?’”
Scott Kirkwood is senior editor for National Parks magazine.
The role of American women on the WWII homefront is forever etched in our minds, thanks to the iconic image of Rosie the Riveter and the indomitable words “We Can Do It!” But the stereotypical story of white women employed in factories and shipyards only hints at the American workforce that emerged as thousands of men fought a war overseas.
