From Rosie to Roosevelt: The American People
World War Two changed America in every way, and sixty years later we still feel its effects.
America leaped from the Great Depression into World War II, and nearly everyone was involved in the war effort. While millions of men headed for battle, women went to work building the equipment they needed for victory. But when the war ended, life was never the same.
From Rosie to Roosevelt: The American People covers the millions of men and women who headed for battle, and those who mobilized to support the war effort at home. The series begins with the film The Home Front, which gives a comprehensive overview of the economic and social history of America during World War II. It explores how the war affected the economy, labor and civil rights, and the overall lasting effects of the war on the country's economy, social fabric and way of life.
Subsequent
weeks focus on the effects of the war on women and minorities. The film The
Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter interweaves the inspiring and informative
stories of five "Rosies" who went to work in wartime factories, and
the challenges they faced there.
The American People also explores the wartime experiences of Japanese Americans uprooted and interned in camps far from home, and African Americans who—even as they fought for the country's freedom—remained segregated, in the military and on the home front.
Session Five looks at America's reaction to the Holocaust. While news of a German campaign to exterminate Jews reached America in 1942, the government didn't formally recognize the crisis until 1944. Explore why no action was taken sooner, and how many lives the delay cost.
The series concludes with the experience of combat at Normandy. The burden of the invasion fell on largely untested young men who conquered fear, fatigue and injury to lead America to victory.
