Luis Alvarez. The Power of the Zoot: Youth Culture and Resistance during World War II. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008. 318 pp.; 20 black-and-white illustrations. $34.95.

2011 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-98
Author(s):  
Holly Price Alford
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Youth Culture ◽  
University Of California ◽  
World War ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Luis Alvarez

“A Woman's World”: The University of California, Berkeley, During the Second World War

2008 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 534-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Dorn
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Home Front ◽  
University Of California ◽  
World War ◽  
Young Women's Christian Association ◽  
Christian Fellowship ◽  
The University

The fairer sex takes over and the campus becomes a woman's world. They step in and fill the shoes of the departing men and they reveal a wealth of undiscovered ability. The fate of the A.S.U.C. [Associated Students of the University of California] and its activities rests in their hands and they assume the responsibility of their new tasks with sincerity and confidence. —Blue and Gold, University of California, Berkeley, 1943During World War II, female students at the University of California, Berkeley—then the most populous undergraduate campus in American higher education—made significant advances in collegiate life. In growing numbers, women enrolled in male-dominated academic programs, including mathematics, chemistry, and engineering, as they prepared for home-front employment in fields traditionally closed to them. Women also effectively opposed gendered restrictions on extracurricular participation, filling for the first time such influential campus leadership positions as the presidency of Berkeley's student government and editorship of the university's student newspaper. Female students at Berkeley also furthered activist causes during the war years, with the University Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) serving as one of the most popular outlets for their political engagement. Historically rooted in a mission of Christian fellowship, by the 1940s the University YWCA held progressive positions on many of the nation's central social, political, and economic issues. Throughout the war years, women dedicated to promoting civil liberties, racial equality, and international understanding led the organization in its response to two of the most egregious civil rights violations in U.S. history: racial segregation and Japanese internment.

“I Had All Kinds of Kids in My Classes, and It Was Fine”: Public Schooling in Richmond, California, During World War II

2005 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 538-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Dorn
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Public Schooling ◽  
World War ◽  
White Children ◽  
Black And White

I think it was pretty exciting [to teach] during the war. It was a challenge to say the least. And I don't think we thought much about it. We just went ahead and did it because here were all these children and you just go ahead and do your job … . There were all kinds of kids all together … and they didn't seem to fight or have a problem … . I don't remember there being a problem with the kids of various races and so forth … . We had principally Black and White children and they all got along fine. I had all kinds of kids in my classes, and it was fine.

Agriculture and Rural Life in the South, 1900–1945

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Thomas Okie
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
World War ◽  
The South ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Crop Agriculture

The period from 1900 to 1945 was characterized by both surprising continuity and dramatic change in southern agriculture. Unlike the rest of the nation, which urbanized and industrialized at a rapid pace in the late nineteenth century, the South remained overwhelmingly rural and poor, from the 1880s through the 1930s. But by 1945, the region was beginning to urbanize and industrialize into a recognizably modern South, with a population concentrated in urban centers, industries taking hold, and agriculture following the larger-scale, mechanized trend common in other farming regions of the country. Three overlapping factors explain this long lag followed by rapid transformation. First, the cumulative effects of two centuries of land-extensive, staple crop agriculture and white supremacy had sapped the region of much of its fertility and limited its options for prosperity. Second, in response to this “problem South,” generations of reformers sought to modernize the South, along with other rural areas around the world. These piecemeal efforts became the foundation for the South’s dramatic transformation by federal policy known as the New Deal. Third, poor rural southerners, both black and white, left the countryside in increasing numbers. Coupled with the labor demands created by two major military conflicts, World War I and World War II, this movement aided and abetted the mechanization of agriculture and the depopulation of the rural South.

REPARATIONS: Justice and Greed in Black and White

2004 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael C. Dawson ◽  
Rovana Popoff
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
Multivariate Analyses ◽  
Japanese Americans ◽  
World War ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Irreparable Harm ◽  
Blacks And Whites ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Racial Divide

Proponents and opponents of reparations for Blacks vociferously disagree. Conservative opponents argue that reparations for Black slavery are a disastrous idea and that proponents are motivated by either greed or the desire to do harm to the republic. Liberal and left opponents of reparations argue that the advocacy on this issue will lead to great racial divisions and do potentially irreparable harm to progressive movements. Supporters of reparations argue that it is a case of simple justice. That during the colonial, slavery, and Jim Crow eras Blacks were systematically oppressed and exploited with the active support of the state. They also argue that both domestic and international precedents strengthen the case for Black reparations. This paper shows that there is a tremendous divide between Blacks and Whites on questions of both an apology to Blacks as well as monetary reparations. The racial divide extends to support for the reparations to Japanese-Americans who were victims of official incarceration during World War II. Finally, multivariate analyses demonstrates that for both Blacks and Whites, racialized views of politics are best predictors of support for or opposition to reparations.

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