US mobilization of the Industry
During WWI
Effects at home
During WWI many things had to be changed to help the war effort. Three government agencies were created and the Selective Service Act (allowed the government to conscript selected people to increase the size of the army) was introduced in 1917, shortly after the war began. Women began to get access to high paying manufacturing jobs, African Americans began migrating north for job opportunities. Propaganda became a part of everyday life. Poster encouraging signing up for the army were put up in every town, encouraging ads were heard on every radio and the movie theaters were filled with movies explaining the positives of military life.
Propaganda poster
Posters like this were used during WWI to encourage people to buy bonds or fight in the war.
Women working
The war opened new economic opportunities for women at home making war tools, or on the field saving lives
Members of the War Industires Board
The War Industries Board was created in WWI to coordinate the purchase of war supplies.
Changes at home.
During the war, over 6 million African Americans migrated north from rural locations to huge northern cities. Not only did they leave to find better job opportunities, they also left to escape the ever-lingering presence of racially motivated hatred. The cities of Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland and New York saw the most increases in black population during the early period of the 20th century. Women had changing positions in society as well. With the men gone to war, the women worked in factories making weapons and other tools of war to help the war effort and provide a better living for their families.
The Great Migration
This picture shows African American people waiting at a train station to head north for a better life.
Women workers during the WWI era
Women had new opportunities for jobs, not only in factories but as nurses too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-bp-zsBvq0&edufilter=0NsmCsBD3UGorqyU6yfFOg