The enlistment of men into the armed forces caused a labor shortage in industry and agriculture, which were both rapidly expanding production to meet wartime needs. For the first time, many women entered the industrial workforce, and efforts of the Office of War Information to recruit them into these jobs made the character "Rosie the Riveter" famous. In South Carolina, the most pressing need was for help to harvest the crops. Students at Wofford College were excused from classes to pick the cotton crop in Spartanburg County in 1942. Three hundred students picked 15,000 pounds of cotton in one day.
Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.
Standards
- Along with the rest of the world, the United States and South Carolina experienced economic instability during this period. As a result, political instability and worldwide conflict consumed the world in the 1940s. Following World War II, the United States emerged as a world leader through political policies and economic growth.
- This indicator was designed to promote inquiry into military and economic policies during World War II, to include the significance of military bases in South Carolina. This indicator was also developed to foster inquiry into postwar economic developments and demographic changes, to include the immigration of Jewish refugees following the Holocaust.
