Arts and Humanities Commons^™

"They Are Hiring The White Women But They Won't Hire The Colored Women": Black Women Confront Racism And Sexism In The Richmond Shipyards During World War Ii, Paige Tuft

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Historians disagree about the lasting progress wartime defense work helped women and blacks achieve. Both gender and race historians explored the meaning of progress in terms of economic opportunities and social change. Ultimately, the progress debate centers on whether the war afforded women and minorities greater opportunities or whether remaining barriers limited these opportunities. This thesis complicates the progress narrative by looking at black women, a group largely overlooked by both gender and race historians. This thesis defines progress specifically as the ability to secure skilled jobs in the shipyards.

This thesis also takes an in-depth look at the reasons …