The WWII Home Front | United We Win | 2

American History Tellers

Wondery

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, History, Education For Kids

4.7 • 18.3K Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2020

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As the nation’s factories and shipyards ramped up production for the war, the demand for labor exploded. Millions of women and minorities entered the workforce for the first time, finding a path to prosperity and opportunity.

But as Americans joined in common purpose, strife and challenges hit the homefront.

In 1943, half a million coal miners in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania went on strike, sparking nationwide uproar and threatening to derail the war effort. Cities erupted with tensions over housing and jobs as the largest migration in history transformed the nation. And deep questions over loyalty and belonging arose, as the federal government forced more than 100,000 Japanese Americans into detention camps.

Listen ad-free on Wondery+ here

Support us by supporting our sponsors!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to American History Tellers add free on Amazon Music,
0:05.6	download the app today.
0:10.0	Imagine it's May 1943 in Harlan County, Kentucky.
0:23.6	A Western Union messenger has just delivered a telegram with horrifying news, confirming
0:28.8	your worst fears.
0:31.2	You walk into the kitchen in a day and sit down at the table to wait for your brother to
0:35.3	come home.
0:36.3	Normally, you both be at work, your coal miners, just like your father.
0:40.6	You first went down in the mines as teenagers, but your mine has been shut down for weeks.
0:45.4	The whole industry is on strike over low pay and bad working conditions, and you're starting
0:50.3	to feel the strain.
0:51.8	You hold the telegram in your hands.
0:57.0	Your brother walks into the room, bag of groceries in his arms.
1:00.2	Hey, guess what?
1:01.2	Finally got a hold of that cereal you like so much.
1:03.4	Don't know why though, it tastes like dirt.
1:05.8	You look at your brother, sadness, weighing heavily in your chest.
1:09.4	Telegram came while you were gone.
1:11.2	And sticky.
1:12.2	At the sound of his son's name, your brother steadies himself against the wall.
1:17.0	What about, Dickey?
1:18.0	Sorry, John.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wondery, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Wondery and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.