California Shipbuilding Corporation, Wilmington, California. Change of shift. California Los Angeles County United States Wilmington, 1942. Apr. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017830157/.
Students will closely observe the details in this photograph taken in 1942 as workers shifts are changing at a shipyard on the Pacific coast in the months following the attack on Pearl Harbor, where much of the US naval fleet was destroyed. The image offers insight into the country’s response to the attack and the preparation for war.
On December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States Pacific fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Eighteen ships were sunk or run aground, including five battleships. One hundred and eighty-eight aircraft were also destroyed.
Source for historical context https://www.britannica.com/event/Pearl-Harbor-attack
- What does this 1942 photograph suggest about the US response to the Japanese attack on the American naval fleet?
- What do you notice about the workers in this photograph?
- What can you deduce regarding the work being done based on the machinery and equipment pictured?
- What do you imagine these workers might have been thinking and feeling about the role they were playing in the war effort? Can you think of a time in recent history when Americans were similarly motivated to work together for common defense?
ELA Standard
Writing standards 6–12: 3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
Social studies standard
HSS Standard 11.7: Students analyze America’s participation in World War II.
Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).
- Invite students to look closely at the primary source photograph and make a list of ten things they observe in the picture.
- In pairs or small groups, students compare their lists and then discuss the significance of this shipbuilding work given the historical moment in time, just months following the attack on the United States naval fleet at Pearl Harbor.
- Conduct an internet search to learn more about this aspect of the US build-up to war.
- Have students imagine they are one of these workers who has just come off a work shift. Write a diary entry in which this person describes the work day they have just completed. Be sure to include how the worker feels about the contribution they are making to the war effort.
United States Office Of War Information, Rosener, Ann, photographer. California shipyard workers. Attired in a welder's outfit this worker is one of California's many women shipyard workers employed at the Richmond Shipbuilding Company. Richmond United States California Contra Costa County, 1943. Feb. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017697446/.