Transportation You braved the wet, windy weather for a memorable field trip to the Rosie the Riveter / World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond. The day was quite an adventure in transportation; we used automobiles, passenger train, City buss, and walking to arrive at our destination. A special shout out to Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority for our train tickets!
At the Rosie the Riveter Park, we watched a film which told the story of the Richmond ship yard. Most of the film featured actual workers at the shipyard telling their own story. We learned nearly a newly-built ship a day was launched - 747 in total, work continued around the clock in shifts, housing was so scarce, shift workers would share one bed (at different times). A large number of workers were needed so women, the elderly and minorities were recruited. With the large number of workers who poured into Richmond, the city quadrupled it’s size.
The Richmond shipyards, led by Henry Kaiser, was able to quickly build these ships largely due to the innovative prefabricated assembly methods used. These methods allowed inexperienced workers to do small, repetitive talks, like simple welding, which sped construction and opened up more jobs for new workers, especially women. In their own words, we got to hear how women joined the war effort and took pride in their work. One woman compared welding with embroidery and judged the welds performed by women to be superior to the men’s as the women’s weld were more uniform.
The girls enjoyed posing for pictures with “Rosie,” and as Rosie. The Rosie the Riveter Park is a must visit destination for those interested in World War II history (and girl power!).
Thank you, Julie Passalaqua, for planning our day and arranging our delicious lunch.
