1. Please read the lecture below.
(What Our History Books Probably Did Not Tell Us)
Much of our education about U.S. history in World War II focuses on this being a righteous war where the U.S. went to fight the evils of Hitler and Nazism. Yes, that is true that the U.S. did fight alongside our allies the British and the Russians to defeat Hitler and Mussolini. To hear U.S. history books tell it, we came in and saved the day because the Brits and Russians were struggling. The Brits and Russians were struggling – that is true – but the U.S. only entered the war when it pleased President Roosevelt and his Congress: December 7, 1941. And, the U.S. waited for Pearl Harbor to happen and then declared war on Japan (the Pacific Theatre) and also on Germany (the European Theatre).
This is not the entire truth. The truth is not that the U.S. was suddenly fabulous and fighting against various forms of imperialism. The truth is that since 1933 – yes, folks – 1933 – Jewish people were being rounded up and put on trains to concentration camps. By the mid 1930’s, various humanitarian groups were begging the United States to take in Jewish children in the kindertransport that was happening as underground resistance fighters like the amazing “Tante Truus” from Amsterdam were helping get thousands of Jewish and other threatened children (the physically and mentally disabled, children of Christian resistance fighters and journalists, children of intellectuals, etc) out of Nazi occupied countries. England took in thousands of Jewish children who were saved – but who lost their entire families in the death camps. The United States refused.
The moment Pearl Harbor happened, the United States declared war on it’s own citizens – Japanese Americans. This part of the story is not often told. The ways that the U.S. military – over a few days – came in, swept up, and removed U.S. citizens because of their race and nation of origin and put them all in internment camps – or, as scholars at UC Berkeley are now referring to this – Japanese American Concentration Camps. Have you been to Tanforan Mall near SFO? That was a concentration camp. Have you been to the Hagiwara Japanese Tea Gardens in Golden Gate Park? If you have or if you do go, please take a moment and look at the beautiful plaque at the entrance. It talks about the family who started those gardens – and who were thrown into the camps. As you will read this week, one of those thousands of people who were forced into these camps was Jiro Onuma, who will be featured in an online essay and in a 38 minute presentation on queer Japanese Americans interred. [By the way, George Takei and his family were also thrown into one of these horrific camps].
(Gender Subversion In The War)
One of the other stereotypes we often have about World War II was that suddenly women went to work. White middle-class women went to work. Working-class women of all ethnicities and women of color had already been at work because those families could not survive (usually) on one income. But, what became famous history was that suddenly women went to work. I think that you will see how the art of the propaganda posters continues this idea that “women” going to work means “white women” going to work. Interestingly, the art of the propaganda posters moves away from making sure women are delicate and super feminized and, instead, asks women to “butch it up.” The posters also asked men to “butch it up.” In fact, many posters for the war effort that depicted men would show the ones who chose to be conscientious objectors as effeminate – and the underlying idea was that they were gay and therefore “too girly” to fight. Gender stereotypes everywhere! So, as you look at some of the art, it may not be literally queer, but it is metaphorically so – particularly for women – because it is asking them to masculinize. You will hear more about that, too, in the short film on Rosie the Riveter.
(Coded Language)
You will also have a chance to study gay men and lesbians in World War II through either reading a chapter of Allan Bérubé’s Coming Out Under Fire or watching Arthur Dong’s documentary of the same name. Please pay attention to the various ways that queer people in the war effort had to rely on coded language. And for those of you who thought “Friends of Dorothy” – which is a code for queer people – was a reference to The Wizard of Oz, you will find out that, originally, it was not. Rather, it is a reference to the very campy language used in the novels of Dorothy Parker. This language was used in underground queer newspapers in the military. Finally, you will see the hypocrisy of how we wound up with “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” here in the United States.
2. Please read the information at these websites. There is also a 38 minute lecture/presentation to watch. Jiro Onuma first came to the United States in 1923 (a century ago) – and he came to San Francisco. Consider what it must have been like for him as a young gay man to come to SF (SF may not have been the LGBTQI2+ mecca it is considered now, but it was a much more open city than most).
3. Please discuss Yasmine I. Rayyis’s work Searching for a Queer History in the Japanese American Concentration Camps.
What is Rayyis’s overall argument in this piece?
After you have watched the presentation, what did you learn about Onuma?
Please discuss any aspects of the Rayyis website.
At the GLBT Historical Society, there are a few documents shown to you. Onuma was a photographer – and from the previous website, you also found out that he collected all sorts of gay ephemera. As you look at the materials available, what thoughts do you have about the life these items tell you about?
Please use one of Onuma’s photographs in this collection and conduct a close reading of it – what do you see there? And, depending on which one you chose, is there anything that helps us denote the image as queer? Coded queer?
4.The Hoover Archive at Stanford University has thousands of propaganda posters from World War II. I have chosen the following 4 posters focused on recruiting women for the war effort in the United States. Please have a look at each poster and consider what message it is trying to convey. How do the posters uphold gender stereotypes? How do the posters push the boundaries or “queer up” gender stereotypes? None of these are overtly “queer” as in lesbian or bisexual; however, to “queer” something up means to push it outside of the norm. So, as you look at these, consider the message women were getting. Also pay attention to what kind of women are being recruited.
On a side note, the Hoover also has one of the world’s largest collections of photographs and writings from the Japanese Internment Camps.
AND, they have the world’s largest collection of AIDS posters.
Once our pandemic is over, if you can make it down to Stanford, the Hoover Archives are free and open to everyone. The archives are a treasure trove of anything having to do with war, peace, and revolution.
https://digitalcollections.hoover.org/objects/27617/4-fresh-and-clean-again-its-worth-dirty-hands-to-make-t?ctx=811124b5-9d85-4183-b078-b693066a6543&idx=39
Collection Title: Poster collectionDate: 1940/1945?Medium: political postersRecord Number: XX343.17993
https://digitalcollections.hoover.org/objects/27615/2-beryl-taught-me-her-job-in-a-few-days?ctx=6d3bb771-bb6e-4572-8b29-9476ef77ac9b&idx=17
Collection title:Poster CollectionDate: 1940/1945?Medium: Political postersRecord Number: XX343.17991
https://digitalcollections.hoover.org/objects/35473/be-a-marine–free-a-marine-to-fight-span-classqueryhl?ctx=3c5f643c-97fa-4b84-a3b8-201d7478dcdb&idx=6
Collection title: Poster CollectionUnited States. Marine CorpsDates: January 28, 1943Medium: political postersRecord Number: XX343.25850
https://digitalcollections.hoover.org/objects/35524/id-rather-be-with-them–than-waiting-the-wac-womens-ar?ctx=19b457dc-d412-46ad-9b66-1c59c02f280b&idx=99
Collection title: Poster CollectionCreator/ Contributor: United States. Army. Recruiting Publicity BureauDate:1944Medium: political posterRecord Number: XX343.25900
As you look at these four images, what are the posters saying? Literally what are they saying? And then, on a more metaphoric level, what are the posters saying? How does the graphic design help get the point across? What are the posters saying about gender and gender stereotypes? Are they reinforcing stereotypes? Which poster seems those most gender subversive? Any of them? How do their captions and their art get the point across? What else would you like to say about these posters?