Wartime Changes

During World War II, people moved to Richmond from all over the country to work in the shipyards, causing explosive growth in the city and a dramatic exchange among people of diverse ethnicities and cultures. Men and women of different backgrounds worked and lived side by side there. Although gender and racial discrimination did not end after the war, the experience dramatically redefined American society and planted the seeds for the civil rights and women's rights movement. The Kaiser shipyard and associated facilities were an outstanding example of innovative wartime industry that supported social programs in healthcare and childcare for employees and their families to an unprecedented level. One of the nation's first voluntary, pre-paid medical plans, now Kaiser Permanente, was founded to keep shipyard workers healthy. During the war, the cafeteria building was open twenty-four hours a day as a place for home front workers to eat and socialize before or after their shipyard work shifts.

Richmond, California · United States