The 1940’s marked the beginning of the most devastating war in the world history, the World War II. The commencing of the war and the United States subsequent involvement after Pearl Harbor, meant that most of the US male population was drawn towards the war effort. That included many Mexican-Americans who contributed both on the frontlines and at the home front. Mexican-Americans viewed the war as a chance to demonstrate their patriotism for the United States, as well as an escape route of the constant discrimination they endured back home and thousands of them voluntarily joined the military branches to go fight overseas. In addition to that, many more took part in the war by being drafted into the US military service, although many “fell …show more content…
While thousands of Mexican-Americans were fighting and dying in the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific to preserve democracy, thousands more became part of the massive war production efforts back home. With most men being shipped out to the many battlefields, Mexican-American men and women in particular, became the most essential part that drove the American war machine. Mexican-Americans, while still under continuous discrimination, occupied most of the available jobs in Michigan’s defense industries, producing everything from military vehicles, to ammunitions and to Chicago’s meatpacking industry and steel mills. Furthermore, many Mexican-Americans found opportunities in the railroad industry as rail dispatchers, roundhouse mechanics and section hands. Despite more opportunities for jobs, Mexican-Americans endured the same levels of work exploitation such as getting paid less than their white counterparts while working the same jobs and experienced the same racial discrimination in the workplace as before the beginning of the