From Domestic Service to the Defense Industry: The Untold Story of the Black Rosies

She’s a universal symbol of women’s empowerment, flexing her bicep in a denim work uniform and an iconic red-and-white polka-dot bandana. Since 1942, Rosie the Riveter has represented women in the World War II workforce, but we rarely hear the stories of the Black women who answered the call. For many “Black Rosies,” wartime labor was more than a chance to help their country; it was an economic opportunity that offered an exit strategy from domestic service. With Labor Day approaching, we’re honoring the 600,000 Black Rosies whose efforts are often overlooked.

Before the war, the 1940 U.S. Census reported that nearly 73 percent of Black working women were stuck in low-paying domestic service occupations or sharecropping. Add roles like hotel maids and commercial laundresses, and the total rises to nearly 83 percent. As men went off to war and women were left to manage household responsibilities, government campaigns and recruitment efforts urged women to join the workforce. More than 19 million answered, but when Black women responded, some unions and agencies discouraged them from applying for industrial jobs. Many employers simply refused to hire them, according to HISTORY.

But Black leaders fought back. In 1941, civil rights activists A. Philip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and Mary McLeod Bethune, a close advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, pressured Roosevelt to address discrimination in defense jobs. Ultimately, he issued Executive Order 8802, prohibiting racial discrimination in defense industries and creating the Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC). However, the fight for Black women didn’t end there.

According to PBS, some Black women who made only $3.50 a week as domestic workers in the South began earning $48 a week in Los Angeles aircraft plants. These jobs offered more than just better pay. They provided Black women with new skills, experiences and access to industries that had largely excluded Black workers. Black women became welders, electricians, mechanics and sheet metal workers. They were the hands that manufactured fighter planes, welded ship hulls and kept assembly lines moving across the country.

Related: Tuskegee Just Made 13 New Pilots. The Cockpit Is Still 95% White.

With higher wages, many Black women were able to support their families, afford higher education and purchase homes, contributing to the growing Black middle class. Yet, Black Rosies didn’t experience true equality. As HISTORY reported, many factories were segregated, Black workers earned less than white workers for the same jobs, and they were often given the most dangerous tasks.

After the war, Black women were often the first fired as veterans returned and factories cut jobs. White women also lost jobs, but Black women faced additional racial barriers, as inequalities persisted in the job market.

Even with these challenges, the wartime labor shortage broke a cycle that kept many Black women in domestic service for generations. By 1950, according to U.S. Census data, the proportion of Black women in domestic work dropped from 58 percent to about 42 percent, while their numbers in manufacturing nearly doubled and in clerical jobs almost quadrupled. The confidence, skills and independence they gained helped drive activism in unions and civil rights groups. Many former Black Rosies played a key role in the civil rights movement.

Black Rosies may have been left in history’s shadow, but they were the muscle behind America’s wartime effort. They proved that Black women had the power to construct war machines and dismantle barriers.