African-Americans and Women in World War I and the Growth of Mass Culture

World War I came on the tail end of the Progressive Era in the United States. It was a time that placed great emphasis on social reform. Efforts of these kinds which had emerged in the early part of the twentieth century included anti-trust legislation and the rise of labor unions and socialist organizations. The women’s fight for equality during the suffrage movement grew during this time. Unfortunately, racism also became increasingly institutionalized during the Progressive Era as well. Segregation laws were strengthened in many Southern states. President Woodrow Wilson betrayed his campaign promise of increasing the civil rights status of African-Americans. After he was elected, President Wilson proceeded to impose segregation policies on federal agencies. The eugenics movement was growing, and many supposed progressives paradoxically supported the racist objectives of the eugenicists.

The outbreak of World War I brought with it the return of the draft. It was the greatest war the United States had seen since the Civil War. Over two million African-American males were drafted into military service. Other African-American men volunteered for military duty, hoping to prove their worth as Americans to their fellow citizens and to the government. A number of African-American units were organized by the U.S. armed services. Most of these were not used in actual combat and merely played support roles. However, approximately three hundred thousand blacks served in the First World War.

The war effort meant that many American men were active-duty military personnel. Consequently, there was a manpower shortage on the civilian front. Women often stepped in as replacements. Women also served in support units during the war. They worked as medical personnel and even took the place of men in factories that manufactured ammunition. Women also served among the ranks of active-duty military personnel for the first time in American history. The contributions of African-Americans and women to the war effort were important developments in the evolution towards greater equality for women and minorities in the United States.

Mass culture in the United States and in other Western nations significantly expanded following the close of World War Two. Many factors contributed to this unprecedented social change. One was population growth and the increasingly large population size found in major cities and metropolitan areas. Mass society began to produce mass culture. Another important factor was the rise in living standards. The predictions made by nineteenth-century thinkers like Karl Marx that the working classes would become increasingly impoverished did not stand the test of time. Instead, the standards of living of workers expanded, and many workers were able to join the ranks of the middle class. The increased complexity of early twentieth-century industrial society made the role of trained experts in any number of professional fields indispensable. Hence, the rise of the white-collar class and still further expansion of the middle class. The growth of the middle class brought rising literacy and educational standards. More and more people became consumers of books, newspapers, and magazines. This was the beginning of the mass media as it is known in contemporary society.

None of these changes could have been brought forward without the technological advancements that occurred during the World War I era. Motion picture technology was in its embryonic stages at the time and silent films began to play to larger audiences. Much more rapid systems of communication also developed as a result of the growth of telephone and telegraph technology. Radio waves began to be used as a form of communication as well. These were astonishing and unprecedented developments in human ingenuity. Along with advancements in communications technology there were comparable advancements in transportation. The advent of the automobile and then aviation technology made human society infinitely more mobile than it had ever been before, and the mass production and transit of consumer goods became ever more possible. Department stores, the advertising industry, and other aspects of commercial society that are taken for granted today began to appear. Indeed, it was during this time that both consumer culture and popular culture rooted in the mass media as is presently understood really began to emerge.

Work Cited

Faragher, John Mack and Mari Jo H. Buhle, Susan H. Armitage, Daniel H. Czitrom. Out of Many- A History of the American People. Sixth Edition. Vol. 2. New York: Pearson, 2012. Print.