Passage V

Honoring Rosie the Riveter

[1]

During World War II, millions of women took industrial jobs in shipyards, aircraft plants, steel mills, and other defense-related enterprises throughout the United States. The labor force that shrank and decreased as men joined the military forces but grew as women flooded into jobs newly open to them. Crucial to the war effort, these women were immortalized by a fictional poster character of the era: Rosie the Riveter. Her strong arms, direct gaze, wearing rugged work clothes convey the competence and determination that so many women brought with them into their new roles. (64)

[2]

In the year 2000, a Rosie the Riveter memorial was dedicated on a sunny day in California. At the height of the war, the workforce at the shipyards grew to 100,000. More than one-fourth of the working laborers were women. About 200 of those women were able to attend the dedication ceremonies as the guests of honor. (67)

[3]

The memorial was designed by landscape architect Cheryl Barton and photographer Susan Schartzenberg. Its' various features together create sense of the size and shape of the cargo vessels, called Liberty Ships, that were built in Richmond. A 441-foot-long walkway, representing the keel of a Liberty Ship, has lead to a platform that commands a view of San Francisco Bay. Sculptures inspired by elements of the ships can also be seen. Panels positioned among the sculptures display photographs, letters, welding certificates, and other "Rosie" artifacts.

[4]

One of the welding certificates on view were donated by Bethena Moore, operating a torch that could heat metal to 250°F, she helped make Kaiser one of the most productive shipyards of the wartime era. The scars on her arms from welding sparks are visible reminders of the hard labor she performed.

[5]

At the ceremony, Phyllis McKey Gould, another former shipbuilder, described how she moved her torch in tiny, circular patterns. "If you did it right, it was beautiful," she said at the ceremony. "It was like embroidery."