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Women and African Americans in the War by Carli
World War I had two major groups with new roles during the war. One group was the African Americans and the other group was women. During the war, men went off to fight. This left many jobs to be done at home. Also, the government needed a lot of soldiers to fight the war. Women and African Americans helped do these jobs.
Women were in demand to take up the work at home while the men were away fighting the war. A woman’s role was no longer staying home with her children and doing chores. The women helped by doing the jobs men left behind. Many worked in factories, drove buses and trains, took care of farms, and ran their husband’s businesses. Nursing was still the biggest job for many women during the war. The number of women working outside the home rose to ten million during the war.
Women weren’t the only group helping out during the war. Over two million African Americans registered during the draft and about 42,000 went overseas to fight the war. Many of the African Americans served in units that were segregated in to all black units of soldiers such as the 92nd and 93rd units. The 92nd unit was kept out of combat and the soldiers worked in labor battalions. The 93rd unit was sent to France and fought the war with French soldiers.
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