In the style of our textbook author, Eric Foner, we started this module with a look at some of the abstract ideas driving American entry into World War II (like the “Four Freedoms” that Roosevelt said were threatened by the Axis, especially Germany and Japan).

In this assignment, we’ll pivot to the experience of the WWII home front to judge whether ideas like the Four Freedoms applied evenly to the American people. As Foner has hinted in previous chapters, things are never quite what they seem, particularly for immigrants, African-Americans, people of color, etc.

In recognition that many of you are still writing the Midterm Essay this week, notice that you are again only responsible for two response posts to other students. I’ve also centered this assignment on watching videos. All the videos below are available on YouTube and have closed captions. They are all roughly two to five minutes long.

Assignment Instructions

Step 1: Watch the videos below.

Step 2: Reply to Prompt

Using this week’s videos and images, respond to the prompt below in a 150- to 250-word discussion post. No formal citations necessary, but do reference the sources to support your ideas. You don’t have to answer all the questions, just the ones that get you writing.

Prompt: Did everyone in the US have access to Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms”? What do the above sources say about ideas about race, ethnicity, and belonging in the US during the war? How can we reconcile the American ideas language of equality used to fight Nazi racism with the home front experiences and societal treatment of people of color, particularly black Americans, the Indigenous, Asians and Asian-Americans, and Mexican and Mexican-Americans? (We won’t really talk about people descended from or immigrating from Central and South American until after the 1950s– the US and Europe still have a lot of Cold War destabilizing to do in the region before we see increased US immigration from beyond Mexico).

Step 3: Reply to Two (2) Peers

• In a short paragraph between 50 and 100 words, add further supporting details or respectfully disagree with the post’s author using evidence from this week’s readings.
• Respond to as many peers as you like, but you must respond to at least two coursemates.

Please reply to peers who do not yet have replies so that all are included in the conversation.

How to participate:

A few tips for this assignment:

• Press “Reply” to add your own, individual reply to the discussion board.
• To reply to your peers’ posts, press reply under their specific post.
• Coursemates’ posts will become visible once you have posted to the discussion board.
• For discussion assignments, it is recommended that you compose your posts in a word processor so that you can copy and paste into your discussion posts. BE AWARE: There is no Save function for discussion posts.