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Welcome to Whose Century Is It?, a podcast exploring ideas, trends and twists shaping the 21st century, with stories and conversations from around the world.

 

                                   WebbyHonoree

Mar 24, 2016

If the arc of history bends toward justice, the needs of the nation during World War II sped the process — not by design, but by necessity. With men off at war, US shipyards and factories started recruiting women and African Americans, who previously couldn't get such jobs. The story of how the reverberations from that era transformed America are told here by America's oldest park ranger, 94-year-old African-American Betty Soskin, who worked as a 20-year-old clerk in a segregated boiler makers union hall near the shipyards in Richmond, California, during the water. She now tells the story of segregation and social change in that era at Richmond's Rosie the Riveter Museum.