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"Americans all, let's fight for victory: Americanos todos, luchamos por la victoria"

Mexicans and Mexican Americans contributed in many ways to the United States' war effort during World War II. About 19% of all Mexican Americans signed up for the armed forces; nearly 17,000 Mexican Americans in Los Angeles worked in the area's shipyards, airfields, and armament factories. So many Mexican-American women helped build ships that people coined the local nickname "Rosita the Riveter." The bracero program arranged for thousands of agricultural workers to come to the United States. To encourage participation and cooperation, the Office of War Information issued this poster in 1943. Despite the government's message of unity, this was around the time of the infamous zoot suit riots, when white workers and sailors in Los Angeles roamed the city attacking Mexican-American and African-American youths wearing distinctive pachuco clothing.

Americans All, Let's Fight for Victory 

Americanos todos, luchamos por la victoria

Source | Leon Helguera, "Americans all, let's fight for victory: Americanos todos, luchamos por la victoria," 1943, Washington, D.C., available from UNT Digital Library, http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc426/, accessed 20 January 2010.
Creator | Leon Helguera
Item Type | Poster/Print
Cite This document | Leon Helguera, “"Americans all, let's fight for victory: Americanos todos, luchamos por la victoria",” SHEC: Resources for Teachers, accessed March 29, 2024, https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1440.

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