WWI & IMPACT ON THE HOMEFRONT
WOMEN
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Encouraged to enter industry
and agriculture to replace
laborers fighting in War
Over 1 mil. Women worked in the
industry (munitions plants,
delivered messages, ran
elevators)
Volunteers (Ex: Red Cross)
After the War, Wilson endorsed
women suffrage as a “vitally
necessary war measure” which
led to 19th Amendment
AFRICAN AMERICANS
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Great Migration from 1915 to 1930
(especially during WWI
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Led to race riots
Most AA lived in Ghettos & pay higher
rents
W.E.B Dubois: supported the war
effort as a victory that would improve
life for blacks in democracy
Also part of the Draft (however,
excluded in Navy & Marines
Most were assigned to noncombat
duties
Jacob Lawrence
369TH INFANTRY
ANTI IMMIGRANT HYSTERIA
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Especially anti-German & AustriaHungary
Many people with German-sounding
names lost their jobs
Orchestras refused to play Mozart, Bach,
Beethoven…
Schools stopped teaching German
language
Some lynching occurred
Names of Cities and other Germaninspired words changed
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Ex: Dachshunds = liberty pups
Sauerkraut = Liberty cabbage
German measles = Liberty measles
FLU EPIDEMIC
Fall 1918 into 1919
 25% of US population
 Led to shut down of
mines, telephone
services, factories
 And coffin shortages
 500,000 Americans died
(40 mil. Worldwide)
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RESTRICTIONS ON CIVIL LIBERTIES
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Espionage Act of 1917
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Sedition Act of 1918
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Provided fines & Imprisonments for persons making
false statements aiding the enemy, obstructing sale
of bonds, inciting rebellion in the military , or
obstructing draft recruitment
Forbade any criticism of the govt, flag, or uniform
Cannot say anything disloyal, profane, or abusive
about the govt.
Espionage & Sedition Act
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Targeted socialists & labor leaders
Resulted in over 6,000 arrests and 1,900
prosecutions
Eugene Debs received 10 yr. sentence for discussing
economic causes of the war (pardoned by Harding)
IMPORTANT SUPREME COURT DECISIONS
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Abrams v. U.S. (1919): TESTED CONSTITUIONALITY OF SEDITION ACT
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This U.S. Supreme Court decision upheld the constitutionality of the
Sedition Act (1918) which made it a crime to speak disloyally of the U.S.
government or interfere with the war effort.
Schenck v. U.S. (1919): TESTED CONST. OF ESPIONAGE ACT
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Under the Espionage Act of 1917 persons who interfered with the war
effort by making speeches or writing articles encouraging violating of
draft laws were subject to imprisonment.
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. sustained the constitutionality of the
Espionage Act on the grounds that freedom of speech and press may be
limited when there is a “clear and present danger” to the nation.
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/ww1poster
s/4963
 http://exhibitions.nypl.org/africanaage/essayworld-war-i.html
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