Life before and during World War II is characterized by exhibits depicting a Hooverville shack, Grand Coulee Dam, Hanford, Japanese Internment, the rise of women and African Americans in the workforce, the work of migrant Braceros, and life on the homefront complete with the infamous scrap drives.
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Some six hundred men and seven women lived in one of Seattle's Hooverville shantytowns. Though the majority of residents were foreign-born white men, the population included Filipinos, African Americans, Mexicans, Japanese, and American Indians. The average age of the residents was 45, and most had lived in the U. S. for more than twenty years. One third of the men had worked in lumber camps.
At the radio lunch counter, you'll get a feel for life during the Depression and World War II. Listening to actual programs and advertisements that were broadcasted to Americans prior to the introduction of television. The lunch counter also features artifacts and ephemera that help tell the story of those difficult times.
Prior to World War II, Japanese Americans had established a unique niche in the Northwest, working successful
truck farms and nurseries near urban centers. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, an estimated 120,000 Japanese
American men, women and children were rounded up and sent to internment camps, where most lived until the war's end.
As the nation prepared for war, rationing became every American's patriotic duty. Scrap drives around the country salvaged metals and other materials needed by the war industries, and victory gardens helped fill the tables of Washington's homefront citizens with fresh fruits and vegetables.