Rosie The Riveter Day is Friday, March 21st

Officially designated National Rosie The Riveter Day by the U.S. Congress in 2017, March 21st this year falls on a Friday. And the American Rosie The Riveter Association, which was founded by Dr. Fran Carter, a longtime resident of Birmingham, Alabama, is encouraging everyone to visit a Rosie the Riveter and take her to lunch, plan a restaurant outing with Rosies, veterans, and family members, and plan a brief program for schoolchildren and residents at a senior center to recognize all Rosie the Riveters and veterans of the armed services.

Rosie The Riveter Day is a day set aside to commemorate the women who worked in factories, shipyards, and the defense industries during World War II. With World War II demanding every able-bodied man to fight for the Allies, there was no one left to work in the manufacturing industry once the USA entered the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. As a result, the federal government used its recruiting skills to inspire women to join the industrial workforce as a sign of patriotism and the total number of female industrial workers went from 27% to 37% in the years between 1940 and 1945. As Dorothy "Lucy" Lewis who sewed parachutes at the Dixie Manufacturing company in Birmingham explained, "Rosie means a lot to me because we want to leave a legacy of what the women did back then. Most people don't know about us. I'm a patriot and I'm proud of what we did." Indeed, President Dwight D. Eisenhower would agree with Dorothy Lewis. As Eisenhower even stated that "The contribution of the women of America, whether on the farm or in the factory or in uniform, to D-Day was the sine qua non of the invasion effort."

The call of "AMERICA NEEDS YOU" was certainly heeded by the women of Alabama. With about one-fourth of the labor force in Alabama's defense industries in 1943-1944 being comprised by women. Women such as Mabel Myrick, a native of Kimberly, Alabama, who took the civil service exam before graduation from high school. The results of which included "a train ticket for Washington, D.C." in the mail. Coupled with an assignment in the War Department at the Pentagon. And Rosie the Riveters such as Alabama native, Virginia Abbott Dyers, who "had a brother, my boyfriend, and two brothers-in-law in the pits of hell overseas. That's why I did it."

One of the wellsprings for sourcing Rosie the Riveters during World War II turned out to be teachers. As teachers at that time were single women who were "smart, educated, accustomed to hard work, unused to high pay, simultaneously youthful and mature, and often unencumbered by children or husbands." In short, in the eyes of the nation at the time, these female teachers who knew how to discipline a classroom of unruly children were "the perfect workers" to help discipline the Third Reich. And women who had once taught reading, writing, and arithmetic in public school for $800 annually found jobs as assembly-line workers in the Huntsville, Alabama or Redstone arsenals for $1,400 or as welders in the Mobile shipyards for $3,600. With Dr. Frances Carter explaining that it was a bit overwhelming to make the career change from being a first-grade teacher to working as a riveter in a defense plant. As on her first day, she was "frightened", for at that point she "knew nothing about nothing". And it was obvious that the men who worked in the plant were skeptical, too. Since, "At first, they laughed at us in our coveralls." But over time, their male counterparts' attitudes changed; as the Rosies "got real good at crawling all over those planes putting them together and the boys decided we were part of the team."

The exact number of women who worked during WWII is not known. Yet, the late Dr. Carter, the founder of the American Rosie the Riveter Association, estimated that there had to be at least 10 to 12 million who responded to the call of patriotism nationwide. And this overwhelming response to the call of Uncle Sam is what led to "Rosie the Riveter" becoming a nationwide cultural icon. With Hollywood even releasing a movie musical by the name of "Rosie the Riveter" in 1944.

Most of the actual Rosie the Riveters who are still among the living are in their nineties. And last year, on April 10th, 2024, all of the Rosie the Riveters were awarded The Congressional Gold Medal. With 27 Rosie the Riveters ranging in age from their 90s to 106 years young traveling to D.C. for the ceremony. For those Rosie the Riveters who were not able to make it to The Congressional Gold Medal ceremony, replicas of the medal are available for purchase from the U.S. Mint at https://catalog.usmint.gov/rosie-the-riveter-bronze-medal-MASTER_MDRR.html. And the American Rosie The Riveter Association is encouraging people to purchase a replica of The Congressional Gold Medal to honor a Rosie the Riveter in their community this March 21st.

With the American Rosie The Riveter Association holding their 2025 convention in Dayton, Ohio on June 06th through 8th, the ARRA is also encouraging people to sponsor a Rosie to attend the convention. Donations can be made at http://www.rosietheriveter.net under the "Sponsor a Rosie to Attend our Annual Convention" item in the Rosie Shoppe. As well as by mailing in a check to ARRA "Sponsor a Rosie" PO Box 3242 Broken Arrow, OK 74013.

For family historians who are interested in finding out if their ancestors served as Rosie the Riveters during World War II, one of the best places to begin are oral histories coupled with searching the census records from the 1940s on genealogy platforms such as Ancestry.com. Focusing on the occupation section to determine if an ancestor worked in a factory or defense-related job during World War II.