December 6, 2008: WWII And Women's Rights

Charles Jordan, a Hofstra student in Dr. Singer's program, did a great rap about the struggle for women's' rights in the World War II era. Here are the lyrics:

Now here’s a little story
I got to tell
About the fight against the Axis
You know so well
It started way back
In history
Against Germany, Japan,
And don’t forget Italy
Now everyone was needed
Cause the whole world was at war.
Triumph over evil
Is what we’re fighting for.
But in nineteen hundred
And forty one
Women couldn’t fight
Couldn’t fire a gun
Still they did there part
For victory,
Working full time
In the factory.
Now we know about Rosie
And the job she did
But the role of women
History has hid
We don’t read about in textbooks
We don’t talk about in class
How the women of this country
Helped us kick some ______
But when the war was over
And victory enjoyed
The women of the factory
Were quickly unemployed.
With no more things to rivet
And no more guns to make
We told the women of the factory
Go home and learn to bake”
But the women weren’t having it
They flat out just said no
They liked it in the factory
Liked making their own dough.
The women of the factory
Together they stood tall
Equal rights and equal pay
It soon became their call.
No longer only housewives
Tending to the crib
The women of the factory
Gave rise to Women’s lib.