There’s an iconic saying among Chester folks that says, “What Chester Makes, Makes Chester, and 99-year-old Florence Thompson is certainly an indication that saying is true.
Six million women worked directly for the Ordnance Department of the United States Army in what was called the “Rosie the Riveter” movement. These women’s efforts were responsible for boosting the workforce numbers to twenty million during WWII.
Thompson was one of the 600,000 African American Rosie the Riveters who, along with their Caucasian counterparts, helped with the WWII war effort and the changing of societal attitudes about women’s skillset as it related to labor. Let’s not forget that was a period when women were expected to stay home, raise families, and take care of the house and it was not in the grand scheme of Thompson’s father’s plan for his daughter to be working outside of the home, so when the job at Sun Shipyard came along, she embraced the opportunity ergo proving her capabilities to her father. It had been her father’s attitude toward women in the workforce that gave Thompson that “Can Do/I’ll show you attitude.
During WWII, Sun Shipyards was the largest private sector employer of African Americans in the United States and, controversially, the Black workers to Yard Number 4. Women worked in the shipping industry when men were drafted into the armed forces. Thompson was one of the fortunate ones–having attended Sleeper’s College, she applied for a job at Sun Ship and, to her surprise, was hired. With the skills gained at college, she went to work at Sun Ship in the Employment Office in Yard 4, which was entirely African American. Yard 4 was exclusively for all Black laborers, and the other side was reserved for Caucasian laborers. Employed as an Administrative Assistant (what was considered a secretary at that time).
During WWII, Sun Shipyards was the largest private sector employer of African Americans in the United States and, controversially, the Black workers to Yard Number 4. Women worked in the shipping industry when men were drafted into the armed forces. Thompson was one of the fortunate ones–having attended Sleeper’s College, she applied for a job at Sun Ship and, to her surprise, was hired. With the skills gained at college, she went to work at Sun Ship in the Employment Office in Yard 4, which was entirely African American. Yard 4 was exclusively for all Black laborers, and the other side was reserved for Caucasian laborers. Employed as an Administrative Assistant (what was considered a secretary at that time).
During WWII, Sun Shipyards was the largest private sector employer of African Americans in the United States and, controversially, the Black workers to Yard Number 4. Women worked in the shipping industry when men were drafted into the armed forces. Thompson was one of the fortunate ones–having attended Sleeper’s College, she applied for a job at Sun Ship and, to her surprise, was hired. With the skills gained at college, she went to work at Sun Ship in the Employment Office in Yard 4, which was entirely African American. Yard 4 was exclusively for all Black laborers, and the other side was reserved for Caucasian laborers. Employed as an Administrative Assistant (what was considered a secretary at that time).
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