"Baltimore In The War Years" by John Burkert - BES Virtual Sunday Platform
Overview
Explore how a U.S. city mobilized steel, ships, and aircraft workers during WWII—unlocking industry, equality shifts, and history you can relate to online.
Details
Baltimore In The War Years
John P. Burkert
Author & Historian
Description:
BALTIMORE: THE WAR YEARS – The story of Baltimore and how its citizens and industry committed themselves to ‘War on the Homefront”. During WWII just three manufacturing forces: steel, ships, and aircraft, employed locally over 100,000 people, won countless production awards and shifted forever the opinions of who could be employed to do which jobs. And the “Big Three” were just the beginning, as the businesses and industries that supported and assisted them numbered in the hundreds. Of course, an all-consuming war effort also meant change to the social fabric of the city, a fabric stressed and occasionally torn, as gender and racial barriers collapsed. Every citizen felt the need to make as great a contribution as his or her individual abilities made possible.
Bio:
Jack Burkert is a Baltimore native who uses his energy and interest in all things Baltimore to create a series of educational programs. A 1969 graduate of the University of Maryland, Jack graduated with honors with a degree in history and education. His working life was spent as an educator, including public schools, at Penn State and private industry. Jack also worked as an educator at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. In recent years he has presented several hundred Baltimore history programs and 1920s literary biographies to various adult audiences and written a book titled Twentieth Century Baltimore.