Continuing with our lead up to Veterans Day, we’re highlighting some of our favorite Veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces. Today's #VeteranOfTheDay recognizes the ‘Black Rosies’ - our forgotten African American heroines of the WWII homefront 🙏 Rosie the Riveter —the WWII icon— has come to represent the American working woman, and in particular, the millions of female laborers who kept the factories/offices of the U.S. defense industries running. But the Rosie image doesn’t convey the diversity of that work force—specifically, the more than half-million “Black Rosies” who worked alongside their white counterparts in the war effort. These “Black Rosies” worked tirelessly— in factories as sheet metal workers and munitions and explosive assemblers; in navy yards as shipbuilders and along assembly lines as electricians. They were administrators, welders, railroad conductors and more. They fought both the foreign enemy of authoritarianism and the domestic enemy of racism. And for decades, they received little historical recognition. At first, finding war-related work proved difficult for many prospective Black Rosies, as many employers refused to hire Black women. That change came in the summer of 1941 when activists brought the widespread hiring discrimination to President Roosevelt, prompting him to sign an Executive Order banning racial discrimination in the defense industry. The order boosted Black women's entry into the war effort; of the 1 million African Americans who entered paid service for the first time following the signing, 600,000 were women. Swipe through to see images of "Black Rosies" at work during the WWII war effort 🌹 (Images courtesy of Universal History Archive/Getty Images) #VeteransDay #BlackRosies #MilitaryHistory #AmericanHistory #WWII #ArmedForces #VeteranLife