Rosie the Riveter—the now infamous World War II heroine with her iconic red bandanna, blue coveralls and flexed bicep—is one of America’s most recognizable military images. Positioned under the mantra “We Can Do It,” this “Rosie” image has come to broadly represent any tenacious American working woman, and more specifically, the millions of female laborers who kept factories and offices of the U.S. defense industries moving during World War II. What the image doesn’t convey is the diversity of that work force—specifically the more than half-million “Black Rosies” who worked alongside their White peers during the war.
These Black Rosies gave tirelessly to their country in a myriad of ways. The roles Black Rosies played in the war ran the gamut. They worked in factories as sheet metal workers and munitions and explosive assemblers; in navy yards as shipbuilders and along assembly lines as electricians. For Black women, becoming a Rosie was not only a chance to aid in the war effort, but also a rare opportunity to obtain employment beyond the dead-end and too often demeaning work as domestic hires and sharecroppers. However their newfound opportunity did not come without extreme adversity.
Forced to endure what most would deem insurmountable amounts of both racism and sexism, many of these Black Rosies found ways to not merely survive but to thrive. One of those women is Oleta Crain. As a Black woman serving in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) and the Air Force, Crane displayed bravery not only in service, but also in challenging the status quo as a Black woman in uniform. Of the 300 women who entered officer training during World War II, Crain was one of only three Black women in the program. She was admitted to the WAC as an Air Force Second Lieutenant in September 1943, and was later promoted to Major, a remarkable achievement. After the war, she was the only female Black officer to be retained by the military.
Throughout her career, Crain would go on to complete tours in Alaska, England and Germany. Yet her biggest fight seemed to be for civil rights in military training. During her service, Crain raised concerns about racial segregation and discrimination in the armed forces, and successfully gained the respect of her superiors. When she eventually retired from active duty in 1963, Crain continued to fight for civil rights, specifically for Black women, after careers in military intelligence and at the Department of Labor.