**This course will be taught on Zoom**
During WWII American music and popular entertainment sustained unity between the home front and warfront. We’ll identify key features of wartime hit songs and investigate the “all girl” swing orchestras that performed for the “boys.” In each class more than a dozen video clips -- many created specifically for the course -- offer fresh perspectives on an iconic American moment.
Week by Week Outline
1 – National Unity and Media
America absorbs the shock of Pearl Harbor and strikes back with songs and bombs. Building national purpose through music, film and popular culture.
2 – Enlisting the Music
Most enlisted musicians serve by playing music in the entertainment corps of the military services. Civilians and troops are entertained by a plethora of USO shows, Stage Door Canteens, patriotic media and all-female Swing bands.
3 – Shipyards and Boom Times
Rosie the Riveter and Wendy the Welder symbolize millions of American women who join the industrial workforce for the first time, winning victory through extraordinary productivity. San Francisco Bay is briefly unrivaled for wartime shipbuilding.
4 – Popular Culture Goes to War
Americans tell stories of the war in hit songs, typically sung in three- or four-part harmony. The biggest names in music perform for tens of thousands of troops.
5 – Music Broadcasting and Propaganda
Swing bandleaders on opposing sides spearhead propaganda broadcasting. Millions of V-Discs, films and Armed Forces Radio programs are distributed to the troops.
6 – Victory in Diversity
During a wartime racial detente Americans search for cultural roots. Josephine Baker entertains troops and spies on the Axis for the Allies. So-called “All-Girl” bands tour domestic training camps and war zones overseas.
