Re: BOB'S BITS
Posted: 31 Jul 2025, 13:53
ROSIE
You’re not supposed to have too much pride, but I can’t help have some about that poster. It’s just sad I didn’t know it was me sooner. Geraldine Doyle, 2002, as quoted in the Lansing [MI] State Journal.
‘That poster’ was the “We Can Do It” one, of a woman war worker. Her (presumably) long hair tied up in a red bandana, her blue denim shirt sleeves rolled up, she’s flexing her right bicep. Her assertiveness shines out of a bright, blaring background. She proudly celebrates the woman workers of WWII. And they needed to be celebrated, for most of the young men workers were at war, or (like my father) training for it. Meanwhile, America’s industries were transformed into “the arsenal of democracy,” and they had to recruit a new work force. Of course white woman workers had been around for some time, their ranks swelled by European immigrants, especially in low-wage jobs, but now women had to work in heavy industries. The “We Can Do It” poster was, originally, part of Westinghouse’s recruitment effort. It became better known in the 1970s as new-wave feminists took up the image of the strong woman. In Michigan, Geraldine Doyle saw the poster, remembered that her photo had been taken when she worked at an Ann Arbor metal press, and put herself forward as the likely model for ‘Rosie the Riveter.’ Geraldine Doyle (née Duff) was born in a Detroit suburb on July 31, 1924. Her mother, a composer, encouraged Geraldine’s talent at the cello. But the war came, and the young cellist became a young metal worker. Fearful for her hands. she soon left that work, married a dentist, raised six kids, and then became proud of her war work, possibly (who knows?) prouder than she had ever been before. And she was taken up by the media as the ‘real’ Rosie the Riveter. Geraldine was remembered that way when she died in 2010. Meanwhile, out in Washington, Naomi Fraley and her sister remembered that when they’d worked at a Naval Air Station (as machinists) Naomi’s picture (bending over a metal press) had been taken and seemed to be the model for the “We Can Do It” poster. Three times married, a long-time waitress at a Palm Springs watering hole, and even at 80 a bit of a flashy dame, she was at first ignored. But after Ms. Doyle’s death in 2010 Naomi’s case was taken up by historians, and it’s now argued that Naomi Fraley (née Parker) was the original poster girl. I have an open mind on the matter, but when I became dean of an honors college that was (and remained) 2/3rds female, I decided that the best art work I could hang outside my office door was the “We Can Do It” poster. It was great propaganda, and it does ring a truth. Women can do, and be proud of the doing. But after the war, government, industry, and Hollywood worked like beavers to get women back home, safely married. So maybe Geraldine Doyle was, historically speaking, the “real” Rosie. ©.
You’re not supposed to have too much pride, but I can’t help have some about that poster. It’s just sad I didn’t know it was me sooner. Geraldine Doyle, 2002, as quoted in the Lansing [MI] State Journal.
‘That poster’ was the “We Can Do It” one, of a woman war worker. Her (presumably) long hair tied up in a red bandana, her blue denim shirt sleeves rolled up, she’s flexing her right bicep. Her assertiveness shines out of a bright, blaring background. She proudly celebrates the woman workers of WWII. And they needed to be celebrated, for most of the young men workers were at war, or (like my father) training for it. Meanwhile, America’s industries were transformed into “the arsenal of democracy,” and they had to recruit a new work force. Of course white woman workers had been around for some time, their ranks swelled by European immigrants, especially in low-wage jobs, but now women had to work in heavy industries. The “We Can Do It” poster was, originally, part of Westinghouse’s recruitment effort. It became better known in the 1970s as new-wave feminists took up the image of the strong woman. In Michigan, Geraldine Doyle saw the poster, remembered that her photo had been taken when she worked at an Ann Arbor metal press, and put herself forward as the likely model for ‘Rosie the Riveter.’ Geraldine Doyle (née Duff) was born in a Detroit suburb on July 31, 1924. Her mother, a composer, encouraged Geraldine’s talent at the cello. But the war came, and the young cellist became a young metal worker. Fearful for her hands. she soon left that work, married a dentist, raised six kids, and then became proud of her war work, possibly (who knows?) prouder than she had ever been before. And she was taken up by the media as the ‘real’ Rosie the Riveter. Geraldine was remembered that way when she died in 2010. Meanwhile, out in Washington, Naomi Fraley and her sister remembered that when they’d worked at a Naval Air Station (as machinists) Naomi’s picture (bending over a metal press) had been taken and seemed to be the model for the “We Can Do It” poster. Three times married, a long-time waitress at a Palm Springs watering hole, and even at 80 a bit of a flashy dame, she was at first ignored. But after Ms. Doyle’s death in 2010 Naomi’s case was taken up by historians, and it’s now argued that Naomi Fraley (née Parker) was the original poster girl. I have an open mind on the matter, but when I became dean of an honors college that was (and remained) 2/3rds female, I decided that the best art work I could hang outside my office door was the “We Can Do It” poster. It was great propaganda, and it does ring a truth. Women can do, and be proud of the doing. But after the war, government, industry, and Hollywood worked like beavers to get women back home, safely married. So maybe Geraldine Doyle was, historically speaking, the “real” Rosie. ©.
