One of the most prolific pieces of propaganda in American history was spawned at a factory near Detroit that will soon be demolished if a non-profit can't raise $3.5 million to save the former workplace of Rosie the Riveter, according to the Associated Press.
With so many men off fighting in World War II there was a void in the workforce that needed to be filled, especially in factories that made munitions for the war effort. In order to convince women to work outside the home a government film was made. When casting the film producers chose one of the workers from the Willow Run Bomber Plant near Detroit, Rose Will Monroe, according to the Associated Press.
After the film was made an illustrated poster featuring Rosie rolling up her sleeve and saying "We can do it!" became a symbol for female empowerment from World War II up to today.
Prior to building B-24 Liberator bombers the Willow Run Bomber Plant built Ford automobiles. When the bombers were no longer needed the plant went right back to making cars, this time for General Motors. The now abandoned plant is scheduled to be torn down if $3.5 million isn't raised to convert a portion of the structure into a new home for the Yankee Air Museum, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"The younger generation needs to know what people went through and be able to go and see what they did and how they did it for our country," Larry Doe, a local resident who had donated to save the plant, told the Associated Press.
The Yankee Air Museum lost their original space to a fire in 2004 and thinks the former workplace of the iconic Rosie the Riveter would be a perfect place for a new home.
"We now have the opportunity to actually take a piece of this plant," Dennis Norton, president of the Michigan Aerospace Foundation, told the Associated Press. It's due to be demolished over the next two or three years. There's no further use for it. It's too big. It's too old to be used in modern-day manufacturing."
So far $4.5 million of the $8 million needed to fund the plan has been raised. Norton acknowledges that they still need to raise a significant amount of money without very much time but told the Associated Press that he thinks it is possible.
"If we didn't think we could do it, we wouldn't have started it in the first place," Norton said.
