(H)our History Lesson: Wichita, Kansas: Comparing and Connecting WWII Home Front cities

Photo 2: Interior of Beechcraft hangar, December 1941.

Credit: The Edward & Elizabeth Burns Historical Research Pavilion, Wichita Public Library

About this Lesson

This lesson is part of a series teaching about the World War II home front, with Wichita, Kansas designated as an American World War II Heritage City. The lesson contains photographs, two readings, optional media extension, and a culminating mastery project. The first reading shares a reflection on the relevance of Wichita on the home front in World War II, and the second connects the region to the designation of a Heritage City. The culminating project contributes to learners’ understandings of the city as a WWII Heritage City, with the opportunity to combine lesson themes from the three other lessons in the Wichita lesson collection. This is to summarize the city’s contributions and encourage connections to the overall U.S. home front efforts.

To see more lessons on World War II Heritage Cities, visit Teaching with Historic Places' World War II page.

Objectives:

In a culminating product:

1. Identify important World War II industries, companies, and volunteer organizations in Wichita, Kansas, and describe their historical significance and contributions.

2. Summarize the contributions of Wichita civilians to home front wartime efforts in industry and volunteerism.

3. Describe contributions and challenges faced by women in the wartime industries in Wichita.

4. Optional: Describe similarities and differences of Wichita and other Heritage city(s) / World War II home front(s).

Materials for Students:

1. Photos

2. Readings 1, 2 & optional media activity link

3. Maps, project materials (as needed)

4. Student graphic organizers (See photo 5 at end of lesson, for reference)

Student Graphic Organizer Guidelines

1. Create Comparison Matrices for your students to use. To compare two cities, create a one-page sheet with three columns and four rows.  Label the left column Theme/Topic and the other columns City 1 and City 2.  For a Comparison Matrix for three cities add an additional column. 

2. Create two Single-Point Rubrics to assist students’ self-assessment. One is for assessing proficiency in meeting teacher-selected standards. One is for assessing proficiency in meeting objectives. 

3. For the rubric on standards, create a one-page sheet with three columns and four rows of content. Label the first column “Areas for Improvement,” the second column, “Proficient (Meeting Standard),” and the third column, “Areas of Exceeding Standard.”  Leave the first and third columns blank.  In each row of the second column identify a Standard and indicate a space for noting the evidence for meeting the standard.  Include a space at the bottom of the page for assigning points for each column. 

4. For the rubric on objectives, create a one-page sheet with three columns and four rows of content. Label the first column “Areas for Improving toward Objective,” the second column, “Proficient (Meeting Objective),” and the third column, “Areas of Exceeding Objective.” Leave the first and third columns blank. In the four rows of the second column identify these four objectives:  

• Identify important World War II industries, companies, and volunteer organizations in Wichita, Kansas, and describe their historical significance and contributions. 

• Summarize the contributions of Wichita civilians to home front wartime efforts in industry and volunteerism. 

• Describe contributions and challenges faced by women in the wartime industries in Wichita. 

• Optional: Describe similarities and differences of Wichita and other Heritage city(s) / World War II home front(s). 
  
  Include a space at the bottom of the page for assigning points for each column. See the last photo of this lesson for reference. 

Getting Started: Essential Question

Why was Wichita chosen as an American World War II Heritage City, and what are its similarities and differences to other home front cities?

Quotation to consider:

“As the Air Capitol of the World, Wichita gained great attention and accomplishment during World War II for the development and production of military aircraft. In all nearly 26,000 plans of various types were produced, and more than 1,600 B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers. Wichita’s population grow from 114,966 in 1940 to 200,000 in 1943 as men and women came for jobs.”

- from “City of Wichita Recognized as World War II Heritage City,” City News (December 15, 2022)

Read to Connect

Reading 1: Newspaper Article

“Asset” 

The Wichita Eagle, Sunday, May 24, 1942, p.4 

Not so long ago the location in the deep interior of Wichita and its area was not estimated as an advantage. It is today. One of the potential factors emphasizing this change is the world extent of the war. The signal contributions of this community and the region around it in armed men and in military equipment, food and fuel to sustain them in their fight for making mankind free, find this central position and its supplies equally accessible to all fronts, in Europe, in Asia and in Africa. The war has spread to the east, west, south of this area. The bread-grains and the meats, prerequisite always in war, the indispensable fuel and the most modern of arms, the airplanes, are all as easily dispatched from Wichita east to Russia as west to Australia.  

Short-handed as the wheat harvest next month may be, the crop will be gathered, binned and eventually milled and made available to the armed forces of America at every front. For all the difficulties of transportation the oil resources of the prairies, in incalculable volume, will move to the battling men who need them. And as the conflict eventually concentrates and centers at last on its final decisive front, east or west, the airplane, which for Wichita and its environs has eliminated the interior by annihilating distance, will sped triumphantly to the call for reinforcement from every quarter whatsoever.  

Thus, despite the liability a location in the deep interior may have been for Wichita yesterday, it is today and will be tomorrow all asset. 

Reading 2: Heritage City Designation

Excerpt from: “House Report 115-998, “To Direct the Secretary of the Interior to Annually Designate at Least One City in The United States as An ‘American World War II Heritage City,’ and for other purposes” (October 30, 2018) 

“. . .PURPOSE OF THE BILL 

The purpose of H.R. 6118 is to direct the Secretary of the Interior to annually designate at least one city in the United States as an ``American World War II Heritage City''. 

                  BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION 

    On December 7, 1941, military forces of the Empire of Japan attacked the U.S. Naval Fleet and ground bases at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. On December 8, 1941, one day after what President Roosevelt referred to as, ``a date which will live in infamy,'' the United States declared war against the Empire of Japan. Three days later, on December 11, 1941, Japan's ally, Germany, declared war on the United States. Sixteen million Americans, mostly young working-age men, served in the military during World War II, out of an overall United States population of 113 million. 

While an unprecedented number of Americans served in World War II, the country drastically increased its war production on the home front, serving not only the needs of the armed forces of the United States but her allies as well--in what President Franklin Roosevelt called ``The Arsenal of Democracy.'' The combination of millions serving in the military, during a period of necessary and drastic increases in production, led to significant social changes on the American home front. 

The World War II period resulted in the largest number of people migrating within the United States in the history of the country. Individuals and families relocated to industrial centers for good paying jobs out of a sense of patriotic duty. Many industrial centers became ``boomtowns,'' growing at phenomenal rates. One example, the City of Richmond, California, grew from a population of under 24,000 to over 100,000 during the war. . . ”

Photo 3: War industry training group in Wichita, Kansas, early 1940s.

Credit: The Edward & Elizabeth Burns Historical Research Pavilion, Wichita Public Library

Student Activies

Questions for Reading 1 & Photos

1. What change in perception about Wichita's location has occurred over time, and why has this shifted?
2. How does the text illustrate Wichita's importance in supplying military equipment and resources to various fronts of the war? What impact does this have on the city's significance in the global conflict?
3. How does information you learned from the previous three lessons connect to this text?
4. How does this collection of photos illustrate some of the contributions of civilians in Wichita, and the growth due to industry?
   

Questions for Reading 2 & Photos

1. What was the purpose of the bill (H.R. 6118) according to the report?

2. Why do you think Wichita, Kansas was designated as a World War II Heritage City? Use details from the bill and from the lesson(s) information.

3. Are there other cities you think of when considering home front contributions during wartime? Which, and why?
   

Media Activity

"Wings Over Wichita”

Watch this video (1:14) as a discussion starter to reflect on the impact of Wichita’s contributions to the aircraft of World War II, and the post-war future ahead.

Extension: Research the companies from the three lessons that are still present in Wichita, and how their manufacturing has developed over time in the postwar era.

Transcript: "Wings Over Wichita"

 

"Wings Over Wichita" Trailer.

Background from the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum: "Opening sequence from a movie made in 1942. Focuses on a talent search, local sports teams, recreation and the civilian war effort in Wichita, Kansas. The film was discovered in storage at the Historic Orpheum Theatre."

Transcript: 

*Trumpets in triumphal intro* 

Yes, Wings over Wichita, the air capital. Today one of the most important production centers in the United States. Producing planes, oil and food for the Alliance. Wichita wearing its war clothes. A city teeming with thousands of men and women working around the clock, never forgetting for a minute that there is a war to be won.  

Wichita, with its three large aircraft factories: Beech, Boeing and Cessna. Wichita, with its oil to lubricate the machines of war. Wichita, with its great stockyards and flour mills. Wichita, the nation’s breadbasket.  

What is the future of this great Midwestern metropolis after the war. Brighter than ever say those who know. For then the wings over Wichita will be the huge flying freighters and the family car of the year. Planes built by Wichitans in Wichita.  

Although work comes first, there is plenty of playtime and in the following pictorial highlights, you’ll see Wichitans at play. Here, there and everywhere...  

Culminating Activity/Mastery Product

To demonstrate student understanding, support students in creating a final product that meets the following objectives:

1. Identify important World War II industries, companies, and volunteer organizations in Wichita, Kansas, and describe their historical significance and contributions.

2. Summarize the contributions of Wichita civilians to home front wartime efforts in industry and volunteerism.

3. Describe contributions and challenges faced by women in the wartime industries in Wichita.

4. Optional: Describe similarities and differences of Wichita and other Heritage city(s) / World War II home front(s).

Mastery products should be:

. . . student-led; Students work as individuals or in collaborative groups.

. . . student-directed; Students are offered a variety of choices for product type.

. . . student-organized; Teacher facilitates by providing students with the comparison matrices and/or resource links from throughout the series of lessons.

. . . student-assessed; Teacher supports student self-assessment and reflection by providing students single-point rubrics to assess for meeting standards and/or lesson objectives.

Note: Depending on time and scope, the comparison of Wichita to another WWII Heritage or home front city(s) within the mastery product (objectives) may be omitted. However, comparing cities is recommended, as it connects students to a deeper understanding of the WWII home front.

Examples of mastery product choices include, but are not limited to:

• Written: Letter (opinion or informative), essay, poem, narratives, biography, articles, class book or children’s book, speech or debate (then presented orally), blog / website, plaque or historical displays, pamphlets or rack cards

• Graphic Organizers: timeline, flowcharts, mind or concept content maps, Venn diagrams, comparison matrices, posters

• Artistic Expression: song, dance, theater (ex. skits), 3-D models, dioramas, photo journal, stamp and coin designs, visual art, architecture/building or monument, museum design

• Media design and creation: podcast, historical markers, social media content, interactive virtual maps or tours, infographics, video, comic strips or graphics, game design, slideshows, digital scrapbook

Please view World War II Lessons at Teaching wtih Historic Places for information and resources on other cities.

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This lesson was written by Sarah Nestor Lane, an educator and consultant with the Cultural Resources Office of Interpretation and Education, funded by the National Council on Public History's cooperative agreement with the National Park Service.