Philadelphia during wartime

Sam Katz, the founder of History Making Productions, which is creating the television series Philadelphia: The Great Experiment, has an article at Philly.com about Philadelphia during the War:

In the summer of 1943, US soldiers were fighting and dying to defeat fascism. Thanks largely to the massive output of munitions, ships, and tanks from Philadelphia, the tide began turning in the Allies' favor that year. Nearly one of every six dollars invested in producing war equipment was spent in America's arsenal: Philadelphia.
Though fear still clouded the lives of the city's families, a sense of optimism and community spirit permeated Philadelphia neighborhoods. National demand summoned women and African-Americans, formerly excluded from the workplace, into the busy factories that made the war machine hum.
Our city's growing sense of neighborhood unity was documented by Evening Bulletin photographer Bruce Murray Jr. in the amazing photo above. This shot of nearly 140 neighbors, on a South Philly block that undoubtedly sent many men to war, conveys the remarkable skill of a man who captured the essence of hope with one click, long before the dawn of digital photography.
This and other great photos help tell the story of postwar Philadelphia in the third installment of the documentary series Philadelphia: The Great Experiment. The third segment, Promise for a Better City, will air at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, 24 January, on WPVI-TV (6abc).
Between now and then, the producers would like the public's help in identifying the street where this picture was taken and the people in it. Leave a comment on this story, send an email to info@historyofphilly.com, or leave a message at 267-324-5381.
Promise for a Better City shows how the wartime-inspired equality in the labor force fueled efforts to promote civil rights at home. As late as August of 1944, Philadelphia workers called a transit strike to stop the hiring of African-Americans as trolley operators. Though many black soldiers were in mortal danger in war zones overseas, their brothers at home were still denied fair employment opportunities.
When the GIs finally came home, they found a city that was politically corrupt, filthy, and underdeveloped. In just a few years, reformers under the Democratic banner ended seven decades of Republican rule. Their new City Charter brought professionalism and fairness to the municipal hiring process. Visionaries such as Walter M. Phillips Sr. pushed these changes and helped elect reformist Mayors Joe Clark and Richardson Dilworth. The city's landscape was also transformed by the pathbreaking work of city planner Ed Bacon to create Penn Center and Society Hill.
But major challenges remained. African-Americans from the rural South flooded Philadelphia and other Northern cities, searching for higher-paying industrial jobs. Meanwhile, jobs were migrating toward cheaper land and lower labor costs in the suburbs and the South. The Reverend Leon Sullivan led an army of clergy in an economic boycott designed to gain access to jobs. Tensions mounted between those afraid of losing economic security and those who craved their first taste of it. Job distress fostered racial fears, and Philadelphia's Police Department, a symbol of control, catalyzed forces that disrupted the city's social fabric.
In the summer of 1964, a riot broke out along Columbia Avenue, destroying a vibrant center of North Philadelphia economic life. Police Commissioner Howard Leary urged moderation in the use of force, but Frank Rizzo, a young deputy commissioner, had other ideas that transformed him into an icon of law and order. Meanwhile, the city's urban-renewal strategy, which earned national accolades for devising America's first affirmative-action initiative, angered residents who did not want to see treasured homes bulldozed.
Despite these conflicts, the groundwork for a better Philadelphia was firmly established by the mid-1960s.
In the 24 January episode, History Making Productions uses these and many other stories to illustrate the dynamic forces that made 1944 to 1964 a momentous time in Philadelphia.
When completed, the twelve-episode series, broadcast by 6abc, will share the epic history of Philadelphia from the early days of the Swedish settlements and William Penn through the end of the twentieth century. Additional episodes will take Philadelphia from 1965 through 1993. Every segment of Philadelphia: The Great Experiment offers audiences both televised and broadband programming, including hundreds of webisodes and interviews at www.historyofphilly.com. The unique technology platform, the Philadelphia History Channel, is being offered at no cost to websites interested in offering this content to users.
The city's great museums and heritage institutions are owed a huge debt of gratitude for sharing their extensive archives and collections. They are stewards of works from people such as Bruce Murray Jr., who valued Philadelphia's history enough to preserve it. Though the city has these enormous historical riches, it story has never been told in a comprehensive documentary series.
With continued support from Philadelphia philanthropists of all stripes, the people, so proud of their history, will be provided with a better understanding of how we became who and what we are. Doing so might shine a bright light on what we might become.

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