Betty Reid Soskin, born in Detroit, raised in New Orleans, and a long-time resident of California, is a remarkable figure. At 97 years old, she is the oldest US National Park Ranger and a compelling storyteller whose life has been intertwined with significant social changes. Ms. Soskinâs memoir, Sign My Name to Freedom, chronicles her personal experiences of living through great social change. Earlier this year, California Humanities awarded a California Documentary Project production grant for a documentary titled Sign My Name to Freedom through the International Documentary Association to filmmakers A.K. Sandhu and Bryan Gibel. This documentary will follow Ms. Soskin's journey.
Early Life and Career
Soskin's experiences are deeply rooted in the history of the 20th century. As a 20-year participant in the Women's Health Initiative, she brings a unique perspective to discussions about aging and purpose. Her great-grandmother was born into slavery in 1846, her mother in 1894, and Soskin herself in 1921. The three generations of women bore witness to a "great American narrative," starting with the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed her great-grandmother, and continuing to the election of the first African-American president, which Soskin attended with a picture of her great-grandmother tucked in her breast pocket.
She was 20 when she took a job as a clerk for the all-black auxiliary of a segregated boilermakers union. After the war ended, she and her husband received death threats for building a home in an all-white suburb of California's Diablo Valley. She spent the 1960s as a political activist, becoming a well-known songwriter in the civil rights movement.
The Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park
Soskin's involvement with the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park began in 2000. "What gets remembered is a function of who's in the room doing the remembering." The Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park began as an experimental endeavor.
As the 21st century approached, the National Park Service resolved to connect sites around the city to their home front history. As the only person of color seated at the planning table, Soskin drew a deeper connection. From the Kaiser Shipyard to the Ford Assembly Plant to the SS Red Oak Victory, each of the sites that would define the park was itself defined by a history of racial segregation. Unlike many of the women who left their homes and entered the workforce during that time, Soskin never saw herself as a "Rosie the Riveter." "That really is a white woman's story," Soskin says. After all, she points out, black women like her grandmother had been working outside their homes since slavery. Soskin never saw a ship under construction â each day, as she carpooled from her home in Berkeley to the union hall in Richmond, she never had "any sense of what that greater picture was."
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Initially a state employee, her role evolved from a field representative for a member of the California State Assembly to a consultant for the National Park Service, and finally, a contract worker paid for by the Rosie Trust. Becoming an interpreter allowed her to identify and hone her existing skills, which she brought with her into a more marketable shape. Being hired as an interpretive ranger at the age of 85 was an extraordinary opportunity.
The Park's Orientation Films
Soskin plays a crucial role in interpreting the history of the home front during World War II. For those of you who are accustomed to visiting national parks, you of course know that every national park has an orientation film. And if it's one of the scenic wonders, like Grand Canyon or Yosemite or Yellowstone, what you'll get in that film will be the geological facts about that park. And you can do that pretty well in 15 or 20 minutes. It works. And then we have the parks that are created in honor of individuals. On the Capitol Mall, there's George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson, and Dr. Martin Luther King. And in this area, John Muir, the environmentalist, and in Danville, Eugene O'Neill, the playwright. And in those cases, what you would get would be the biographical facts about those lives. And that too you could do pretty well in 15 or 20 minutes. It works.
The park's orientation films address the complexities of this history. This was probably the greatest mobilization of workers since the building of the pyramids, or the Great Wall of China. I mean, this was, after all, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's great arsenal of democracy. It involved every man, woman and child in the country. Also, there were multiple stories on the home front, multiple stories. There was not only the story of the 120 thousand Japanese and Japanese Americans who were interned, 70 thousand of whom were American citizens. The the story of women's emancipation into nontraditional labor for the first time. This Rosie the Riveter, there's also the story of that great explosion at Port Chicago. The vaporization of two Kaiser ships. The loss of 320 lives. 202 of them being black dock workers. The fact that they were tried in mutiny trials up at Vallejo because 50 of those men refused to go back and load those ships because nobody could explain to them what had happened, or what had caused the explosion in the first place. 50 of them refused, were tried in mutiny trials, tried and found guilty of treason because they had refused to obey an order during war time. They were tried and found guilty and sentenced to eight to 15 years. That was the only time history that we ever tried 50 people in a single trial but we did that, 50 people. It's an amazing story. There's also the story of African American migration out of the southern states into the east and the west, and the north, seeking merc and defense plants, sometimes successfully, often times not. The story of, oh, many many stories, many stories.
In order to comply with the need for creating that orientation film, and in order to be able to follow those stories, what our filmmakers did, was that they chose to do for us two complete films. One's called, "The War at Home." And that film takes in everything that happened coast to coast. It's the longest of our films. It's a 25 minute film. And it's shown at the top of the hour throughout the day. And that one was necessary. Because this is not a local park. This is a national park. So that one had to be made. And then, there are fragments of films. Not, with no beginning, no end. The shortest of them is a two minute film on Rosie the Riveter. And you would guess that women would get a two minute film. Right. The six minute film Manzanar, the story of Japanese American internment. There are a variety of films and we use those. Don't have a beginning and they don't have an end. We use them as conversation starters. To take in many of the aspects of that story. "Blossoms and Thorns," was made to us, not enforced, not by our filmmakers, not by our filmmakers, but by the Japanese Americans Citizens League. Done after the explosion on September 11th in New York of the World Trade Center bombing. And that one was done because fear ran through the Japanese and Japanese American communities that their country might be guilty of doing the same thing this time to Muslims. And even though they weren't a part of the home front story they were impounded in ten concentration camps throughout the western states. Fear ran so clearly and they weren't a part of the home front story, but when they knew that this park was going to be created, and this visitors center was going to be here, at their own expense, they had "Blossom and Thorns" made so that we could do that. So that we could tell that story to avoid having that happen.
Soskin uses the 17-minute film "Home-Front Heroes," which tells the story of Richmond, California, during WWII and the Kaiser shipbuilding effort. She connects deeply with this film because it reflects the history she lived. Though the other films are shown in rotation throughout the week, shown on request. You can see them whenever you'd like. And, Home Front Heroes, which is the story of Richmond, is told at the bottom of the hour throughout the week, because it's an important story, a really important story for us. We're going to share that film with you now and when the film is over than I'll put my life in the context of those years for you.
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Richmond During WWII
Richmond was a beautiful little city. - Everything was wide open and rough and wild. - The conditions for growing are really really good in Richmond. Lots of sunlight and it's not too hot. - It's kind of a combination of industry and semi-rural landscape that most people remember. They would have vegetable gardens and a cow tethered out behind their home. And will walk up to McDonald Avenue to do their shopping. - Richmond was a working man's town. - You had the Pullman Coach Refurbishing factories there. - Standard oil, the railroad, and later the Ford Assembly building. Kind of a working class community. - You had a diversity of ethnicities and races living in Richmond. Italian Americans, and African Americans. The Japanese American population, Chinese population. Native American, Indian population as well. Of course, is Mexican American. Kaiser Plant located there before Pearl Harbor. Richmond had a really good deep water harbor, perfect for the shipping industry. It had lots of open space. It also had a working force.
The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage. - It was absolute horror. We were in total shock and terror because we were being told immediately that we might be bombed, and we had to immediately go into blackout mode. - When we got into the war, well there was a big demand and we had to have ships, we had to have everything. I heard on my car radio, "Women do something for your country, "go to the Richmond shipyard and be welder." I hadn't had the faintest idea what it was. I just knew that it was something that they needed done real bad, and I had decided that that's what I was gonna do. - Load that suitcase and got on a train and came to California and stayed with my sister Caroline. - We all thought we could make money working in the shipyards. Father was the type of man that looked for better jobs. And he wanted me with him. - Henry J. Kaiser, you know, he brought a lot of people back from the south to work in a shipyard. - For African American southerners the most frequently given graduation gift was not a watch or a typewriter, but a train or bus ticket out to the west. - In two years, little Richmond, just 23000 had become a bustling metropolis of 130 thousand. This fabulous growth necessitated civic expansion. - Richmond's population exploded physically but also in terms of cultural and social, and even political differences that made living together and working together a challenge.
I remember always sleeping in crowded conditions. - There wasn't enough housing for anybody. - Some were living in a truck, some were living in a car. Everybody was taking in roomers. I had roommate. I worked swing shift, she worked graveyard. We slept in the same bed. - That way I could sleep in the day time and they could sleep in the bed at night. In downtown Richmond was just seething with people. - Lots of people on the streets. I mean like, Fourth of July, or like Cinco De Mayo. - Grocery stores were open 24, everything was open 24 hours a day during that time. - Everything was moving. The energy was everywhere. - You had clubs like, Minnie Lou's Restaurant and Blues Club in North Richmond. And then there was of course this enormously popular club called, Tapper's Inn, was a nightclub, a blues club. And it had included in the back room the slot machines and card games, and things like that. - It was a busy, happening, good town. People had jobs and there was optimism and there was an energy. - In addition to the shipyards, there were 55 other defense related industries in Richmond so there were workers moving in all directions. - Everybody was working towards the same goal. We wanted to bring the boys home.
I went to the hiring hall and they said you have to join the Boilermakers Union. So I went there and this man stern, big and said, we don't take any women or blacks. The next day I went back to the hiring hall and they gave me the same story and I started crying. And there was a man sitting at a desk and he says, go back up there. And they hired me. - But then when they brought in the women, oh my land. The men laughed at them terrible, at first. You know, look at her, look at her walk, look at her. She doesn't even know how to hold a hammer. - There were tensions in the workplace that related to both race and gender. There were people who said, I'm not gonna work with a black person. And there men who said I'm not gonna work along side a woman. So, we talk about unity during World War Two, but there were lots and lots of bridges that had to be built. - In the case of Kaiser, the labor union, particularly the Boilermakers Union, began reluctantly to except, first women, and then African Americans men and women. The momentum to challenge Jim Crow that really launched the modern civil rights movement grew out of the WV campaign. That African Americans push for victory over the enemies abroad but also over Jim Crow at home. The Pittsburgh Courier really was behind launching this campaign for African Americans, to challenge and defeat segregation, discrimination based on race in housing, in the workplace, in schools.
I went to Richmond High and was taught welding. And I worked at Kaisers. But I never worked side by side with no, you know, on the same ship with a man welding. - I'll tell you what, the women were the best welders. If you give the woman the job, she does and does that job until it's done right. - It was like creating a embroidery in metal. I could point out that was a man's weld. And that was a woman's weld. Because they looked different. The men's isn't as uniformed. - We worked for hours and hours. We did twice work the mens did. - A new world ship building record is set at one of Henry J. Kaiser's California shipyard. 24 days ago, just a keel plate. - Henry Kaiser was a genius. He started one of the first health plans and he started the, you know, a place for people to live and things that people didn't have before. - He developed the childcare centers to accommodate the children needing care while their parents were at work. - And here's the man who builds them in record time. Henry J. Kaiser with a model to show how it'd done. Build to scale the 14 foot model is made of 81 pieces. - Everything was prefabed under Kaiser. Well they had the big sheets of steel and they'd weld those together. And then move them by crane onto the ship. - We'd called them the horrid cranes. They were so enormous. And they would lift these massive pieces of metal and boxes and they were just one of the biggest things I had ever seen. - And that's how come ships could be built so fast. Parts would be welded together and ready to be put onto a ship in no time. - Our motto was 10 down the ways in 31 days. - Down the ways. They would slide that ship down into the San Francisco Bay. - Rain or shine, ships quietly slipped into San Francisco Bay faster and faster. By the fall of 1943, more than one ship a day left Richmond. The most colossal ship building spectacle the world has ever witnessed. - They were always giving speeches and telling us how the other yards, how fast they were getting a ship built. So, there was always competition. - And I remember when we worked on the Robert Peary which was built by the way, I think is, the record has it either three and a half or four and half days from beginning to finish. And I think that's an amazing thing. - The launching at yard one and two were particularly festive occasions. They got famous people from all over the country. Ship would go sliding down the ways right after the champagne was cracked over the bottle. Very ceremonial. - It was a patriotic time. You'd see the kids collecting news papers, collecting tinfoil, collecting anything. Women who had gave up all their girdles, so we wore underwear that had elastic. - It really was the most wonderful time of coming together of the American people that I have ever lived through. - It wasn't as if the shipyards closed and some balloon bursts and Richmond was depopulated. It really continued to be a thriving community. - Today I think you have waves of newcomers who have that vibrancy that those newcomers during wartime had. Richmond was called the city that won the Purple Heart because of the amount of change and crowding in the war effort. And, turning out those ships in record numbers. Something happened in the small town of Richmond that people should be very proud of. - I was very proud of myself that I worked in the shipyards. Proud of myself 'cause I thought we were doing something for the war effort. - From that point on I always thought I can do anything I want to do. If I set my mind to it I can do anything. And that's how I've lived the rest of my life. - This was the place to be. - What sticks with me the most was how wonderful everybody was to each other. Very patriotic and pulling together and it was just a good time. - That's what makes a story so interesting, that these were ordinary people who did extraordinary things.
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As the credits roll, you're gonna find my name among the consultants to the filmmakers. Of course, the reason that list is so long is because everybody on the staff was a consultant to the filmmakers as well. It's also true that I had no idea what a consultant to a filmmaker was or did. So, there was no way of me to figure out what this finished product was going to be. I just knew that over about two and a half or three year period, on occasion we'd receive from the filmmakers who are at Harpers Ferry on the east coast and 'cause we were on the west coast a…
"Sign My Name to Freedom" - From Memoir to Musical
Soskin's life story has also been adapted into a musical, Sign My Name to Freedom. The script was written by playwright Michael Gene Sullivan and Soskinâs original music and lyrics are woven into its dialogue. The process of translating Soskinâs story from page to stage was spearheaded by the Bay Area-based Sullivan, who says in a 48hills interview that their first meeting in her Soskinâs apartment in Richmond was like a two-way job application.
Sullivan sent her drafts of the script as it developed, and they had Zoom meetings during which she provided invaluable feedback. âItâs not a documentary. âThere is a certain living in the moment to Betty,â he said. âA passion, a questioning of herself. She doesnât ignore injustice. But she also doesnât see herself as a heroic figure. Through the four Bettys, Sullivan was able to tease out different eras of Soskinâs formation: âFitting into a society that is not here for us. Wishing we just didnât exist and right under that, wanting us to be entertaining them by singing a song or holding a ball. Revolutionary Betty raised money for the Black Panthers and marched in a parade to expose the ugliness the Vietnam War and the racism of her White neighbors.
Miraculously preserved recordings of Soskin singing her own songs in a Joan Baez-like in tone, particularly a track titled âWindsongâ, drive the musical production and gave Sullivan special insight into Soskinâs evolution as a Black woman and how she came to understand herself gradually.
Soskin's Perspective on Aging and Change
Soskin works five days a week, about five hours a day, and occasionally works extra hours. That would suggest that my earnings are not central to my upkeep at this point in life, and whatever I earn is in addition to my Social Security checks â also electronic transfers. Probably the range of opportunity there is in the career. Park rangers have such a wide variety of choices to explore within the job category. As the only still-living member of staff I accepted in their names. That was special. I love to visit art galleries and go to plays. I'd never attempt to give such advice to anyone. The rate of change has accelerated to the extent that I don't think I could ever imagine what life will be like for anyone now in their youth that could ever come from someone my age. Somewhere along the way I aged into a place where I began to hear that voice as speaking Agnes Moore's literal truth. As an accurate expression of her reality. I wish I'd learned that when I was an adolescent. It would have saved me much pain and anguish. This is not an either-or world. It's both-and. There's nothing left to say except that life is still evolving and I only wish I'd not outlived my peer group! I'm a 20-year participant in the Women's Health Initiative and their questionnaire no longer holds any relevance to life as I'm living it. The medical professionals would have us believe that life has been extended. That shouldn't be the conventional wisdom. There are many who continue to find meaning and purpose in these years, and a few of us are even finding continuing fulfillment in the workplace.