Rosie the Riveter
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Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon of the United States, representing the 6 million women who manned the manufacturing plants which produced munitions and material during World War II while the men (who traditionally performed this work) were off fighting the war. This "character" is now considered a feminist icon in the U.S., and a herald of women's economic power to come.
The image most iconically associated with Rosie is J. Howard Miller's famous poster for Westinghouse, entitled We Can Do It! (at left), which is thought to have been created in 1942. However, the character in this painting was not named. Subsequently, a song by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb, entitled Rosie the Riveter, was released in early 1943. [1] (http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/journey/rosie-transcript.html)
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The final connection between the name of Rosie and the character was made by Norman Rockwell for his eponymous cover for the May 29 1943 Saturday Evening Post, which depicted a different Rosie who was nevertheless recognisable as a spiritual sister of Miller's character. [2] (http://www.rosietheriveter.org/painting.htm) It is not clear whether Rockwell had seen the Miller poster.
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