<P> The large - scale movement of blacks from the rural South to defense centers in the North (and some in the South) led to small - scale local confrontations over jobs and housing shortages . Washington feared a major race war . The cities were relatively peaceful; much - feared large - scale race riots did not happen, but there was small - scale violence, as in the 1943 race riot in Detroit and the anti-Mexican Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles in 1943 . The "zoot suit" was a highly conspicuous costume worn by Mexican American teenagers in Los Angeles . As historian Roger Bruns notes, "the Zoot suit also represented a stark visual expression of culture for Mexican Americans, about making a statement--a mark of defiance against the place in society in which they found themselves ." They gained admiration from their in group, and "disgust and ridicule from others, especially the Anglos ." </P> <P> Standlee (2010) argues that during the war the traditional gender division of labor changed somewhat, as the "home" or domestic female sphere expanded to include the "home front". Meanwhile, the public sphere--the male domain--was redefined as the international stage of military action . </P> <P> Wartime mobilization drastically changed the sexual divisions of labor for women, as young - able bodied men were sent overseas and war time manufacturing production increased . Throughout the war, according to Susan Hartmann (1982), an estimated 6.5 million women entered the labor force . Women, many of whom were married, took a variety of paid jobs in a multitude of vocational jobs, many of which were previously exclusive to men . The greatest wartime gain in female employment was in the manufacturing industry, where more than 2.5 million additional women represented an increase of 140 percent by 1944 . This was catalyzed by the "Rosie the Riveter" phenomenon . </P> <P> The composition of the marital status of women who went to work changed considerably over the course of the war . One in every ten married women entered the labor force during the war, and they represented more than three million of the new female workers, while 2.89 million were single and the rest widowed or divorced . For the first time in the nation's history there were more married women than single women in the female labor force . In 1944, thirty - seven percent of all adult women were reported in the labor force, but nearly fifty percent of all women were actually employed at some time during that year at the height of wartime production . In the same year the unemployment rate hit an all - time historical low of 1.2% . </P>

How did the united states increase support for the war effort