Following the hard economic times of the 1920s and 1930s, the years during World War II brought both new hardships and opportunities to the South. Many men left for war, but jobs in ship building, airplane construction, ordnance manufacture, and even nuclear enrichment ushered in modernization amid the segregation of the Jim Crow era. Towns exploded into cities bringing new demographics and ideas to the region and its workforce. These stories of labor and production, science and technology, segregation and civil rights, working women, and military preparedness maintain a legacy in the South today. The National Archives at Atlanta holds many diverse records documenting the home front in the South during World War II, and these historic sources are ripe for new scholarship and discovery. While the documents, photographs, maps, and drawings in this exhibit come directly from the holdings in Atlanta, researchers can find similar records at regional National Archives facilities nationwide.