During World War II, iconic pictures portrayed Americans serving the war effort either in uniform or at home as defense plant workers. The government needed to convince factory owners to switch to making materials of war while convincing individuals to take factory jobs.

Powerful images during this time inspired collective action on a massive scale. Men and women were surrounded by messages from billboards to posters to leaflets urging them to do their patriotic duty. Since many American men were serving in uniform, these messages needed to convince women to roll up their sleeves and join the industrial workforce. Photographs by people like Alfred T. Palmer fueled a workforce of nearly five million American women to power up U.S. defense plants by normalizing and encouraging their work in those factories to help the war effort.