WORKING ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY

Title

WORKING ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY

Description

The photo is one of the only remaining remnants of one family's participation in the wartime industry, working on the docks and shipyards. Many families and individuals migrated during wartime to California to work in these wartime jobs. Some remained and others eventually returned home.

By 1944, two Rael brothers, Eli and Selimo Rael had traveled to Oakland. They were in their 20s and 30s respectively. At the time, the Kaiser Shipyards in nearby Richmond were the primary industry, but other docks also employed men in San Francisco and Oakland.

Nora Rael Galvez remembers bits and pieces of this history because in those years, her mother and father also moved to be with their sons in Oakland.

"My dad might have closed up his store in Questa then and I guess he might have been employed where his sons were at the shipyards. As a seamstress, my mom, Andrellita used to make money for the family doing that work. One summer, I went as well and was employed in a candy factory," Nora recalled.

Type

still image

Date Created

Circa 1944

Format

Tiff

Coverage

http://vocab.getty.edu/tgn/7774660;http://vocab.getty.edu/tgn/7835931

Rights

This photo is the property of Estevan Rael-Galvez. Please ask for permission to copy and use.