climate, and constant, cheap immigrant labor. During the World War II era, Capitalism and the free market escalated immensely as a result of the introduction of the aerospace industry to Los Angeles. During the early 1940’s, ten percent of the defense federal budget came to Southern California. Again, federal subsidies helped develop Los Angeles into one of the military’s major industrial centers, building more planes and ships than any other city. World War II and the bombing of Pearl Harbor led to the transformation of Los Angeles into a mega-metropolis. Before World War II, there was skilled craftsman, but post World War II, assembly lines with unskilled labor became the norm. This mass production, gave rise to other large industries. People from all over the United States came to Southern California in search of jobs. Some only wanted wartime jobs that could release them from the obligation of serving their country elsewhere in uniform. World War II proved to be the catalyst and expansion point that set off the growth in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, along with the migration, came disparity. Again, blacks were not welcome in white towns and the increased population, made white-LA very nervous. “The immigration of tens of thousands of Black war workers from the Southwest imposed intolerable strains on the confined housing stock of the Los Angles ghetto. As Blacks tried to jump over the “white wall” to buy shelter in outlying suburban or rural fringes, they were met by a new wave of homeowner hostility.” (David, pg 163) World War II offered plenty of prosperity to Southern California and many of the defense contracts have lasted up until the Cold War.Today, Mexican culture has reasserted itself in Los Angeles and is slowly shedding the “minority problem.” The minority has become the majority. Although the majority of the parents of Mexican-Americans are under-educated, wor...
