Charlottesville was greatly affected by the war in 1944. It affected the families, the financial stability, and the University of Virginia. The war was something in which all Charlottesvillians wanted to participate ranging from being active in the armed forces to buying war bonds to being educated at the University of Virginia to helping the city left behind.
The war affected many different families in Charlottesville. Every day, The Daily Progress featured a list of men selected to enlist in the armed forces. These lists ranged from a dozen to sixty names each day.
My grandfather stated that he felt it was a great honor to be listed in the paper as a chosen selectee. It gave him a sense of pride that he was going to fight for his country and that people knew about it. Although all names of the white selectees were listed in the paper, only occasionally did they list a name of a negro selectee; this was included in the case of a negro from a wealthy family. This shows that there was still a great prejudice in this city. Either they thought those names were not very important or they thought that only white people read the newspaper so the newspaper staff was simply trying to meet its audience.
Charlottesville was also affected financially by the war. The government was not paying teachers in this part of the state the proper amount. Virginia High School Literacy and Athletic League called for more aid, recommending that each teacher get paid $1,200 per year. This was not granted because money was scarce in the government during the war. The government tried to earn money by asking the citizens to purchase war bonds. Many businesses in Charlottesville supported this campaign and paid for ads in the newspaper stating that the United States promises to pay back any money borrowed from its people and that it is the patriotic and honorable thing to do. Many Charlottesvillians gave all the money they could to support their country, and there was a great sense of unity in the community. When asking my grandmother about the feeling of giving money to the government in the form of war bonds, she said that "War bonds were the way that we civilians could help in the war effort."
The University of Virginia was a great part of Charlottesville and was forced to adjust to the demand for college-aged men to fight in the war. The University went back to Thomas Jefferson's original plan of opening in late winter and closing in autumn; this made "June" graduation now on February 28, 2944. Because of the military calendar, they rid themselves of the three month break and only received a one week vacation. This enabled them to also speed up everyone's studies through going back to three four month terms. This meant that they admitted new students on March 3, July 1, and October 28. The University's enrollment was also greatly affected. Because of the amazing decline in students, they allowed more women to enter the college through the nursing program in which six were from Charlottesville. This raised the enrollment to only a little over 300 students. The University of Virginia had to adapt to the world around it, but college life had to go on!
You would think that with the war going on in 1944 that the people in Chaarlottesville would be sad and focused only on the war. Yet, Charlottesvillians seemed to continue life as normal. In the newspaper every day, there was a society page that listed all the parties coming up and who was going on vacation and where they were going.
There was a wide spread of ads from stores showing that there didn't seem to be any war time recession. People were buying, partying, and vacationing. They felt that although there was a war, life must go on!
By: Olivia Eades