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The Vietnam War was a time that most desperately showed how easily governments could decieve the general public, and also showed the strength and resolve of public audiences to rise up against what they believed was wrong - and take action in response to what the media showed them.

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Women as Intelligence and Information Workers at Bletchley Park

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Women as Intelligence and Information Workers at Bletchley Park

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The women involved in the development of the history of computing were largely left out of history by the British government and official records - it was up to researchers to recognize their significance to not just the war effort, but their place in computing history.

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This exhibit will show how the individual actors and organizations are left to engage in unpaid labour to reveal the truth of matters that the governments have historically hid behind a false curtain of transparency. Key subsections will feature artefacts from the Vietnam War, womens’ involvement in computing during World War II, as well as the rise of the black computer professional.

The Vietnam War was a key moment in US history that caused the American population to truly question if the government was being honest about its intentions and reality of the war overseas. Here, visual evidence provided by and through the American media journalists that detailed the horrors of the war ran in stark contrast the positive outlook held by wartime officials (Hallin, 1986). The truth presented by the American government was exposed to be a false truth, one that failed to tell the full story of the war. American media during this time presented uncensored journalism covering the war effort, which the American public was able to use as ammunition to demand the truth and reality of the situation from the government officials (Hallin, 1986). However, such a case was only possible because of the evidence provided through the media – what about when that evidence is not so easily provided? It certainly is not in the government’s interest for the public to easily uncover the truth, as evidenced historically with eugenics research as one example, and the impact and aftermath of the Trinity test during World War II. Here, the onus is on the public to sift through published documents and communications in the form of unpaid labour to reveal the truths hidden behind a layer of false transparency.

In the United Kingdom during World War II, women were essential workers that helped the war effort – both in the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) as well as across the intelligence and information work being done Bletchley Park (Hicks, 2017). These highly skilled women and their stories in working with the secret Colossus computers found themselves undervalued, pushed aside, and quickly forgotten – erased from the history they were an essential, thriving component of. The United Kingdom’s government made sure to make these women feel unwelcome, providing reduced benefits for women compared to men after the war, as well erasing the work and effort of women who operated Colossus computers in favour of praising the technological brilliance of the machines (Hicks, 2017). With the history of the women largely erased by the U.K government, both back in the 20th century and even in the 21st century in modern exhibits honouring the war efforts (Hicks, 2017), the history of these women would have been truly forgotten if not for the work of individual actors and efforts by researchers. Especially when documents and reports of the efforts at Bletchley Park presented a truth that was not reality, it was up to the public to uncover the truth themselves.

Additionally, the history of computing has worked to reproduce not only biases against women, but also biases against people of colour as well. As Gibbons’ (2022) discusses, historically computing history has focused on the individual success of ‘great white men’ (p. 259). The contribution of black computer professionals was ignored in the history of computing, and to a certain extent black culture had to be created to make its own space on an internet that is white by default (Gibbons, 2022). Going back to the 20th century, even after World War II despite the need and demand for skilled jobs that black professionals could qualify for, was outweighed by the existing prejudice against black workers via tradition. The truth was that employers at the time still were prejudiced against hiring black workers, and in addition to the issue of attitude, there was also a lack of proper training programs in place for black workers to potentially learn the skills for a skilled position (Gibbons, 2022). Through the 1940’s and 50’s it was up to social organizations to rise against these prejudices and seek to provide better opportunities and change the attitudes towards placing black workers in skilled positions.

Bibliography

Gibbons, K. (2022). Inventing the Black Computer Professional. In Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society (pp. 257–276). John Hopkings University Press.

Hallin, D. C. (1989). The “Uncensored War” the media and Vietnam. Univ. of California Press.

Hicks, M. (2018). War Machines: Women’s Computing Work and the Underpinnings of the Data-Driven State, 1930-1946. The MIT Press.

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In the post-war period where demand for skilled labour and the emerging use of the computer were beginning to increase, prejudice from employers to black Americans prevented black professionals from making their place in the new world. It was up to organiziations like the NUL and individual efforts to fight back against the existing systems and create new opportunity for freedom.

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The workers have been identified as Dorothy Du Boisson (left) and Elsie Booker by historian B. Jack Coperland. I. J. Good, D. Michie, and G. Timms, General Report On Tunny WIth Emphasis on Statistical Methods, 1945. Courtesy of the UK National Archives Hicks, M. (2018). War Machines: Women’s Computing Work and the Underpinnings of the Data-Driven State, 1930-1946. The MIT Press. 

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WRNS members working on a Colossus Computer

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WRNS members working on a Colossus Computer

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WRNS members were essential operators of the Colossus computers, and often their names and the importance of their work were left out and forgotten. Identifying them represents an attempt to recognize their place in computing history. (Hicks, 2018)

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The "Powers Girl" was an advertising mascot of Powers-Samas who portrayed women's labor as an integral part of mechanized accounting systems. Viekers News, January 1951.  Hicks, M. (2018). War Machines: Women’s Computing Work and the Underpinnings of the Data-Driven State, 1930-1946. The MIT Press. 

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During the early 20th century, women were veiwed as ideal workers for operating accounting machinery. Employers were able to offer low wages and poor promotion opportunities in a job considered to monotonous for men. However, these positions were essential for success! (Hicks, 2018)

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photo of Super Robinson from I.J Good, D. Michie, and G. Timms. Genereal Reporpt on Tunny with Emphasis on Statistical Methods, 1945. Courtesy of the Heath Robinson Museum, UK.

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The Heath Robinson was used by WRNS operators to attempt to break encoded messages - but was ultimately difficult to use and required a perfection of the skills to operate it. The WRNS operators took this to heart knowing their actions could directly help save British lives on the front. (Hicks, 2018)

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July 1, 1971 front page of the New York Times. (New York Times, After 40 Years, the Complete Pentagon Papers)

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The publishing of the Pentagon Papers in the New York Times showed definitively to the public that American government had outright decieved both the general public as well as U.S Congress about military operations in Vietnam. The truth was only revealed thank to the actions of an individual, Daniel Ellsberg, who faced charges for his actions to reveal the truth. (New York Times, 2011)

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In this scene from the PBS documentary “The Vietnam War,” college students protest in Boston on Oct. 16, 1965. (Frank C. Curtin/AP) (Washington Post, The civil rights and Vietnam protests changed America. Today, they might be illegal)

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In response to horrific images seen in the media, as well as moral opposition to the violence of the Vietnam War, college students across America rallied to protest against the continuation of the war in Vietnam. (Hallin, 1989)

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Joan Baez in Trafalgar Square, London, May 29, 1965 (United States Foreign Policy, Protest Music of the Vietnam War)

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Folk Singer Joan Baez (pictured above) was one of many folk singers who tried to protest the war in Vietnam through song and music. These efforts were also in response to the violence and chaos of war shown happening overseas, and music was a peaceful way to spread the anti-war message out to audiences around the world. (United States Foreign Policy History, 2023)

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 A story in Ebony magazine featuring Dorothy J. Boler of IBM. Gibbons, K. (2022). Inventing the Black Computer Professional. In Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society (pp. 257–276). John Hopkings University Press. 

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Black Computer Professionals - A Spotlight

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Black Computer Professionals - A Spotlight

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For Black professionals in the United States in the 20th Century and onwards, the computer was seen as a tool that could help provide and foster a sense of freedom and creativity - something that was previously not afforded to them in an era of racial prejudice. (Gibbons, 2022)

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Ralph Temple participates in the Urban League’s “Tomorrow’s Scientists and Technicians” program. Published in Ebony Magazine                 Gibbons, K. (2022). Inventing the Black Computer Professional. In Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society (pp. 257–276). John Hopkings University Press. 

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There was tremendous grassroots efforts to engage the youth of all minorities to potentially pursue careers in science and technology. These same students in school had the opportunity to meet with professionals who were also minorities to gain further insights into the possiblities of their futures. (Gibbons, 2022)

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War Zone ‘C’ – Ambush of the 173rd Airborne, 1965. Tim Page (Time, The Vietnam War Pictures That Moved Them Most)

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Images of the reality and the horror of war that was captured by journalists and shown to the American public through the media shocked the country. It was the first time such a conflict was publicly visible and the terrible reality of such a conflict caused the public to push for an end to the war. (Hallin, 1989)

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Family and members of the National Urban League, 1960. (Photo by Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images)

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The National Urban League (NUL) was instrumental in creating multiple initiatives and social programs to help Black Americans achieve freedom through the acceptance and recognition within a United States that was beginning to adopt the computer and demand skilled labour. (Gibbons, 2022)