Some students in north Jefferson County got a taste of World War II this week.

On Friday, Drs. John and Frances Carter, founders of the American Rosie the Riveter Association (ARRA), served as a live history lesson to a crowd at Mortimer Jordan High School.

On hand were students from two history classes and a holocaust studies class. Mortimer Jordan media specialist Laurie Dunlap organized the event.

The Carters, who live in Birmingham, dressed in WWII clothing: John in his original paratrooper uniform, and Frances representing the famous Rosie the Riveter painting by J. Howard Miller that helped stir women into action during the war.

The couple taught about the importance of “Rosies,” or women who walked out of their traditional roles during the war to fill jobs formerly done by men.

Frances Carter was indeed a riveter during the war, having left her job as a teacher in Mississippi in order to help build B-29 aircraft at Betchell McCombs Parsons Aircraft Modification Center in Birmingham, a company today called Pemco Aeroplex, Inc.

However, Carter said that riveting was only one of the jobs that women filled as able-bodied men went to war. Women also worked as welders, crane operators, machinists, farmers and many other jobs.

Read the full article in Saturday’s edition of the North Jefferson News.