You Don't Know Rosie

This is not Rosie.

Rosie the Riveter, and the perpetuated myth about who she was and what she stands for, is an example of "collective misconception," the phenomena known as the Mandela Effect. 

This is Rosie.

The Mandela Effect is a societal phenomenon where a group of  people repeat a false thing so many times, others pick it up and keep repeating it, and then eventually the false thing "becomes true." It is kind of terrifying.

Naomi Parker Fraley died this week. In 2015, Naomi Parker Fraley's daughter-in-law saw a picture of Ms. Fraley from when she was a factory worker, and noticed a resemblance to the woman in the iconic "We Can Do It!" poster. Suddenly Naomi Parker Fraley "became" the "real Rosie." By that logic, my grandma was also Rosie. So was yours if she worked in a factory during WW2. Just because she was pictured in a chambray shirt and a head scarf working a factory line, this person was deemed Rosie the Riveter and people just...went with it. It's nonsense. Condolences about Naomi Parker Fraley passing at the grand age of 96. I am sure she was a fine lady but, and with no disrespect meant, she's not Rosie. We have always known that the model for the real Rosie was a young lady named Mary Doyle Keefe. That's the lady who sat for the famous Rosie painting. Mary Doyle Keefe was a nice lady who passed at the age of 92...coincidentally in 2015. It's almost like the real Rosie died and this Fraley family jumped in to abscond with her legacy or something.

A mega-Mandela double-dose of wrongness

So not only was Naomi Parker Fraley not the model for Rosie, but the picture that everyone thinks is Rosie is not Rosie at all. That "We Can Do It" image was a poster that Westinghouse factory used internally, in an effort to cut down on absenteeism in 1943. The poster was never intended to be about empowering women, just a motivational tool to get them to show up for work. An artist named Howard Miller drew the "We Can Do It!" poster. Miller's factory lady doesn't have a name, nor red hair. Westinghouse doesn't even use rivets!

From the Smithsonian: 

"Artist J. Howard Miller produced this work-incentive poster for the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company. Though displayed only briefly in Westinghouse factories, the poster in later year [sic] has become one of the most famous icons of World War II. 

Another Howard Miller poster.

As women were encouraged to take wartime jobs in defense industries, they became a celebrated symbol of female patriotism. But when the war ended, many industries forced women to relinquish their skilled jobs to returning veterans." 

Researcher Kelly Shanahan adds:
"This poster was commissioned by the Westinghouse electric and manufacturing company as a part of the United States effort to increase production and dedication within the warehouses. This poster was actually only posted for two weeks in February in 1943 and was never titled as Rosie the Riveter that she has become known as today. The poster was rediscovered in the 80's [sic] and misinterpreted as a symbol for the feminist movement and involvement in WW2. Miller never intended for "Rosie " to last longer than her two week poster debut, however she has somehow become ingratiated into society as a symbol for those women working in WW2."

Norman Rockwell painted the real Rosie, and then he painted 29 more.

Rosie the Riveter was one of the great iconic Rockwell covers for Saturday Evening Post. Mr. Rockwell even put her name on her lunchbox, gave her greasy overalls far too big (the rolled up cuffs just kill me), and he boldly painted a copy of Hitler's Mein Kampf under her foot. Rockwell gave his Rosie unruly red hair, cheeks pinked from hard work, well-muscled forearms and a big ol' rivet gun. Yeah, she's kind of a big deal.

So well received was Rockwell's May 1943 cover that he was pressed to paint more "rosies" doing more blue collar jobs. There were more than thirty Rosie covers in all, and that is how "Rosie to the Rescue" became a hopeful and patriotic call to women everywhere, and remains an iconic inspiring figure to this day – if you know where to find her. The real Rosie the Riveter will always be seated smartly upon her post, on her Post, covered in grease, goggles pushed up so she can eat her lunch before going back to work. You go, real Rosie. We see you, girl. ∎

Further Reading (Saturday Evening Post):

⦿ Can You Identify the 31 Jobs in Rockwell’s “Rosie to the Rescue”?
⦿ Rosie The Riveter