Women's Land Army

“From 1917 to 1920 the Woman’s Land Army brought thousands of city workers, society women, artists, business professionals, and college students into rural America to take over the farm work after men were called to wartime service. These women wore military-style uniforms, lived in communal camps, and did what was considered “men’s work”– plowing fields, driving tractors, planting, harvesting, and hauling lumber.

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“While the Woman’s Land Army was deeply rooted in the great political and social movements of its day–suffrage, urban and rural reform, women’s education, scientific management, and labor rights–it pushed into new, uncharted territory and ventured into areas considered off-limits. More than any other women’s war work group of the time, the Land Army took pleasure in breaking the rules. It challenged conventional thinking on what was “proper” work for women to do, their role in wartime, how they should be paid, and how they should dress.”

"Fruits of Victory" by Elaine Weiss, another piece of amazing, lost history!

Hear the author on NPR here.

Apparently, the Women's Land Army continued into WWII, and there's a book about that as well: "On the Farm Front: The Women's Land Army in World War II" by Stephanie A. Carpenter