Staff Writer
The woman responsible for empowering women nationwide with her factory worker’s jumpsuit and polka-dot bandana, passed away Saturday, Jan. 20.
Naomi Parker-Fraley, while attending a women war workers reunion, saw the photograph on display that inspired the famous Rosie the Riveter poster and immediately recognized the depicted woman as herself. “I couldn’t believe it. I knew it was actually me in the photo,” Fraley told the Oakland Tribune. However, the journey to prove that Fraley was actually the woman in the picture was a struggle. It wasn’t until 2015 that she was recognized as the inspiration for Rosie the Riveter. Dedicated scholar, James J. Kimble, spent six years in search of the real Rosie, finally coming across the original picture in a 1942 newspaper on eBay, containing the caption: “Pretty Naomi Parker looks like she might catch her nose in the turret lathe she is operating.” She was overjoyed at the confirmation and when asked for her sentiments by the World Herald, Fraley exclaimed: “Victory!”
The Rosie the Riveter poster displays a woman in the typical garb of women factory workers, her hair tied up in a polka dot bandana to avoid getting it caught in machinery. The poster proclaimed “We can do it!” to the women who worked in the Westinghouse Electric Corp. factories during World War II. While it is often thought that the image was a national symbol at the time, it was, in fact, only displayed in that factory and for a short time in 1943. It wasn’t until the 1980s that the poster resurfaced and became a widespread symbol of girl power. Kimble explains to the Omaha World-Herald, “It turns out that almost everything we think about Rosie the Riveter is wrong.”
Today, the poster serves to honor the hard-working women of World War II and inspire feminists across the country. Fraley is proud of this fact and told People magazine, “The women of this country these days need some icons. If they think I’m one, I’m happy.”
