"Volunteer Civilian Defense" (WPA War Services, Alabama, 1941-1943)
A bomber's shadow falls across the outline of Alabama in blue, above the words 'Volunteer Civilian Defense'. The tell: the shape of the home state under an aircraft's shadow makes a threat feel local and puts the ask in two words.
A silkscreen poster from the Work Projects Administration's War Services programme in Alabama, dated between 1941 and 1943 by the Library of Congress, which describes it as encouraging voluntary participation in civilian defense. It was aimed at the domestic public to recruit volunteers. A bomber's shadow falls across a blue outline of Alabama above the words "VOLUNTEER CIVILIAN DEFENSE". The archive tags fear appeal: placing the shadow over the home state makes the threat feel local, and the single remedy offered is to volunteer.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Work Projects Administration, War Services (Alabama)
Full record
Region, Country, Medium, Issuer type, Regime, Leader, Audience, Purpose, Themes, Event, Source, Rights
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Recruit
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, retrieved October 10, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. federal WPA work); LoC: no known restrictions on publication
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LCCN 98518971. "Volunteer Civilian Defense" (WPA War Services, Alabama, 1941-1943)
Text on the object
Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked
VOLUNTEER CIVILIAN DEFENSE
