As one of Baltimore’s few surviving “Rosie the Riveters,” Susan Taylor King knows she’s supposed to say she built airplanes during World War II to be patriotic.

In truth, King was fresh out of Frederick Douglass High School in 1942 and needed a job at a time when Black women had fewer options for employment in a male-dominated workforce and racially segregated Baltimore City. She was all of 105 pounds and eager for work when Eastern Aircraft Co. hired her to be a riveter assembling parts of planes needed for the war effort.

The labor must have required strength and endurance, but “when you’re young nothing is difficult,” King said. “You’re eager.”

More than 80 years later, the state of Maryland on Saturday gave one of the nation’s early female riveters her roses.

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The Rosie the River exhibit at the Glenn L. Martin Aviation Museum.
The Rosie the Riveter exhibit at the Glenn L. Martin Maryland Aviation Museum. (Kylie Cooper/The Baltimore Banner)

King was presented a state flag for her defense industry work, along with formal recognition from the governor, secretary of state and the Maryland General Assembly, during a ceremony honoring Baltimore-area “Rosies” at the Glenn L. Martin Maryland Aviation Museum in Middle River. The museum hosted King and other local members of the American Rosie the Riveter Association for a Labor Day weekend tradition in which bells are rung to celebrate the women who filled crucial jobs left vacant when male workers joined the military.

King was the only surviving “Rosie” in attendance Saturday in the small museum, which houses a robust collection of artifacts and archives from the era. A small, enthusiastic group of Rosie descendants, along with historical and educational advocates, gathered inside the museum’s event space to celebrate the American icon. Some wore red scarves with white polka dots as a nod to the allegorical character that came out of the war. Others clutched Rosie dolls with photos of the real women who worked as “Rosies” pinned to the cotton lapel.

For many Americans, the most familiar depiction of “Rosie” is a denim-clad white woman with her hair pulled back and her right biceps flexed as she declares, “We can do it!” A Norman Rockwell painting that also circulated during the era featured a white woman with robust arms eating a sandwich between rivets.

Documentary filmmaker Gregory S. Cooke, who joined the celebration Saturday, wants Americans to remember the “Rosies” included more than 600,000 Black women like King. Most were limited to domestic work until the war opened new opportunities to find employment in a variety of places, including manufacturing and federal jobs, he said.

The tag of a gray 1943 Martin uniform blouse reads "Get 'em Flying".
A 1943 Martin uniform blouse that Rosie Charlotte Simmons wore. (Kylie Cooper/The Baltimore Banner)

“In my opinion, American women have never gotten their due,” Cooke said. The Philadelphia-based filmmaker set out to document the stories of African American women, including King, in his film “Invisible Warriors” with the goal of expanding people’s understanding of who the “Rosies” really were.

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When General Motors reconfigured its Baltimore facilities into a division of Eastern Aircraft, the workforce was completely racially integrated — a rarity at the time. King’s first days on the job marked her first experience working and eating alongside white people, as well as wearing pants in public.

“We worked together as an integrated America,” King said. “We made the statement we’re part of the whole.”

These days, the former Eastern Aircraft site in Dundalk is home to a bustling Amazon campus.

While King is a “Rosie” to most, Lauren Lawrence thinks of her simply as Grandma. Their home in Baltimore’s Glen neighborhood is almost like a museum, with memorabilia and commemorations to King’s accomplishments as an educator and wartime worker. The family still has a chest containing some of King’s belongings from that era, including her identification badge.

“It makes me feel like I’m a part of history and helps me understand how important my grandmother is,” Lawrence said. King set a standard for determination that the family’s younger generations have sought to uphold, they said.

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Debi Wynn gives a tour of the Glenn L. Martin Aviation Museum and points into a case that contains artifacts from Rosies.
Debi Wynn, coordinator of the Baltimore chapter of the American Rosie the Riveter Association, gives a tour of the Glenn L. Martin Maryland Aviation Museum on Saturday. The case she’s standing in front of, called “Martineer Memories,” contains artifacts from Rosies. (Kylie Cooper/The Baltimore Banner)

Debi Wynn, the founder of the American Rosie the Riveter Association’s local chapter, considers Maryland a place of origin for the “Rosie” movement. Wynn said the Martin Co. based in Baltimore County is believed to be the first aviation manufacturer to hire women.

Housewives’ expertise in the home translated easily to the assembly lines, she said. A talent for home cooking suggested they could read directions carefully and mix chemical ingredients. Sewing skills signified precision and nimbleness. One government advertisement suggested that women who were used to operating an electric mixer were more than capable of learning to use a drill.

Women who were physically smaller could also fit more easily inside the nose of a plane while holding a bucker, which reduced resistance for rivets and guided them into place, Wynn said.

Companies like Martin provided housing and child care services for their employees during the war, making it easier for women to join the cause.

King spent 10 months working for Eastern Aircraft before enrolling at Morgan State University, where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. She thinks back on her time building airplanes as an act of peace. More planes meant a quicker victory and a better chance for soldiers to return home safely.

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Susan King smiles after ringing bells, a ritual done across the country each Labor Day weekend to honor Rosies. Her daughter, Camille Hinmon, sits beside her, and her grandchildren and great-grandchildren sit behind her.
Susan King, an original “Rosie the Riveter,” smiles after ringing bells — a ritual done across the country each Labor Day weekend to honor Rosies — during Saturday's ceremony. (Kylie Cooper/The Baltimore Banner)

She joined the American Rosie the Riveter Association more than 20 years ago as a way to reconnect with her peers and talk about their experiences. There were more than 30 members then. These days, Wynn said, there are fewer than 20, some of whom are Rosie descendants, or “rosebuds” and “rivets.”

“They paved the way for women today,” Wynn said. “If they hadn’t stepped forward, we might not have the opportunities we had today.”

As the years passed, people around King became more interested — and impressed — with what she represented.

“Now that I’m 99 years old,” she said, “it seems everything I did in 1942 was important.”

lillian.reed@thebaltimorebanner.com

Lillian Reed

lillian.reed@thebaltimorebanner.com

Lillian Reed

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