OAK RIDGE, TENNESSEE, a city in the United States known for its designation as a main site of research for the Manhattan Project (c. 1942–1945). Nicknames for Oak Ridge include: “the Atomic City,” “the Secret City,” “the Ridge,” and “the City Behind the Fence.” The Manhattan Project was a federal project to develop the first atomic bomb during World War II. In 1942 the US government acquired land in rural Tennessee near Oak Ridge, population 75,000, and made it a location for the project (Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico, served as the project’s other main centers).
Oak Ridge housed uranium-enrichment materials as well as research-and-development facilities. The manufacture of the world’s first atomic weapons, however, resulted in significant releases of radioactive byproducts into the environment. Those residing nearby were exposed to these radioactive environmental contaminants, and would eventually become known as “downwinders.” The impact on vulnerable and disenfranchised people was disproportionate; for example, a high percentage of those who consumed contaminated fish and wildlife were from Indigenous communities.
The completion of such a massive undertaking under strict secrecy was achieved through the collective efforts of a diverse workforce that consisted mostly of African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic people, and women. At Oak Ridge’s Y-12 electromagnetic isotope separation plant, approximately 10,000 young women, known as “the Calutron Girls,” operated machinery. Despite being uninformed of the true purpose of their work, these women operated efficiently, often outperforming trained scientists. On August 6, 1945, the Calutron Girls learned that the true nature of their work had been to fuel the atomic bomb that had been dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Additionally, around 7,000 African Americans were employed at Oak Ridge, where they had settled in order to contribute to the war effort and secure better pay. While many African Americans held positions as construction workers, laborers, or janitors, a smaller group also served as scientists and technicians, including Dr. J. Ernest Wilkins, Jr., and Dr. Samuel Proctor Massie, Jr.
Today, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is still a major research facility managed by the US Department of Energy. The laboratory continues to conduct research in various scientific endeavors, including nuclear-waste cleanup and supercomputing. While Oak Ridge has grown beyond its initial military research-and-development profile, the majority of its population is still made up of researchers, scientists, military personnel and their families, government employees, and veterans. Oak Ridge continues to be associated with its scientific and technological heritage, with ghosts of its past visible in several mysterious, highly secure facilities. It is a site of pilgrimage for those interested in the history of the atomic bomb.