For many women in the South, the Women's Christian Temperance Union served as an opportunity to organize with other women, gain public career skills, and work outside the home. This experience was later able to transfer in women's work for suffrage. Belle Kearney, a leader within the WCTU and later a women's suffragist, wrote about the beginning of her career in the WCTU in her autobiography,...
The strong, modern women of the 1940's no longer desired the wasp waist corsets of previous generations. The new breed of woman wanted practicality. Hence, the advertisements of the time did not dwell heavily on waist reduction or social expectations, rather, the emphasis focused more on health issues. An example from Ladies Home Journal published in the February 1943 issue for Spencer Supports...
On the evening of June 20, 1943, tensions finally boiled over on Belle Isle, a popular recreation area for both blacks and whites in the city of Detroit. Twenty-three people perished, and hundreds were injured in the fighting that ensued. It was reported that the initial rioting occurred on the belief that an African American woman and her baby were thrown off of the Belle Isle bridge, which connected...
Fifteen months before the race riots of 1943, a Detroit report warned that "unless some socially constructive steps are taken shortly, the tension that is developing is very likely to burst into active conflict." The racial tensions in Detroit at the time came from a variety of sources, but especially resentment by white residents of the city's growing African-American population, based on discriminatory...
In the aftermath of a riot that started on June 20, 1943 due to racial tension between whites and blacks, residents of Black Bottom and Paradise Valley try to repair their lives and their businesses. Hastings Street is temporarily disabled even a month after the riots. Community members of this neighborhood look at the ruin of Paradise Valley in dismay, for their prized entertainment and business...
Zora Neale Hurston made contributions to the acceptance of African Americans in society through her noteworthy folklore writing. Hurston was an inhabitant of Florida, but resided in New York City when she wrote a letter to Professor Grover on June 8th 1932.[1] In her letter, she explains that she majored in Anthropology at Columbia University. Furthermore, she states “I have done...
Agricultural Labour-The Secret Jobs Done by Children
Industrial child labour was a very important issue in New York and the Southern part of America during the 1930s, but a large number of children also worked in agricultural farms for wages. There was no means to end this and it was a largely unknown issue at the time (Feld, 2). Feld’s article described New York citizens in 1935...
Propaganda from the War Manpower Commission, a U.S. employment service, promoted women joining the labor force during World War Two. In Mobile, Alabama, the Commission distributed a pamphlet using the fear of Hitler as motivation to work, asserting that as long women helped “build ships, more ships to transport our men, tanks, planes and munitions” Hitler wouldn’t “come to our shores.” ...
Floral gardens in Detroit were very popular during the early half of the 20th century. From growing flowers in backyards to expos, gardens represented the importance of the city being a fast growing urban area. Starting in 1906, nearly 7,000 school children planted, grew, and exhibited flowers with the support of city clubs, showing the prominence of home-gardening. Not only was gardening a...
At the turn of the 20th century, Delray was defined by heavy industry and smoke stacks. Because of where they lived, residents were trapped in the middle of an industrial playground and subjected to poor housing policies. In 1909, Dr. Leo H. Herbert, the founder of the Detroit Tuberculosis Sanatorium, along with other renowned physicians of the time, spoke out against Detroit’s neglect...