U.S. School Clothes: Ocean View Elementary School, 1937


Figure 1.-- We have some images from this Norfolk, Virginia primary school in 1937. Most of the boys appar to be wearing knickers and go barefoot. We assumed this is probably near the end of the school year as temperatures are beginning to get warm. One boy came to school in a long pants suit and tie, but still went barefoot. We have since learned that the principal encouraged the boys to go barefoot so the poor boys would not feel embarassed. Click on the image to see the principal and the boys who won he dollars.for another view at the school.

We have some images from the Ocean View Elementary School in Norfolk, Virginia during 1937. Most of the boys appar to be wearing knickers and go barefoot. We assume this is probably near the end of the school year as temperatures are beginning to get warm. One boy came to school in a long pants suit and tie, but still went barefoot. I'm not sure just what is going on here, but I suspect that the boys wore shoes during the swinter and their feet are still a little tender when they first began to go barefoot when the weather got warm. Apparently this is not the case as the phoyograph here was dated November 1937. In northern states November coulf be quite cold, but in Virginia the weather was just begining to get cold. Notice the boys waring sweaters. A reader has explained what is going on. "I know from several websites on the history of that school, that the principal, Lucy Holt, was sad that many of her students couldn't afford shoes. So she made a contest out of it. She encouraged all the boys at the school to go barefoot as late into the winter as possible and start as early in spring as they could. The boys who made it the latest all got a dollar from the principal. That is the photo you have of the boys sitting on a table showing off their bare feet and the dollar it earned them. The other photo was of the boys comparing their tough feet as the boys who'd made it to November sans shoes. The tradition continued until Holt retired in the 1950s and I have seen photos from as late as 1960 showing most of the students in the library barefoot. However, Holt only did this for the boys, girls were apparently expected to wear shoes."








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Created: 3:55 AM 6/18/2004
Last updated: 3:34 AM 5/27/2007