Figure 1.--Here we have a rural school at Dodge, Oklahoma during the 1929-30 school year. Almost all of the boys wear overalls. Many of the younger bnoys are barefoot, but otherv wise reasoably dressed and look healthy and well fed. TYhisd image is especially poignet because it was a year before Oklahoma and the rest of the Southern Plains were struk by the ravages of the Dust Bowl and families like these became the Oakies fleeing the drought and dust. Cklick on the photographb to see the names of thv children.

We note American boys beginning to wear a variety of pants to school in the 1920s. Knickers were, however, only slightly less common in the 1920s--especially in the early-20s. This began to change, however, in the mid-20s. We begin to see a few more boys wearing short pants and older boys commonly wearing long pants, especially teenagers. Here social class was a factor. Boys from well-to do famolies were more likely to wear short pants. boys from working classs families were more likrlyb to wear long pants. This trend continued into the 1930s. Younger boys had changed from knee pants to short pants. We see more boys wearing socks rather than long stockings. Knee socks were becoming very common. Boys began wearing patterned knee socks with knickers instead of long stockings that were so common for decades. We see that patterned knee socks were already popular by the end of the decade. Long stickings had not disappeared, by had begin to decline in popularity. We continue to see boys in ruralm areas wearing overalls to school. this was only a little less common for the older boys. But most primary-age boys wore knickers to school. The scholl here is a good example (fugure 1). In some rural schools virtually all of the boys are wearing overalls and always the long pants type. This was a practice that had become standard in the 1910s and would contunue until after World War II. This was something not seen in city schools and only to a limited extent in small town schools. And pants for the most part were only for the boys. Girls wore skirts or dresses.

Navigate the Relate Boys Historical Clothing Style Pages
[Main country page]
[Long pants suits] [Short pants suits] [Lederhosen] [Knee socks] [Eton suits]
[Jacket and trousers] [Blazer [School sandals]

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing School Uniform Pages
[Return to the Main U.S. school regular garment 20th century chronology page]
[Return to the Main U.S. school regular garment chronology page]
[Return to the Main U.S. school regular garment page]
[Return to the Main U.S. school regular garment page]
[Return to the Main U.S. school garment page]
[Return to the Main National School Uniform Page]
[Australia] [England] [France] [Germany]
[Ireland] [Italy] [Japan] [New Zealand] [Poland] [Singapore] [Scotland]
[Singapore] [United States]

Navigate the HBC School Pagese
[Activities] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries] [Debate] [Economics] [Garment] [Gender] [Hair] [History] [Home trends] [Literary characters]
[School types] [Significance] [Transport and travel [Uniform regulations] [Year level] [Other topics]
[Images] [Links] [Registration] [Search] [Tools]
[Return to the Historic Boys' School Home]

Created: 6:59 PM 11/23/2022
Last updated: 12:05 AM 11/24/2022