[{"id":338148,"date":"2026-09-10T09:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T13:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/?p=338148"},"modified":"2026-09-08T12:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T16:24:07","slug":"whats-queer-about-the-legend-of-zelda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/whats-queer-about-the-legend-of-zelda\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Queer About <em>The Legend of Zelda<\/em>?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Even though the tides are slowly turning, many video games have formulaic plots that reinforce old-school gender and heteronormative roles, often featuring a hero saving a damsel in distress from a menacing villain.<\/p>\n<p>Historically, Nintendo has primarily marketed its games to children, with an emphasis on the family-friendly market. In the 1990s, however, boys were singled out as the main demographic. \u201cDespite overarchingly heteronormative plots of male heroes rescuing imprisoned maidens, subversive potential emerges in numerous Nintendo games,\u201d writes Tison Pugh in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/45096603\"><em>Journal of Narrative Theory<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Pugh singles out <em>The Legend of Zelda<\/em> series, focusing on <em>The Legend of Zelda<\/em> (1986), <em>The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past<\/em> (1991), and <em>The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time<\/em> (1998).<\/p>\n\t\t<aside class=\"pull-quote center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"pull-quote__text\">\u201cLink&#8217;s perpetual childhood maintains him in a presexual world rendered queer by the narrative construction of a romance storyline that can never be successfully navigated.\u201d<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/aside>\n\t\t\n<p>That subversive potential isn\u2019t immediately apparent. \u201cThe Legend of Zelda franchise stresses Link&#8217;s connection to the [Joseph-Campbell-theorized] mythic hero tradition in various moments of his games, with many scenes apparently endorsing a heteronormative storyline,\u201d writes Pugh. \u201cYet many also exhibit the inevitable queer chinks in this fa\u00e7ade of masculine puissance, for along their narrative trajectory, their performance of normative sexuality is undermined by the necessity of forever delaying romance in favor of their very heroism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Link&#8217;s identity and maturation also defy normative expectations: he ages forward and backward throughout his many adventures. In <em>The Legend of Zelda<\/em> and <em>The Wind Waker<\/em>, for instance, he is young and elfin; in <em>Ocarina of Time<\/em>, he spends the first half of the game as a child and the second as an adult; and in <em>Twilight Princess<\/em> and <em>Breath of the Wild<\/em>, he is rendered as a young adult throughout. \u201cDespite these hints of maturation, Link&#8217;s perpetual childhood maintains him in a presexual world rendered queer by the narrative construction of a romance storyline that can never be successfully navigated,\u201d says Pugh. Regardless of whether players and fans believe the series features one Link or multiple Links across the convoluted timeline posited in the <em>Hyrule Historia<\/em>, each of these games ends at a moment of frustrated erotic climax.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<div class=\"daily-explore story-list more-to-explore bg-color-gray\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"story-list-header\">More to Explore<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease image-left default \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease__featured-image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/are-video-games-like-novels\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/are_video_games_like_novels_1050x700.jpg\" class=\" wp-post-image\" alt=\"Pixelated books\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease__text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/are-video-games-like-novels\/\">Are Video Games Like Novels?<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<div class=\"byline\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/daily-author\/ashawnta-jackson\/\">Ashawnta Jackson<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-date\">\n\t\t\t\t\tMarch 5, 2022\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"subtitle\">Video games as interactive storytelling? Maybe not at first glance, but as Eric Hayot explains, the interplay between game and narrative is real.<\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n<p>On a more sexually explicit note, <em>A Link to the Past<\/em> teasingly hints at the phallic pleasures associated with Link&#8217;s weaponry. \u201cWhen his sword is tempered, the caption congratulates him, \u2018Great! Your sword is stronger! You can feel the sheer power flowing through your body!\u2019\u201d observes Pugh. Later, when Link receives another sword upgrade from the Fat Fairy in the Pyramid of Power, the eroticization of the sword as a penis is made explicit: \u201c\u2018Your sword is stronger! You can feel its power throbbing in your hand!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The emphasis on Link\u2019s style and self-presentation is also open to queer readings. More recent entries, such as <em>Breath of the Wild<\/em> and <em>Tears of the Kingdom<\/em>, offer Link an array of outfits ranging from his basic tunic to billowy, androgynous ensembles and animal-inspired attire, while earlier games also linked power-ups to costume changes. \u201cI am at a loss to name another mythic hero\u2014from Moses to King Arthur, Odysseus to Harry Potter\u2014known [in-game] for his modish stylings,\u201d notes Pugh. His observation came a few years before alternate costumes became commonplace across the industry, appearing in games ranging from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/guides\/mario-kart-world-all-costume-unlocks-and-complete-outfit-list\"><em>Mario Kart<\/em> <\/a>to indie productions like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/esports\/all-hazel-s-outfits-south-midnight\"><em>South of Midnight<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t<div class=\"daily_email_signup weekly-digest \">\n\t\t<h4>Weekly Newsletter<\/h4>\n\t\t<script>\nvar gform;gform||(document.addEventListener(\"gform_main_scripts_loaded\",function(){gform.scriptsLoaded=!0}),document.addEventListener(\"gform\/theme\/scripts_loaded\",function(){gform.themeScriptsLoaded=!0}),window.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){gform.domLoaded=!0}),gform={domLoaded:!1,scriptsLoaded:!1,themeScriptsLoaded:!1,isFormEditor:()=>\"function\"==typeof 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<input type='hidden' autocomplete='off' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_target_page_number_17' id='gform_target_page_number_17' value='0' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' autocomplete='off' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_source_page_number_17' id='gform_source_page_number_17' value='1' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' name='gform_field_values' value='' \/>\n            \n        <\/div>\n                        <p style=\"display: none !important;\" class=\"akismet-fields-container\" data-prefix=\"ak_\"><label>&#916;<textarea name=\"ak_hp_textarea\" cols=\"45\" rows=\"8\" maxlength=\"100\"><\/textarea><\/label><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"ak_js_1\" name=\"ak_js\" value=\"153\"\/><script>\ndocument.getElementById( \"ak_js_1\" ).setAttribute( \"value\", ( new Date() ).getTime() );\n<\/script>\n<\/p><\/form>\n                        <\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Legend of Zelda<\/em> franchise also hints at secret alliances between Link and several of his enemies in Hyrule. Some shower him with gifts, urging him to keep the exchanges secret. In <em>The Legend of Zelda<\/em>, piglike Moblins tell him, \u201cIt\u2019s a secret to everybody.\u201d In <em>A Link to the Past<\/em>, a human-animal hybrid thief tells Link, \u201cTake some Rupees, but don&#8217;t tell anyone I gave them to you. Keep it between us, OK?\u201d Pugh connects these exchanges to a central concern of queer theory: \u201cSecrets\u2014who holds, fears, or divulges them\u2014have long stood as a hallmark hermeneutic of queer theory, for secrets about sexualities simultaneously subvert and reinforce dominant ideological constructions of purportedly deviant eroticisms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Link\u2019s near-total silence\u2014he barely speaks in most games\u2014creates further space for queer readings. \u201cBecause Link never speaks, players are solicited to speak for him while playing and engage subversively with the unfolding onscreen drama according to their unique visions of the character,\u201d writes Pugh. Ultimately, he concludes, \u201cessentially, one can play <em>The Legend of Zelda<\/em> and other video games queerly by looking for signs\u2014any signs\u2014of non-normative desire, which adds another ludic level to the game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Link may look like a classic video game hero, but his adventures complicate the heteronormative conventions of the genre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":323,"featured_media":338340,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5273],"tags":[4993,551],"class_list":["post-338148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-film-media","tag-lgbtq","tag-video-games","pub_tag-journal-of-narrative-theory","daily_article_types-quick-reads"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What\u2019s Queer About The Legend of Zelda? - JSTOR Daily<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Link may look like a classic video game hero, but his adventures complicate the heteronormative conventions of the genre.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/whats-queer-about-the-legend-of-zelda\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What\u2019s Queer About The Legend of Zelda? - JSTOR Daily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Link may look like a classic video game hero, but his adventures complicate the heteronormative conventions of the genre.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/whats-queer-about-the-legend-of-zelda\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JSTOR Daily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JSTOR.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-10T13:35:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/whats_queer_about_the_legend_of_zelda_1050x700.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1050\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Angelica Frey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JSTOR_Daily\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@JSTOR_Daily\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/whats-queer-about-the-legend-of-zelda\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/whats-queer-about-the-legend-of-zelda\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Angelica Frey\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/becb0f0d9d2d0336b50efd5786b488aa\"},\"headline\":\"What\u2019s Queer About The Legend of Zelda?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-10T13:35:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/whats-queer-about-the-legend-of-zelda\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":800,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/whats-queer-about-the-legend-of-zelda\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/whats_queer_about_the_legend_of_zelda_1050x700.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"LGBTQ\",\"video games\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Arts &amp; Culture\",\"Film &amp; Media\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/whats-queer-about-the-legend-of-zelda\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/whats-queer-about-the-legend-of-zelda\\\/\",\"name\":\"What\u2019s Queer About The Legend of Zelda? - JSTOR Daily\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/whats-queer-about-the-legend-of-zelda\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/whats-queer-about-the-legend-of-zelda\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/whats_queer_about_the_legend_of_zelda_1050x700.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-10T13:35:08+00:00\",\"description\":\"Link may look like a classic video game hero, but his adventures complicate the heteronormative conventions of the genre.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/whats-queer-about-the-legend-of-zelda\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/whats-queer-about-the-legend-of-zelda\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/whats-queer-about-the-legend-of-zelda\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/whats_queer_about_the_legend_of_zelda_1050x700.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/whats_queer_about_the_legend_of_zelda_1050x700.jpg\",\"width\":1050,\"height\":700,\"caption\":\"LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 14: Gamers try out the new to play the new video game \\\"The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild\\\" in the Nintendo booth during the annual E3 2016 gaming conference at the Los Angeles Convention Center on June 14, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. The Electronic Entertainment Expo will run from June 14 -16. 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The few decades that followed saw a massive development of suburbs, highways, and later, shopping malls. But what did the American landscape look like before the war? What was small-town life like then? A look at the history of Hempstead Village, New York, provides a glimpse of that period.<\/p>\n<p>Hempstead Village on <a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/the-long-and-winding-island\/\">Long Island<\/a> was founded in the mid-1600s during the period of colonization. Although the area was initially under Dutch colonial control, two Englishmen, John Carman and John Fordham, purchased land there in 1643 to establish a new community. Carman and Fordham negotiated with local Indigenous tribes living on Long Island to purchase the land, and the following year, families moved there to start their new community.<\/p>\n<div class=\"slick-slider-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"slick-slider slick-slider--size-full\" id=\"slick-slider-1\" data-slick='{\"showCaption\":true,\"adaptiveHeight\":true,\"dots\":true,\"fade\":true,\"lazyLoad\":\"progressive\"}'>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338300\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.40766593\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"840\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Cranes Furniture storefront at street intersection, Hempstead, New York\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_7.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nCranes Furniture storefront at street intersection, Hempstead, New York\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338294\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.39723016\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"839\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"World War I soldier with horse at corner of Franklin Street and Fulton Avenue\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_1.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nWorld War I soldier with horse at corner of Franklin Street and Fulton Avenue\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338296\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.40769813\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"841\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Businesses on Main Street in Hempstead, New York\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_3.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nBusinesses on Main Street in Hempstead, New York\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338295\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.40766594\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"840\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Bohack Building at southwest corner of Fulton Avenue and Washington Streets in Hempstead\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_2.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nBohack Building at southwest corner of Fulton Avenue and Washington Streets in Hempstead\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338297\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.40766586\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"830\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Carman R. Lush Pharmacy storefront\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_4.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nCarman R. Lush Pharmacy storefront\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338298\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.40766581\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"841\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Commercial block at street intersection, Hempstead, New York\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_5.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nCommercial block at street intersection, Hempstead, New York\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338299\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.41111082\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"840\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Commercial Building with Greenwich St. Restaurant, Hempstead\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_6.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nCommercial Building with Greenwich St. Restaurant, Hempstead\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338301\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.40766595\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"840\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Dry goods and notions store with horse-drawn wagon, Hempstead\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_8.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nDry goods and notions store with horse-drawn wagon, Hempstead\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In a lecture to the Long Island Historical Society in 1943, Dr. Courtney R. Hall explained how Hempstead got its name. Speaking about the village\u2019s history for its tercentenary celebration, Hall stated that the new community\u2019s name <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/23135179\">\u201cwas derived from the birthplace of John Carman, one of the original patentees, in Hertfordshire\u2014a place called Hemel-Hempstead. Carman\u2019s fellow purchaser, Fordham, was born only eighteen miles from that place.\u201d<\/a> Like many places in former colonial territories, Hempstead\u2019s name refers back to the homeland of those who colonized and settled in the region.<\/p>\n\t\t<aside class=\"pull-quote center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"pull-quote__text\">Train stations helped guarantee foot traffic, enabling downtown shopping districts in smaller towns to thrive.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/aside>\n\t\t\n<p>Despite their long histories, Hempstead Village and its neighbors in Nassau County remained largely rural communities until the twentieth century. When New York City annexed Queens County to form the Borough of Queens on January 1, 1898, the smaller rural communities involved, including Hempstead, were not pleased about becoming part of New York City. Nassau County was established one year later on January 1, 1899, allowing these rural communities to maintain their independence from their metropolitan neighbor. Images from Hofstra University\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/site\/hofstrauniversity\/hempsteadnewyorkphotographs\/\">Hempstead, New York Photographs<\/a>\u00a0collection, shared via JSTOR, document Hempstead during this period and the decades that followed, offering a visual record of the village\u2019s downtown businesses, homes, civic buildings, and community life.<\/p>\n<div class=\"slick-slider-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"slick-slider slick-slider--size-full\" id=\"slick-slider-2\" data-slick='{\"showCaption\":true,\"adaptiveHeight\":true,\"dots\":true,\"fade\":true,\"lazyLoad\":\"progressive\"}'>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338302\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.41111072\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"840\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Fire Department Parade on Main Street, Hempstead\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_9.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nFire Department Parade on Main Street, Hempstead\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338303\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.41111080\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"841\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"First Baptist Church, Hempstead\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_10.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nFirst Baptist Church, Hempstead\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338304\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.40766613\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"840\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Group by a pond with boat and barn, Hempstead, New York\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_11.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nGroup by a pond with boat and barn, Hempstead, New York\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338305\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.41111101\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"839\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Hempstead Library Building Exterior\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_12.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nHempstead Library Building Exterior\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338306\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.40766590\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"839\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Long Island Rail Road Depot with Horse-Drawn Carriages, Hempstead\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_13.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nLong Island Rail Road Depot with Horse-Drawn Carriages, Hempstead\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338307\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.39723018\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"840\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Men standing on shoveled Main Street sidewalk in Hempstead after the blizzard of March 1888\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_14.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nMen standing on shoveled Main Street sidewalk in Hempstead after the blizzard of March 1888\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338308\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.41111091\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"840\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Parade in Downtown Hempstead with Decorated Buildings\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_15.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nParade in Downtown Hempstead with Decorated Buildings\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338309\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.41111083\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"840\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Brooks Tire Company and Garage, Hempstead Village\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_16.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nBrooks Tire Company and Garage, Hempstead Village\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>It was Hempstead\u2019s railroad connections that helped keep its economy active and the community connected before automobile travel became widespread. As Arnold Silverman and Linda Schneider explain in their research on Long Island\u2019s suburbanism, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/23286655\">\u201c[b]efore the development of paved roads and widespread automobile ownership, railroad communities such as Hempstead (a nascent city despite the legal designation of village) served as the focal point of commercial, political, and cultural life in Nassau\u2019s south shore.\u201d<\/a> A vast network of transcontinental and regional rail lines across the United States got people where they needed to go, and having a busy train station was a real asset to a place like Hempstead Village. Train stations helped guarantee foot traffic, enabling downtown shopping districts in smaller towns to thrive.<\/p>\n<div class=\"slick-slider-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"slick-slider slick-slider--size-full\" id=\"slick-slider-3\" data-slick='{\"showCaption\":true,\"adaptiveHeight\":true,\"dots\":true,\"fade\":true,\"lazyLoad\":\"progressive\"}'>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338317\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.40766591\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"839\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Victorian house with mansard roof in Hempstead\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_24.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nVictorian house with mansard roof in Hempstead\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338316\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.40766587\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"840\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Street view of Island Hotel and adjacent buildings, Hempstead\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_23.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nStreet view of Island Hotel and adjacent buildings, Hempstead\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338315\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.40766582\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"840\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"R.G. Powell Undertaker storefront with proprietor\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_22.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nR.G. Powell Undertaker storefront with proprietor\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338314\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.41111098\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"839\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Storefronts on Main Street, Hempstead Village\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_21.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nStorefronts on Main Street, Hempstead Village\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338310\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.41111075\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"840\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Buck Storage Battery and Radio Sales Building, Hempstead\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_17.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nBuck Storage Battery and Radio Sales Building, Hempstead\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338311\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.41111100\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"840\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Chas. Dreihof Sammis Hotel and Surrounding Businesses, Hempstead Village\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_18.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nChas. Dreihof Sammis Hotel and Surrounding Businesses, Hempstead Village\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338312\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.40766617\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"840\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Facade of Thomas J. Wylie Old Homestead Hotel with S. Liebmann&#039;s Sons Rheingold Teutonic Signage\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_19.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nFacade of Thomas J. Wylie Old Homestead Hotel with S. Liebmann's Sons Rheingold Teutonic Signage\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338313\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.41111081\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"841\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Hempstead Inquirer Building on Main Street\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_came_before_the_american_suburb_1050_20.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nHempstead Inquirer Building on Main Street\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>While automobile-centric urban design took off quickly after World War II, it built on a trend that had begun prior to the war. In their report on twentieth-century urbanism in the United States, Thomas J. Nechyba and Randall P. Walsh point out that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/resrep18527.3\">\u201c[b]y 1910 the number of registered automobiles in the U.S. had passed the 500,000 mark, and in 1920 car registration reached eight million.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t<div class=\"daily_email_signup weekly-digest \">\n\t\t<h4>Weekly Newsletter<\/h4>\n\t\t\n                <div class='gf_browser_gecko gform_wrapper gravity-theme gform-theme--no-framework' data-form-theme='gravity-theme' data-form-index='0' id='gform_wrapper_17' >\n                        <div class='gform_heading'>\n                            <p class='gform_description'><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class='gform_required_legend'>&quot;<span class=\"gfield_required gfield_required_asterisk\">*<\/span>&quot; indicates required fields<\/p>\n                        <\/div><form method='post' enctype='multipart\/form-data'  id='gform_17'  action='\/?after=2026-08-06T00%3A00%3A00&#038;page=2&#038;rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts' data-formid='17' 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>Reader<\/option><option value='Student' >Student<\/option><option value='Undergraduate Student' >Undergraduate Student<\/option><option value='Graduate Student' >Graduate Student<\/option><option value='Instructor\/Faculty' >Instructor\/Faculty<\/option><option value='Librarian' >Librarian<\/option><option value='Researcher' >Researcher<\/option><\/select><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n        <div class='gform-footer gform_footer top_label'> <button type='submit' id='gform_submit_button_17' class='gform_button button' onclick='gform.submission.handleButtonClick(this);' data-submission-type='submit' >Subscribe<\/button> \n            <input type='hidden' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_submission_method' data-js='gform_submission_method_17' value='postback' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_theme' data-js='gform_theme_17' id='gform_theme_17' value='gravity-theme' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_style_settings' 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value='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' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' autocomplete='off' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_target_page_number_17' id='gform_target_page_number_17' value='0' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' autocomplete='off' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_source_page_number_17' id='gform_source_page_number_17' value='1' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' name='gform_field_values' value='' \/>\n            \n        <\/div>\n                        <p style=\"display: none !important;\" class=\"akismet-fields-container\" data-prefix=\"ak_\"><label>&#916;<textarea name=\"ak_hp_textarea\" cols=\"45\" rows=\"8\" maxlength=\"100\"><\/textarea><\/label><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"ak_js_2\" name=\"ak_js\" value=\"50\"\/><script>\ndocument.getElementById( \"ak_js_2\" ).setAttribute( \"value\", ( new Date() ).getTime() );\n<\/script>\n<\/p><\/form>\n                        <\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n<p>This came quickly to Long Island in the post-World War II period. The first Levittown, an iconic planned suburban community that was copied around the country, was built from 1947 to 1951, less than 10 miles from Hempstead Village. The development of shopping malls like Roosevelt Field drew shoppers away from historic commercial centers like Hempstead. Like much of the country, Hempstead Village continued to transform from a community with rural roots into a suburban center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hofstra University\u2019s historic photographs capture Hempstead\u2019s shops and streets before postwar development transformed Long Island.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":338292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,11136],"tags":[649,91],"class_list":["post-337489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-us-history","tag-architecture","tag-cities","daily_column-the-where-we-were","daily_series-shared-collections","pub_tag-built-environment-1978","pub_tag-new-york-history","pub_tag-urban-sprawl","daily_article_types-shared-collections-jstor","daily_article_types-column"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What Came Before the American Suburb? - JSTOR Daily<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hofstra University\u2019s historic photographs capture Hempstead\u2019s shops and streets 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the Elite Learned to Seem Less Elite"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The richest, most powerful people in a society don\u2019t just materially control the lives of others. They also help determine what <a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/cultural-capital-jstor-daily-reads-the-news\/\">kinds of tastes<\/a> are \u201cgood.\u201d Looking at more than a century\u2019s worth of data from the British <em>Who\u2019s Who<\/em> guide, sociologists Sam Friedman and Aaron Reeves <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/48595831\">found distinct periods when this meant very different things<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Who\u2019s Who,<\/em> which has been published annually since 1897, includes 0.05 percent of the UK population. Half are chosen simply for holding a prominent position, such as Member of Parliament, CEO of a large company, or fellow of the British Academy. The other half are picked by a board of advisors, reflecting their reputation among those \u201cin the know.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t<aside class=\"pull-quote center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"pull-quote__text\">In the postwar era, highbrow interests remained popular, but entrants increasingly also listed elements of mass culture.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/aside>\n\t\t\n<p>Friedman and Reeves looked at the guide\u2019s open-response section for \u201crecreations.\u201d Because people\u2019s long-term tastes typically stabilize in early adulthood, they organized their analysis around generational cohorts, based on the decade each entrant turned 20.<\/p>\n<p>Among the British elites who came of age in the second half of the nineteenth century, less than half listed any recreations at all, perhaps showing that leisure activities weren\u2019t a terribly important part of self-presentation for this group. Most activities that were listed in this era, including <a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/democracy-aristocracy-american-hunter\/\">hunting<\/a>, fishing, golf, horse riding, and sailing, reflected an idealized version of rural life, carried out mostly by aristocrats at large country estates.<\/p>\n<p>In the early twentieth century, <em>Who\u2019s Who<\/em> entrants increasingly came from the urban industrial capitalist class. And as the center of elite life moved to London, even members of the gentry shifted how they enjoyed themselves. A particular influence in this era was the <a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/bloomsbury-group-reading-list\/\">Bloomsbury Group<\/a>, intellectuals and artists who based their self-conscious elitism on philosophical and aesthetic sophistication.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<div class=\"daily-explore story-list more-to-explore bg-color-gray\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"story-list-header\">More to Explore<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease image-left default \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease__featured-image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/legionnaires-disease-an-illness-of-affluence\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/legionnaires_disease_an_illness_of_affluence_1050x700.jpg\" class=\" wp-post-image\" alt=\"Legionella pneumonia\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease__text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/legionnaires-disease-an-illness-of-affluence\/\">Legionnaires\u2019 Disease, an Illness of Affluence<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<div class=\"byline\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/daily-author\/katrina-gulliver\/\">Katrina Gulliver<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-date\">\n\t\t\t\t\tNovember 19, 2024\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"subtitle\">Legionnaires\u2019 is the first communicable disease of modern wealth, thriving in the interstitial spaces of our built environment.<\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n<p>Between the 1920s and 1940s, the <em>Who\u2019s Who<\/em> elites developed the set of interests that would define \u201chigh culture,\u201d such as music, reading, and \u201cthe arts.\u201d Leisure activities also became a much bigger part of elites\u2019 public self-presentation in this period\u2014the percentage of entrants reporting on their recreations grew from about 40 percent of those who turned 20 in 1900 to 80 percent in 1950.<\/p>\n<p>In the postwar era, highbrow interests remained popular, but entrants increasingly also listed elements of mass culture. Friedman and Reeves suggest that elites were engaging with pop culture in a way that showcased a deep familiarity and ability to recognize \u201cquality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t<div class=\"daily_email_signup weekly-digest \">\n\t\t<h4>Weekly Newsletter<\/h4>\n\t\t\n                <div class='gf_browser_gecko gform_wrapper gravity-theme gform-theme--no-framework' data-form-theme='gravity-theme' data-form-index='0' id='gform_wrapper_17' >\n                        <div class='gform_heading'>\n                            <p class='gform_description'><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class='gform_required_legend'>&quot;<span class=\"gfield_required gfield_required_asterisk\">*<\/span>&quot; indicates required fields<\/p>\n                        <\/div><form method='post' enctype='multipart\/form-data'  id='gform_17'  action='\/?after=2026-08-06T00%3A00%3A00&#038;page=2&#038;rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts' data-formid='17' novalidate>\n                        <div class='gform-body gform_body'><div 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value='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' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' autocomplete='off' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_target_page_number_17' id='gform_target_page_number_17' value='0' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' autocomplete='off' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_source_page_number_17' id='gform_source_page_number_17' value='1' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' name='gform_field_values' value='' \/>\n            \n        <\/div>\n                        <p style=\"display: none !important;\" class=\"akismet-fields-container\" data-prefix=\"ak_\"><label>&#916;<textarea name=\"ak_hp_textarea\" cols=\"45\" rows=\"8\" maxlength=\"100\"><\/textarea><\/label><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"ak_js_3\" name=\"ak_js\" value=\"202\"\/><script>\ndocument.getElementById( \"ak_js_3\" ).setAttribute( \"value\", ( new Date() ).getTime() );\n<\/script>\n<\/p><\/form>\n                        <\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n<p>An even bigger shift in recent generations has been a rise in mentions of activities like spending time with friends and family. Often, entrants include these alongside aristocratic and highbrow interests in a way that could reduce the appearance of snobbishness.<\/p>\n<p>For elites of all generations, this became increasingly common starting in the 1990s. Friedman and Reeves suggest that it\u2019s no coincidence that this was also a moment when the incomes of Britain\u2019s top 1 percent began rising sharply in comparison with the rest of the country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs elites have <a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/how-life-in-the-age-of-conspicuous-consumption-can-drive-you-nutty\/\">pulled away<\/a> economically from other social groups, there is evidence that they have become increasingly insecure about their moral legitimacy,\u201d they write.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>British elites once signaled status through high culture. Over time, pop culture and everyday leisure became part of the picture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":338329,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,8028],"tags":[5550,2593],"class_list":["post-338124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-and-society","category-lifestyle","tag-populism","tag-wealth","pub_tag-american-sociological-review","daily_article_types-quick-reads"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How the Elite Learned to Seem Less Elite - JSTOR Daily<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"British elites once signaled status through high culture. 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Over time, pop culture and everyday leisure became part of the picture.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/how-the-elite-learned-to-seem-less-elite\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/how-the-elite-learned-to-seem-less-elite\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/how-the-elite-learned-to-seem-less-elite\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/how_the_elite_learned_to_seem_less_elite_1050x700.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/how_the_elite_learned_to_seem_less_elite_1050x700.jpg","width":1050,"height":700,"caption":"Members of the Earl Fitzwilliam Hunt at Clumber, surrounded by hounds, gather on the grass in front of the Earl's stately home, 1908."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/how-the-elite-learned-to-seem-less-elite\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How the Elite Learned to Seem Less Elite"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/","name":"JSTOR Daily","description":"from JSTOR, nonprofit library for the intellectually curious","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/#organization","name":"JSTOR Daily","url":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/J_Daily-Logo_04_350w.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/J_Daily-Logo_04_350w.png","width":351,"height":111,"caption":"JSTOR Daily"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JSTOR.org","https:\/\/x.com\/JSTOR_Daily"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/#\/schema\/person\/fd0bdc07f162fa2dc848f01315000b35","name":"Livia Gershon","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f925a562eed87157d411c648af3fe3fa7a44c55681d83568eaa525186c68b49?s=96&d=wp_user_avatar&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f925a562eed87157d411c648af3fe3fa7a44c55681d83568eaa525186c68b49?s=96&d=wp_user_avatar&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f925a562eed87157d411c648af3fe3fa7a44c55681d83568eaa525186c68b49?s=96&d=wp_user_avatar&r=g","caption":"Livia Gershon"},"description":"Livia Gershon is a freelance writer in Nashua, New Hampshire. Her writing has appeared in publications including Salon, Aeon Magazine and the Good Men Project. Contact her on Twitter @liviagershon."}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338124"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338330,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338124\/revisions\/338330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":338088,"date":"2026-09-07T09:43:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T13:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/?p=338088"},"modified":"2026-09-04T11:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T15:40:08","slug":"the-nazi-car-that-conquered-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/the-nazi-car-that-conquered-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"The Nazi Car That Conquered the World"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How did the Nazi Volkswagen become the world-renowned symbol of postwar, post-fascist Germany?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/26979298\">\u201cMillions of postwar Germans imaged driving <i>away<\/i> from their past<\/a>,\u201d writes historian Natalie Scholz, but they were doing so in the \u201cdebris of the Nazi Empire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Nazi state leisure organization <i>Kraft durch Freude <\/i>(Strength through Joy) introduced the <i>KdF-Wagen<\/i>, as the first incarnation of the\u00a0VW Beetle was called, with great fanfare in 1938. In a country with little car ownership, the <i>KdF-Wagen<\/i> was promoted as an affordable vehicle for the <i>Volk<\/i> (people). It was presented as the automotive flagship of a \u201cracially defined <i>Volksgemeinschaft<\/i>\u201d (people\u2019s community); Jewish Germans were not allowed to purchase one.<\/p>\n\t\t<aside class=\"pull-quote center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"pull-quote__text\">Hitler, the car\u2019s biggest booster, unsurprisingly got one of the very few produced. For everyone else, the promised car never materialized.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/aside>\n\t\t\n<p><i>KdF-Wagens <\/i>were supposed to be produced in a new, purpose-built factory town given the utilitarian name <i>Stadt des KdF-Wagens.<\/i> The enormous facility, later known as Wolfsburg, was planned to produce 1.5 million cars annually. The basic price in 1938 was 990 Reichsmarks (RM). An installment plan meant people could invest 5 RM at a time, receiving special stamps to show their payments. The idea was to fill four 250 RM stamp books and then turn them in for a vehicle.<\/p>\n<p>But here\u2019s the thing about investing in totalitarianism: it\u2019s a sucker\u2019s game. Hitler, the car\u2019s biggest booster, unsurprisingly got one of the very few produced. For everyone else, the promised car never materialized. From 1939 until 1945, the Wolfsburg factory was given over to military vehicles and munitions, even as the regime continued to promote the unavailable civilian car. It would take thirty years for Volkswagen to finally settle the last of the 120,000 claims from those who had purchased the stamps.<\/p>\n<p>After the war, a British engineer led the effort to bring the Wolfsburg plant back online. When production increased for the VW Type 1 in 1948, writes Scholz, \u201cit was the first time that the car as it was originally conceived became a mass-produced reality, populating German streets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t<div class=\"daily-explore story-list more-to-explore bg-color-gray\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"story-list-header\">More to Explore<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease image-left default \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease__featured-image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/papering-over-history\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/papering_over_history_1050x700.jpg\" class=\" wp-post-image\" alt=\"Efka Pyramiden cigarette papers in a green packaging sleeve made in Nazi Germany, Accession Number 2004.705.5\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease__text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/papering-over-history\/\">Papering Over History<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<div class=\"byline\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/daily-author\/robert-m-ehrenreich\/\">Robert M. Ehrenreich<\/a>\n\t\t\t and \n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/daily-author\/alexandra-m-lord\/\">Alexandra M. Lord<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-date\">\n\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 24, 2025\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"subtitle\">Efka\u2014the German rolling paper company\u2014was a Nazi regime favorite. After World War II, it was refashioned as a darling of the pot-infused counterculture.<\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n<p>Since it looked like a ladybug, the Type 1 was called the <i>K\u00e4fer, <\/i>which is German for beetle. In English, it was affectionately known as the Bug or Beetle. Names in other markets included<i> Vocho, Coccinelle, Fusca, <\/i>and<i> Maggiolino.<\/i> \u201cBeetle\u201d became the official name in 1968. Over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vw.com\/en\/newsroom\/lifestyle-and-heritage\/an-ode-to-the-bug.html\">21.5 million were made<\/a>, a world record for number of units and years of production. While Wolfsburg stopped production in 1974, the Type 1 continued to be produced in Mexico until 2003. (The \u201cNew Beetle\u201d was launched in 1998.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat has made [the car] well-known and popular, what has made it the top-selling and much sought-after German car is <i>not its history of origins<\/i>, but the harmony of its technical and economical features,\u201d went a 1952 VW print advertisement quoted by Scholz, who italicized the elephant in the room.<\/p>\n<p>The iconic Beetle became the embodiment of West Germany\u2019s postwar <i>Wirtschaftswunder.<\/i> This \u201ceconomic miracle\u201d was a rise from the literal ashes of defeat to a secure place in \u201cthe West\u2019s\u201d consumer democracy. But such transformations are only \u201cmiracles,\u201d Scholz argues, when their genesis is invisible.<\/p>\n\n\t<div class=\"daily_email_signup weekly-digest \">\n\t\t<h4>Weekly Newsletter<\/h4>\n\t\t\n                <div class='gf_browser_gecko gform_wrapper gravity-theme gform-theme--no-framework' data-form-theme='gravity-theme' data-form-index='0' id='gform_wrapper_17' >\n                        <div class='gform_heading'>\n                            <p class='gform_description'><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class='gform_required_legend'>&quot;<span class=\"gfield_required gfield_required_asterisk\">*<\/span>&quot; indicates required fields<\/p>\n                        <\/div><form method='post' enctype='multipart\/form-data'  id='gform_17'  action='\/?after=2026-08-06T00%3A00%3A00&#038;page=2&#038;rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts' data-formid='17' novalidate>\n                        <div class='gform-body gform_body'><div id='gform_fields_17' class='gform_fields top_label form_sublabel_below description_below validation_below'><div id=\"field_17_6\" class=\"gfield gfield--type-honeypot gform_validation_container field_sublabel_below gfield--has-description field_description_below field_validation_below gfield_visibility_visible\"  ><label class='gfield_label gform-field-label' for='input_17_6'><span class='gform-field-label__text'>LinkedIn<\/span><\/label><div class='ginput_container'><input name='input_6' id='input_17_6' type='text' value='' autocomplete='new-password'\/><\/div><div class='gfield_description' id='gfield_description_17_6'>This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.<\/div><\/div><div id=\"field_17_2\" class=\"gfield gfield--type-html gfield--input-type-html gfield--width-full gfield_html gfield_html_formatted gfield_no_follows_desc field_sublabel_below gfield--no-description field_description_below field_validation_below gfield_visibility_visible\"  ><p>Get your fix of JSTOR Daily\u2019s best stories in your inbox 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<input type='hidden' autocomplete='off' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_target_page_number_17' id='gform_target_page_number_17' value='0' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' autocomplete='off' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_source_page_number_17' id='gform_source_page_number_17' value='1' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' name='gform_field_values' value='' \/>\n            \n        <\/div>\n                        <p style=\"display: none !important;\" class=\"akismet-fields-container\" data-prefix=\"ak_\"><label>&#916;<textarea name=\"ak_hp_textarea\" cols=\"45\" rows=\"8\" maxlength=\"100\"><\/textarea><\/label><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"ak_js_4\" name=\"ak_js\" value=\"26\"\/><script>\ndocument.getElementById( \"ak_js_4\" ).setAttribute( \"value\", ( new Date() ).getTime() );\n<\/script>\n<\/p><\/form>\n                        <\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n<p>That genesis would officially be acknowledged in 1991 when <a href=\"https:\/\/encyclopedia.ushmm.org\/content\/en\/article\/volkswagen-1\">Volkswagen accepted corporate responsibility for crimes against humanity<\/a> during the Nazi period and set up a compensation fund for survivors of the enslaved labor used in Wolfsburg. (Last year, a <a href=\"https:\/\/verfassungsblog.de\/volkswagen-brazil-slave-labor\/\">Brazilian court found Volkswagen liable for exploiting forced labor<\/a> in <i>that<\/i> country during the military dictatorship there.)<\/p>\n<p>The Beetle\u2019s origins were always what Scholz calls a \u201cpublic secret.\u201d That public secret was also alluded to in an \u201cAuschwitz joke\u201d Scholz heard in 1980s West Germany, when she was around ten years old. She writes that \u201cHow many Jews fit in a Volkswagen?\u201d is older than that, with variations going back to the 1950s. The answer is unspeakable, a grotesque mixture, Scholz writes, of \u201canti-Semetic aggression and feelings of superiority as well as a German consciousness of the Holocaust\u2014possibly accompanied by feelings of shame.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Volkswagen Beetle helped symbolize Germany\u2019s postwar rebirth, despite its origins in Hitler\u2019s vision of a \u201cpeople\u2019s car.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":338290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,11137],"tags":[3997,3478],"class_list":["post-338088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-world-history","tag-cars","tag-nazis","pub_tag-comparative-studies-in-society-and-history","daily_article_types-quick-reads"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Nazi Car That Conquered the World - JSTOR Daily<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Volkswagen Beetle helped symbolize Germany\u2019s postwar rebirth, despite its origins in Hitler\u2019s vision of a \u201cpeople\u2019s car.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/the-nazi-car-that-conquered-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Nazi Car That Conquered the World - JSTOR Daily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Volkswagen Beetle helped symbolize Germany\u2019s postwar rebirth, despite its origins in Hitler\u2019s vision of a \u201cpeople\u2019s car.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/the-nazi-car-that-conquered-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JSTOR Daily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JSTOR.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/matthew.wills.9465\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-07T13:43:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/the_nazi_car_that_conquered_the_world_1050x700.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1050\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthew Wills\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JSTOR_Daily\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@JSTOR_Daily\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/the-nazi-car-that-conquered-the-world\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/the-nazi-car-that-conquered-the-world\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Matthew Wills\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79555175827fa94c76561265141d66e7\"},\"headline\":\"The Nazi Car That Conquered the World\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-07T13:43:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/the-nazi-car-that-conquered-the-world\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":693,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/the-nazi-car-that-conquered-the-world\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/the_nazi_car_that_conquered_the_world_1050x700.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"cars\",\"Nazis\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Politics &amp; 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But the Mississippi Circuit Court\u2019s decision in the 1924 case was soon overturned.<\/p>\n<p>The first judge had accepted that Chinese students should not have to share facilities with African Americans, whom he called \u201cwholly different from them in racial characteristics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yet the Supreme Court ultimately pointed to the state Constitution\u2019s stipulation that \u201cseparate schools shall be maintained for children of the white and colored races.\u201d And <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/3218219\">\u201c[y]ellow, after all, was a color,\u201d<\/a> as educational researcher Sieglinde Lim de S\u00e1nchez remarks.<\/p>\n<p>Decades before <a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/mendez-v-westminster-and-mexican-american-desegregation\/\"><i>Mendez v. Westminster<\/i><\/a> and the landmark <a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/brown-v-board-of-education-annotated\/\"><i>Brown v. Board of Education<\/i><\/a>, the case of <i>Gong Lum, et al. v. Rice<\/i> shows the ideological contradictions of school segregation.<\/p>\n\t\t<aside class=\"pull-quote center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"pull-quote__text\">When petitioner Gong Lum fought for his daughter to be admitted to a white school, his legal argument was that the Chinese should not be counted as \u201ccolored.\u201d<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/aside>\n\t\t\n<p>Chinese immigrants came to the Delta as agricultural workers in the 1870s\u2014soon forming family-centered rural enclaves that contrasted with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/10.7591\/j.ctt207g616.5\">bachelor society<\/a> of urban Chinatowns.<\/p>\n<p>While they lived in predominantly African American areas, Mississippi Chinese \u201cresisted legal and customary efforts to conflate their status with that of blacks\u201d under Jim Crow laws\u2014a sign of the unclear racial status of Southerners who were neither white nor African American.<\/p>\n<p>Community leaders \u201cconsulted with sympathetic whites who urged them to adopt \u2018white\u2019 behavior patterns in their dealings with African Americans,\u201d explains Lim de S\u00e1nchez.<\/p>\n<p>When petitioner Gong Lum fought for his daughter to be admitted to a white school, his legal argument was that the Chinese <a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/how-prerequisite-cases-tried-to-define-whiteness\/\">should not be counted as \u201ccolored.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf a Chinese family lived in one of the smaller Delta town[s], and was good friends with the <i>Bok Guey<\/i> [whites], they\u2019d let you go to their school,\u201d longtime Delta resident Jack Chow recalled in an interview with Lim de S\u00e1nchez.<\/p>\n<p>As Chinese parents began boarding their children with Rosedale families or moving into the district, the white townspeople of Rosedale pushed back\u2014resulting in the court case that legally barred Chinese American students from accessing white-only schools.<\/p>\n<p>Sending their children to segregated African American schools was out of the question for Chinese community leaders, who considered the matter \u201can issue of crucial importance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Instead, the Mississippi Chinese found a way to have schools of their own. Baptist congregations, eager to proselytize to the Chinese community, were already offering nighttime classes to teach adults English and encourage <a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/reading-between-the-lines-of-an-americanization-campaign\/\">\u201cAmericanized\u201d domestic habits<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Chinese gradually realized the missions could be crucial institutional vehicles in facilitating their drive toward full participation in white society, for they provided a forum to demonstrate to whites that they were not heathen,\u201d Lim de S\u00e1nchez notes.<\/p>\n<p>With Chinese parents\u2019 backing, local Baptist churches opened various educational missions in the 1930s, including a single-story \u201cshotgun shack\u201d backed by the First Baptist Church of Greenville and a school under Rosedale Consolidated School\u2019s Chinese Department.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<div class=\"daily-explore story-list more-to-explore bg-color-gray\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"story-list-header\">More to Explore<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease image-left default \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease__featured-image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/brown-v-board-of-education-annotated\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/brown_v_board_of_education_annotated_1050x700.jpg\" class=\" wp-post-image\" alt=\"Linda Brown Smith, Ethel Louise Belton Brown, Harry Briggs, Jr., and Spottswood Bolling, Jr. during press conference at Hotel Americana, 1964\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease__text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/brown-v-board-of-education-annotated\/\"><i>Brown v. Board of Education<\/i>: Annotated<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<div class=\"byline\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/daily-author\/liz-tracey\/\">Liz Tracey<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-date\">\n\t\t\t\t\tMay 17, 2023\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"subtitle\">The 1954 Supreme Court decision, based on the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, declared that \u201cseparate but equal\u201d has no place in education.<\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n<p>One notable institution was the Cleveland Chinese Mission School, which opened in 1937 with donations from Chinese communities as far away as New York and San Francisco and even attracted out-of-state Chinese students from places like Tennessee and Arkansas.<\/p>\n<p>Though Chinese community leaders supported after-school programs to impart Chinese culture, the schools were established mainly to teach English. They did not necessarily offer high-quality instruction\u2014the Cleveland school was not even accredited by the state.<\/p>\n<p>Still, mission schools allowed Mississippi Chinese to gain social acceptance in the racially segregated South, as they could \u201cdemonstrat[e] to whites that they possessed a cultural heritage and \u2018innate\u2019 capabilities that differed from African Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This came at the expense of Chinese Americans\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/what-convenience-stores-say-about-urban-war-zones\/\">relationships with their African American neighbors<\/a>, as they feared \u201cany association might reverse the acceptance they had spent years trying to achieve within the larger Delta white society,\u201d Lim de S\u00e1nchez says.<\/p>\n\n\t<div class=\"daily_email_signup weekly-digest \">\n\t\t<h4>Weekly Newsletter<\/h4>\n\t\t\n                <div class='gf_browser_gecko gform_wrapper gravity-theme gform-theme--no-framework' 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children were excluded from the Baptist mission schools. Instead, they attended the local African American public or Catholic schools.<\/p>\n<p>Eventually, Chinese parents in the Delta realized the limitations of <a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/even-the-best-jim-crow-school-was-still-a-jim-crow-school\/\">a separate school system<\/a>, and some opted to send their older children to public schools in other states\u2014such as California and Texas\u2014until white Delta schools began racial integration in the mid-1940s.<\/p>\n<p>But recovering the pre<span>\u2013<\/span>World War II history of these mission schools in the South is critical to \u201cthe formation and understanding of issues of educational segregation as well as racial inequality in the United States as a whole,\u201d Lim de S\u00e1nchez concludes.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the discrimination they faced, Mississippi Chinese \u201csuccessfully established alternative schools that paralleled the exclusionary white educational institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A 1920s court battle over a Chinese American student exposed the complicated racial boundaries of school segregation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311,"featured_media":338266,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,11136],"tags":[5224,2925],"class_list":["post-337351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-us-history","tag-american-south","tag-segregation","pub_tag-chinatown-no-more-taiwan-immigrants-in-contemporary-new-york","pub_tag-history-of-education-quarterly","pub_tag-oah-magazine-of-history","daily_article_types-quick-reads"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Chinese-Only Schools of the Jim Crow South - JSTOR Daily<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A 1920s court battle over a Chinese American student exposed the complicated racial boundaries of school segregation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/the-chinese-only-schools-of-the-jim-crow-south\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Chinese-Only Schools of the Jim Crow South - JSTOR Daily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A 1920s court battle over a Chinese American student exposed the complicated racial boundaries of school segregation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/the-chinese-only-schools-of-the-jim-crow-south\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JSTOR Daily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JSTOR.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-04T13:44:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/the_chinese_only_schools_of_the_jim_crow_south_1050x700.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1050\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"699\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"H.M.A. Leow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JSTOR_Daily\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@JSTOR_Daily\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/the-chinese-only-schools-of-the-jim-crow-south\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/the-chinese-only-schools-of-the-jim-crow-south\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"H.M.A. Leow\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2298c5be4aee2b488312bbc371f432c1\"},\"headline\":\"The Chinese-Only Schools of the Jim Crow South\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-04T13:44:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/the-chinese-only-schools-of-the-jim-crow-south\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":831,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/the-chinese-only-schools-of-the-jim-crow-south\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/the_chinese_only_schools_of_the_jim_crow_south_1050x700.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"American South\",\"segregation\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Politics &amp; 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Jacobsen argues that Ravi Varma was the undisputed founder of a genre he terms the \u201cGod poster industry.\u201d<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/aside>\n\t\t\n<p>Ravi Varma, born in 1848, belonged to the royal family of Travancore, a kingdom in what is now the southern Indian state of Kerala. He challenged caste and class hierarchies by choosing to be a painter and became the first Indian artist to paint Indian subjects in a Western style. He is widely regarded as a pioneer of modern Indian painting and one of the most influential artists from the subcontinent. Varma\u2019s popularity grew at the height of the British Empire in India, as Western-style oil painting, with its emphasis on depth and chiaroscuro, gained prominence in the country. He began by painting grand portraits of royal and noble figures from across India and later turned to scenes from Hindu mythology in his work, becoming the first Indian artist to gain a nationwide audience.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_338251\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-338251\" style=\"width: 1050px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.24898551\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-338251 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/why_is_raja_ravi_varmas_art_so_valuable_today_5_1050.jpg\" alt=\"Krishna sitting in a tree with all the gopis clothes while they naked in the water, beg for their garments. Chromolithograph after Ravi Varma.\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1443\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-338251\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Krishna sitting in a tree with all the gopis clothes while they naked in the water, beg for their garments. Chromolithograph after Ravi Varma. Click on the image to take a closer look.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In \u201cIndian Painting from 1825 to 1900,\u201d published in the 2011 volume <em>Masters of Indian Painting II: 1650-1900<\/em>, independent researcher Tryna Lyons describes Varma as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/23223171?googleloggedin=true\">\u201cthe first of India&#8217;s \u2018gentleman artists\u2019\u201d<\/a> because, \u201cat the time that he made the daring decision to learn the craft of painting, artists enjoyed roughly the same social status as tailors and cabinet makers.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_338252\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-338252\" style=\"width: 1050px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.24898569\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-338252 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/why_is_raja_ravi_varmas_art_so_valuable_today_6_1050.jpg\" alt=\"Kali brandishes a sword and a severed head in two of her four arms as she tramples her consort Shiva underfoot in a display of her dominance\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1461\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-338252\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kali trampling Shiva. Chromolithograph by Ravi Varma. Click on the image to take a closer look.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By adopting the expensive medium of oil paint, Ravi Varma popularized the foreign art of representation, which, according to Lyons, was \u201cprimarily concerned with duplicating the observed world.\u201d Yet it was his \u201ctheatrical interpretations of Sanskrit epic and drama\u201d that glorified scenes from Hindu mythology and made him a household name.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_338249\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-338249\" style=\"width: 1050px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.24898567\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-338249 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/why_is_raja_ravi_varmas_art_so_valuable_today_3_1050.jpg\" alt=\"Sakuntal\u0101 writing a letter on a leaf in a daydream with two others. Chromolithograph by Ravi Varma\" width=\"1050\" height=\"716\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-338249\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sakuntal\u0101 writing a letter on a leaf in a daydream with two others. Chromolithograph by Ravi Varma. Click on the image to take a closer look.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>His paintings and oleographs, produced by his own printing press, came to define Hindu religious iconography in India. Professor Knut A. Jacobsen, in his 2004 article, \u201cThe Child Manifestation of \u015aiva in Contemporary Hindu Popular Prints,\u201d published in <em>Numen<\/em>, argues that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/3270583\">Ravi Varma was the undisputed founder of a genre he terms the \u201cGod poster industry.\u201d<\/a> This genre took on a vibrant life of its own and remains popular today.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_338250\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-338250\" style=\"width: 1050px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.24898542\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-338250 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/why_is_raja_ravi_varmas_art_so_valuable_today_4_1050.jpg\" alt=\"Ravana slaughtering Jatayu the vulture, while an abducted Sita looks away in horror. Chromolithograph by Ravi Varma\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1505\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-338250\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ravana slaughtering Jatayu the vulture, while an abducted Sita looks away in horror. Chromolithograph by Ravi Varma. Click on the image to take a closer look.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Jacobsen writes: \u201cDuring the last one hundred years colourful prints of the Hindu gods, usually called God posters, have become one of the most visible aspects of popular religious culture in South Asia. There is hardly a Hindu home, shop or workshop without one print or more on the wall or on the puja table.\u201d\u00a0 He connects this popularity to sacred narratives, noting that \u201csome of the posters do indeed illustrate sacred narratives found in the Saiva Puranas. The artists re-actualise themes from the Puranas.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_338247\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-338247\" style=\"width: 1050px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.24898582\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-338247 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/why_is_raja_ravi_varmas_art_so_valuable_today_1_1050.jpg\" alt=\"Victory of Indrajit. Chromolithograph by Ravi Varma\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1471\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-338247\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Victory of Indrajit. Chromolithograph by Ravi Varma. Click on the image to take a closer look.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Despite his focus on Hindu religious iconography, Lyons argues that Ravi Varma also embraced the ideal of \u201charmony in diversity,\u201d which came to define modern India. She cites his participation in the 1893 World\u2019s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where he displayed ten works featuring female subjects from across India in regional dress.<\/p>\n\n\t<div class=\"daily_email_signup weekly-digest \">\n\t\t<h4>Weekly Newsletter<\/h4>\n\t\t\n                <div class='gf_browser_gecko gform_wrapper gravity-theme gform-theme--no-framework' data-form-theme='gravity-theme' data-form-index='0' id='gform_wrapper_17' >\n                        <div class='gform_heading'>\n                            <p class='gform_description'><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class='gform_required_legend'>&quot;<span class=\"gfield_required gfield_required_asterisk\">*<\/span>&quot; indicates required fields<\/p>\n                        <\/div><form method='post' enctype='multipart\/form-data'  id='gform_17'  action='\/?after=2026-08-06T00%3A00%3A00&#038;page=2&#038;rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts' data-formid='17' novalidate>\n                        <div class='gform-body 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value='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' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' autocomplete='off' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_target_page_number_17' id='gform_target_page_number_17' value='0' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' autocomplete='off' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_source_page_number_17' id='gform_source_page_number_17' value='1' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' name='gform_field_values' value='' \/>\n            \n        <\/div>\n                        <p style=\"display: none !important;\" class=\"akismet-fields-container\" data-prefix=\"ak_\"><label>&#916;<textarea name=\"ak_hp_textarea\" cols=\"45\" rows=\"8\" maxlength=\"100\"><\/textarea><\/label><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"ak_js_6\" name=\"ak_js\" value=\"239\"\/><script>\ndocument.getElementById( \"ak_js_6\" ).setAttribute( \"value\", ( new Date() ).getTime() );\n<\/script>\n<\/p><\/form>\n                        <\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n<p>Anthropologist and art historian Christopher Pinney, however, offers a different interpretation in his 1997 article, \u201cThe Nation (Un)Pictured? Chromolithography and \u2018Popular\u2019 Politics in India, 1878<span>\u2013<\/span>1995,\u201d published in <em>Critical Inquiry<\/em>. He <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/1344051\">identifies the Ravi Varma Press as a main propagator of Hindu religious ideals and political ideas.<\/a> He writes:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The ubiquity of Hindu propaganda is a necessary mark of the popularity of religious nationalism, and the proliferation and invasiveness of the imagery contriv[es] a sense of the irresistible tide of Hindutva \u2026 Both the Chitrashala Press and the Ravi Varma Press (which started in 1894) found themselves at the nexus of a political ferment in western and northern India. A diverse set of individuals and groups were involved in strategies which mobilised both two- and three-dimensional imagery in their attempts to control public spaces. In agitations such as that over Cow Protection and Tilak\u2019s co-optation of the Ganpati festival, there was a less visible, but no less potent, colonisation of private domestic spaces by the products of early presses which ran parallel to the much better known struggles over public spaces and signs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The \u201cnew media,\u201d which included oleographs, captured the popular imagination in the early 1890s. British officials at the time saw this development as the emergence of \u201cprint nationalism.\u201d Pinney argues that the female figures in Ravi Varma\u2019s work helped drive its proliferation. He cites the painting <em>Tarini<\/em>, \u201cin which it has been suggested an enveloping sari assumes the form of India (though curiously an India without Bengal). More than any other individual, Ravi Varma crystallized a putative Indian national identity in various feminine figures.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_338248\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-338248\" style=\"width: 1050px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.24898556\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-338248 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/why_is_raja_ravi_varmas_art_so_valuable_today_2_1050.jpg\" alt=\"Half-clothed Tilottama flying in the sky playing with a red ball. Chromolithograph by Ravi Varma\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1438\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-338248\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Half-clothed Tilottama flying in the sky playing with a red ball. Chromolithograph by Ravi Varma. Click on the image to take a closer look.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Raja Ravi Varma\u2019s iconic status in the Indian art pantheon is undeniable. However, the record-breaking sale raises a question: Why now? The high-value sale of his painting in 2026 may reflect the changing political landscape in India, where Hindutva politics has gained influence in recent years. After all, history repeats itself, and the popularity of historical art can, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A record-breaking auction spotlights the artist who transformed Hindu imagery and helped shape modern Indian visual culture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":312,"featured_media":338243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5213,2],"tags":[2794,4013],"class_list":["post-338128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-art-history","category-arts","tag-india","tag-painting","pub_tag-artibus-asiae-supplementum","pub_tag-critical-inquiry","pub_tag-numen","pub_tag-part-of-open-wellcome-collection","daily_article_types-quick-reads"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why 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Art So Valuable Today? - JSTOR Daily","description":"A record-breaking auction spotlights the artist who transformed Hindu imagery and helped shape modern Indian visual culture.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/why-is-raja-ravi-varmas-art-so-valuable-today\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Is Raja Ravi Varma\u2019s Art So Valuable Today? - JSTOR Daily","og_description":"A record-breaking auction spotlights the artist who transformed Hindu imagery and helped shape modern Indian visual culture.","og_url":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/why-is-raja-ravi-varmas-art-so-valuable-today\/","og_site_name":"JSTOR 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Chawla"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/312"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338128"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338253,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338128\/revisions\/338253"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":337131,"date":"2026-09-02T09:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T13:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org?p=337131&#038;preview=true&#038;preview_id=337131"},"modified":"2026-08-31T17:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T21:05:10","slug":"a-brief-history-of-womens-underwear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/a-brief-history-of-womens-underwear\/","title":{"rendered":"A Brief History of Women\u2019s Underwear"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The University of Wyoming is home to an archive of undergarments. And its collection of unmentionables\u2014from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42149903\">simple chemises<\/a> of the Civil War era to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42150208\">neon nylon stockings<\/a> of the go-go years\u2014is definitely worth talking about. In every stitch, there is a story.<\/p>\n<p>The trove of women\u2019s bloomers, drawers, knickers, brassieres, corsets, and girdles is just a small part of the school\u2019s historic clothing collection, with images <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/site\/university-of-wyoming\/historic-clothing-collection\">shared by the University of Wyoming Libraries via JSTOR<\/a>. Taken together, the intimates trace a timeline of scientific innovation, societal progress, and sometimes surprising aesthetic choices.<\/p>\n<div class=\"slick-slider-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"slick-slider slick-slider--size-full\" id=\"slick-slider-4\" data-slick='{\"showCaption\":true,\"adaptiveHeight\":true,\"dots\":true,\"fade\":true,\"lazyLoad\":\"progressive\"}'>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338220\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42149903\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"1575\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"White chemise, ca. 1860.\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a_brief_history_of_womens_underwear_1_1050.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nWhite Chemise, ca. 1860. Click on the image to take a closer look.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338221\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42150208\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"1575\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Yellow Nylon Stockings from the 1960s.\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a_brief_history_of_womens_underwear_2_1050.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nYellow Nylon Stockings from the 1960s. Click on the image to take a closer look.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338222\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42150317\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"1575\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Off-white Stockings, ca. 1900.\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a_brief_history_of_womens_underwear_3_1050.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nOff-white Stockings, ca. 1900. Click on the image to take a closer look.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338223\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42149924\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"1575\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Black Stockings from the 1910s.\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a_brief_history_of_womens_underwear_4_1050.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nBlack Stockings from the 1910s. Click on the image to take a closer look.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338224\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42149983\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"1575\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"White Mesh Stockings from the 1920s.\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a_brief_history_of_womens_underwear_5_1050.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nWhite Mesh Stockings from the 1920s. Click on the image to take a closer look.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Here you can step through history in stockings. While the Victorian woman who wore that white cotton chemise would have hidden her often-colorful stockings beneath enormous crinolines, offering the barest hint of ankle, the turn-of-the-century woman, in her narrower skirts, knew her shins would be on display when she lifted her hem slightly to climb stairs. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42150317\">Hers might be embroidered<\/a> with delicate flowers. In the 1910s, hems rose a few inches higher\u2014in a practical and patriotic response to the Great War\u2014and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42149924\">opaque fine mesh styles<\/a> in geometric patterns became popular. Less than a decade later, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42149983\">wide mesh stockings were a signature look for the flapper,<\/a> with her skirts hemmed just below the knee.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-5' class='gallery galleryid-337131 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-full'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42150161'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1575\" src=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a_brief_history_of_womens_underwear_6_1050.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Beige Nylon Stockings from the 1950s\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-5-338225\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-5-338225'>\n\t\t\t\tBeige Nylon Stockings from the 1950s. Click on the image to take a closer look.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42150218'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1575\" src=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a_brief_history_of_womens_underwear_7_1050.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Gold stockings from the 1960s.\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-5-338226\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-5-338226'>\n\t\t\t\tGold stockings from the 1960s. Click on the image to take a closer look.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>The flapper style was as functional as it was scandalous; the holes that allowed skin to show through also gave the fabric the stretch necessary for dancing. In 1940 came the invention of nylon undergarments, which meant women of the midcentury could be more comfortable and less revealing in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42150161\">stockings that mimicked some skin tones<\/a>. That they were followed by their younger sisters in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42150218\">bright, glittering stockings<\/a> under miniskirts in the 1960s makes a lot more sense when you know what came before.<\/p>\n<div class=\"slick-slider-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"slick-slider slick-slider--size-full\" id=\"slick-slider-5\" data-slick='{\"showCaption\":true,\"adaptiveHeight\":true,\"dots\":true,\"fade\":true,\"lazyLoad\":\"progressive\"}'>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338227\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42149951\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"1575\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Peach Cami-Knickers from the 1920s\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a_brief_history_of_womens_underwear_8_1050.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nPeach Cami-Knickers from the 1920s. Click on the image to take a closer look.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338228\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42150331\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"1575\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Black Bloomers from the 1900s.\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a_brief_history_of_womens_underwear_9_1050.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nBlack Bloomers from the 1900s. Click on the image to take a closer look. \n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338229\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42149922\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"1575\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Undergarment Envelope Combination from the 1910s.\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a_brief_history_of_womens_underwear_10_1050.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nUndergarment Envelope Combination from the 1910s. Click on the image to take a closer look.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"slide\" data-attachment-id=\"338230\">\n<div class=\"slide__inner\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42149905\" target=\"\"><img width=\"1050\" height=\"1575\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"White Under-split Drawers from the 1890s.\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a_brief_history_of_womens_underwear_11_1050.jpg\" \/><\/a>\n<div class=\"slide__caption\">\nWhite Under-split Drawers from the 1890s. Click on the image to take a closer look.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In the collection, you can also see the literal foundations of women\u2019s everyday lives through the decades. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42150331\">A pair of billowy, pleated black bloomers<\/a> that would have looked a lot<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42149905\"> like drawers to earlier generations<\/a> meant freedom to New Women of the 1900s, who bicycled and played sports in the once-scandalous attire. The 1910s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42149922\">envelope combination<\/a>, a one-piece garment that combined the chemise and drawers, reshaped women\u2019s lives, slimming down the stereotypical silhouette. In the 1920s, the envelope combination evolved into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42149951\">cami-knickers<\/a>, the undergarment that would define the postwar Jazz Age. Loose, tube-shaped cami-knickers created the boyish shape favored by flappers, and silky, slinky fabrics like crepe de chine added modern allure to once-utilitarian pieces.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-7' class='gallery galleryid-337131 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-full'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42150137'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1575\" src=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a_brief_history_of_womens_underwear_12_1050.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"All in One Girdle from the 1950s.\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-7-338231\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-7-338231'>\n\t\t\t\tAll in One Girdle from the 1950s. Click on the image to take a closer look.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42150141'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1575\" src=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a_brief_history_of_womens_underwear_13_1050.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"White Eyelet Half Slip from the 1950s.\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-7-338232\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-7-338232'>\n\t\t\t\tWhite Eyelet Half Slip from the 1950s. Click on the image to take a closer look.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>Expectations of women\u2014and their underwear\u2014changed yet again after the Second World War. In 1947, French fashion designer Christian Dior debuted a curvy, hourglass style that emphasized a full bust, cinched waist, and sloping hips. The designs were a backlash against the boxy, tailored uniforms of the war era and soon became known as the \u201cNew Look\u201d\u2014though any student of fashion history would have recognized the silhouette as a throwback to the previous century. With this new trend came a demand for<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42150137\"> all-in-one girdles<\/a>, which shaped the body from bust to hips with elasticized panels and boning, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42150141\">half slips<\/a>, which continued the smooth illusion through the upper legs.<\/p>\n\n\t<div class=\"daily_email_signup weekly-digest \">\n\t\t<h4>Weekly Newsletter<\/h4>\n\t\t\n                <div class='gf_browser_gecko gform_wrapper gravity-theme gform-theme--no-framework' data-form-theme='gravity-theme' data-form-index='0' id='gform_wrapper_17' >\n                        <div class='gform_heading'>\n                            <p class='gform_description'><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class='gform_required_legend'>&quot;<span class=\"gfield_required gfield_required_asterisk\">*<\/span>&quot; indicates required fields<\/p>\n                        <\/div><form method='post' enctype='multipart\/form-data'  id='gform_17'  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value='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' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' autocomplete='off' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_target_page_number_17' id='gform_target_page_number_17' value='0' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' autocomplete='off' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_source_page_number_17' id='gform_source_page_number_17' value='1' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' name='gform_field_values' value='' \/>\n            \n        <\/div>\n                        <p style=\"display: none !important;\" class=\"akismet-fields-container\" data-prefix=\"ak_\"><label>&#916;<textarea name=\"ak_hp_textarea\" cols=\"45\" rows=\"8\" maxlength=\"100\"><\/textarea><\/label><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"ak_js_7\" name=\"ak_js\" value=\"198\"\/><script>\ndocument.getElementById( \"ak_js_7\" ).setAttribute( \"value\", ( new Date() ).getTime() );\n<\/script>\n<\/p><\/form>\n                        <\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n<p>Browsing the virtual closets of the University of Wyoming, you can assemble an outfit piece by piece. Start with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42150166\">green ruffled cocktail dress<\/a> and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42150151\">veiled black hat<\/a>, then add a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42150110\">small black clutch<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42150055\">black stilettos<\/a> designed by Palter DeLiso, until the full picture of a real woman and her story emerges from countless yards and yards of fabric.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_338234\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-338234\" style=\"width: 1050px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/community.42150166\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-338234\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-338234\" src=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a_brief_history_of_womens_underwear_14_1050.jpg\" alt=\"Green Ruffled Cocktail Dress from the 1950s.\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1575\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-338234\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Green Ruffled Cocktail Dress from the 1950s. Click on the image to take a closer look.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The University of Wyoming\u2019s Historic Clothing Collection offers a revealing look beneath the fashions of the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":174,"featured_media":338215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,8028],"tags":[5864,2261],"class_list":["post-337131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-and-society","category-lifestyle","tag-clothing","tag-fashion","daily_column-archive-adventures","daily_series-shared-collections","pub_tag-part-of-historic-clothing-collection","daily_article_types-shared-collections-jstor","daily_article_types-column"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Brief History of Women\u2019s Underwear - JSTOR Daily<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The University of Wyoming\u2019s Historic Clothing Collection offers a revealing look beneath the fashions of the past.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/a-brief-history-of-womens-underwear\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Brief History of Women\u2019s Underwear - JSTOR Daily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The University of Wyoming\u2019s Historic Clothing Collection offers a revealing look beneath the fashions of the past.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/a-brief-history-of-womens-underwear\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JSTOR Daily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JSTOR.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-02T13:45:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a_brief_history_of_womens_underwear_1050x700.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1050\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"April White\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JSTOR_Daily\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@JSTOR_Daily\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/a-brief-history-of-womens-underwear\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/a-brief-history-of-womens-underwear\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"April White\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d790347c1ea93c3a23c070bae33aa8b8\"},\"headline\":\"A Brief History of Women\u2019s Underwear\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-02T13:45:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/a-brief-history-of-womens-underwear\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":646,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/a-brief-history-of-womens-underwear\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/a_brief_history_of_womens_underwear_1050x700.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"clothing\",\"fashion\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Education &amp; 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See more of her work at aprwhite.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.aprwhite.com"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/174"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337131"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338238,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337131\/revisions\/338238"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":338058,"date":"2026-09-01T09:32:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T13:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/?p=338058"},"modified":"2026-08-31T14:50:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T18:50:25","slug":"what-civics-class-is-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/what-civics-class-is-for\/","title":{"rendered":"What Civics Class Is For"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For more than a century, Americans have commonly asked how public schools could do a better job of teaching people to be good citizens. One early stab at the question <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/1075517\">came from S. E. Forman, an early advocate for civics education<\/a>. Writing in 1903, he noted that it was no surprise things hadn\u2019t been ironed out yet, since the word civics \u201cis only about fifteen years old and the thing is even younger.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In marked contrast to today\u2019s focus on school as training for future employment, Forman wrote that \u201cwe are told in season and out of season\u201d that training for good citizenship \u201cis the chief function of the school.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t<aside class=\"pull-quote center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"pull-quote__text\">Forman was distressed to find that civics teachers often avoided looking at specific political issues of the day, judging them to be too controversial.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/aside>\n\t\t\n<p>Forman argued that civics should begin by encouraging students to \u201cthink as much as possible about democracy.\u201d This included understanding the history of democratic ideas and practical governance, as well as the need to protect minority groups and the dangers posed by <a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/robert-reich-interview\/\">demagogues<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Along with understanding the \u201cspirit\u201d of democracy, he wrote, students should understand its principles, including federalism, checks and balances, and civil liberty. He also noted the need to teach how the <a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/patriotism-and-history-class\/\">US government<\/a> is organized, including the workings of various bodies at the local, state, and national levels. However, he argued that the civics classes of his time were altogether too focused on the mechanical aspects of governance, much to the dismay of students.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the acquisition of this knowledge they come to look upon civics as the driest, the most unprofitable, and the most stupid of all their studies,\u201d Forman wrote. \u201cAnd their impressions are often just.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t<div class=\"daily-explore story-list more-to-explore bg-color-gray\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"story-list-header\">More to Explore<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease image-left default \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease__featured-image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/case-lowering-voting-age\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/young_voters_1050x700.jpg\" class=\" wp-post-image\" alt=\"Portrait young couple at voter polling place\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease__text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/case-lowering-voting-age\/\">The Case for Lowering the Voting Age<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<div class=\"byline\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/daily-author\/livia-gershon\/\">Livia Gershon<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-date\">\n\t\t\t\t\tOctober 17, 2018\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"subtitle\">If the standard we hold for who can vote is the consent of the governed, why shouldn\u2019t children be included?<\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n<p>Forman was also distressed to find that civics teachers often avoided looking at specific political issues of the day, judging them to be <a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/disavowing-politics-while-doing-politics\/\">too controversial<\/a>. He suggested that this was a mistake and that it\u2019s crucial for students to understand the topics that will come before them as voters.<\/p>\n<p>He praised one high school teacher he had watched present a lesson on tariffs. At the time, this was a key issue in a presidential election. While the class was divided between protectionists and free-traders, the teacher gave no indication of his own views, and the textbook presented objective facts along with arguments from both sides. The point, Forman suggested, was not to change anyone\u2019s mind but to encourage better understanding and clearer thinking.<\/p>\n\n\t<div class=\"daily_email_signup weekly-digest \">\n\t\t<h4>Weekly Newsletter<\/h4>\n\t\t\n                <div class='gf_browser_gecko gform_wrapper gravity-theme gform-theme--no-framework' data-form-theme='gravity-theme' data-form-index='0' id='gform_wrapper_17' >\n                        <div class='gform_heading'>\n                            <p class='gform_description'><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class='gform_required_legend'>&quot;<span class=\"gfield_required gfield_required_asterisk\">*<\/span>&quot; indicates required fields<\/p>\n                        <\/div><form method='post' enctype='multipart\/form-data'  id='gform_17'  action='\/?after=2026-08-06T00%3A00%3A00&#038;page=2&#038;rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts' data-formid='17' novalidate>\n                        <div class='gform-body gform_body'><div id='gform_fields_17' class='gform_fields 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value='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' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' autocomplete='off' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_target_page_number_17' id='gform_target_page_number_17' value='0' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' autocomplete='off' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_source_page_number_17' id='gform_source_page_number_17' value='1' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' name='gform_field_values' value='' \/>\n            \n        <\/div>\n                        <p style=\"display: none !important;\" class=\"akismet-fields-container\" data-prefix=\"ak_\"><label>&#916;<textarea name=\"ak_hp_textarea\" cols=\"45\" rows=\"8\" maxlength=\"100\"><\/textarea><\/label><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"ak_js_8\" name=\"ak_js\" value=\"83\"\/><script>\ndocument.getElementById( \"ak_js_8\" ).setAttribute( \"value\", ( new Date() ).getTime() );\n<\/script>\n<\/p><\/form>\n                        <\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n<p>Finally, Forman argued that civics must touch on ethics, but without leaning on religious arguments inappropriate for the classroom. Instead, he viewed teachers\u2019 own moral values, conduct, and character as key to presenting students with a model of decency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo vote right requires a happy union of head and heart,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAnd if instruction in civics does not effect this union, as likely as not its chief result will be to prepare many of the learners for more successful and intelligent careers as public rogues.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Should schools tackle controversial political issues? A 1903 educator thought doing so was essential to preparing future voters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":338203,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8026,6],"tags":[1318,624],"class_list":["post-338058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-education-and-society","tag-education","tag-politics-2","pub_tag-the-school-review","daily_article_types-quick-reads"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What Civics Class Is For - JSTOR Daily<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Should schools tackle controversial political issues? A 1903 educator thought doing so was essential to preparing future voters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/what-civics-class-is-for\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Civics Class Is For - JSTOR Daily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Should schools tackle controversial political issues? A 1903 educator thought doing so was essential to preparing future voters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/what-civics-class-is-for\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JSTOR Daily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JSTOR.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-01T13:32:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/what_civics_class_is_for_alt_1050x700.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1050\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Livia Gershon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JSTOR_Daily\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@JSTOR_Daily\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/what-civics-class-is-for\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/what-civics-class-is-for\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Livia Gershon\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fd0bdc07f162fa2dc848f01315000b35\"},\"headline\":\"What Civics Class Is For\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-01T13:32:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/what-civics-class-is-for\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":534,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/what-civics-class-is-for\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/what_civics_class_is_for_alt_1050x700.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"education\",\"politics\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Education\",\"Education &amp; Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/what-civics-class-is-for\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/what-civics-class-is-for\\\/\",\"name\":\"What Civics Class Is For - JSTOR Daily\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/what-civics-class-is-for\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/what-civics-class-is-for\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/what_civics_class_is_for_alt_1050x700.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-01T13:32:02+00:00\",\"description\":\"Should schools tackle controversial political issues? 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Contact her on Twitter @liviagershon."}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338058"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338214,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338058\/revisions\/338214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":337977,"date":"2026-08-31T09:40:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T13:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/?p=337977"},"modified":"2026-08-25T15:02:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T19:02:02","slug":"the-jewish-labor-bunds-anti-zionist-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/the-jewish-labor-bunds-anti-zionist-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Jewish Labor Bund\u2019s Anti-Zionist Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Molly Crabapple\u2019s new best-seller, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/646320\/here-where-we-live-is-our-country-by-molly-crabapple\/\"><i>Here Where We Live is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Labor Bund<\/i><\/a> tells the nearly lost history of the \u201cmost influential Jewish political force in eastern Europe.\u201d In the first two decades of the twentieth century, the General Jewish Labor Bund in Lithuania, Poland, and Russia\u2014the places where the majority of Jews in the world then lived\u2014was secular, socialist, and \u201cuncompromisingly anti-Zionist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Zionism, the movement for a \u201cJewish homeland,\u201d was antithetical to the Bundists\u2019 sense of community, <i>doikayt<\/i> (Yiddish for \u201chereness\u201d), succinctly summarized in Crabapple\u2019s title: <i>here where we live is our country<\/i>. Migration to a <i>thereness<\/i>, or <i>dorkayt<\/i>, in the Middle East was the wrong path in the eyes of Bundists. The Bund was formed in 1897, the same year the First Zionist Congress was held to begin the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.<\/p>\n\t\t<aside class=\"pull-quote center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"pull-quote__text\">During the \u201cred decade\u201d of the 1930s, more Jews passed through membership in the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) than through the liberal American Jewish Committee.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/aside>\n\t\t\n<p>This history complicates the contemporary argument that anti-Zionism is necessarily antisemitic: some Jewish political movements, including the Bund, were themselves explicitly anti-Zionist.<\/p>\n<p>The Bund didn\u2019t survive Hitler and Stalin, but its legacy lived on, particularly among Eastern European Jews who migrated to the United States before the racially discriminatory national origins immigration quotas of 1924. Cultural studies scholar Benjamin Balthaser takes up the Jewish anti-Zionist legacy in <i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.versobooks.com\/products\/2788-citizens-of-the-whole-world\">Citizens of the Whole World: Anti-Zionism and the Cultures of the American Jewish Left<\/a>.<\/i> For the Bund, writes Balthaser in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/27066937\">American Quarterly<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Zionism\u2019s \u201cseparatist, chauvinist, clerical, and conservative\u201d culture was understood as the \u201cpolar opposite\u201d of the radical Yiddish-speaking organizations of Europe that were progressive, secular, and internationalist.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>American Jews between the world wars were predominantly working class and left-wing. Balthaser describes how they were despised by the dominant Protestant culture as a \u201cbiopolitical\u201d threat, the \u201cmost racially alien\u201d and \u201cunassimilable\u201d of immigrants. Balthaser also notes that during the \u201cred decade\u201d of the 1930s, more Jews passed through membership in the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) than through the liberal American Jewish Committee. For these Jews, calls for the creation of a new Zion was petit-bourgeois, right-wing nationalist, and imperialist, \u201cdirectly or indirectly requiring the support of the British Empire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Jewish communists, the promised land was communism, not what the CPUSA called the \u201cJim Crowism\u201d of Jewish-only settlements.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<div class=\"daily-explore story-list more-to-explore bg-color-gray\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"story-list-header\">More to Explore<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease image-left default \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease__featured-image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/israel-and-gaza-a-syllabus-of-background-readings\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/israel_and_gaza_a_syllabus_of_background_reading_1050x700.jpg\" class=\" wp-post-image\" alt=\"GAZA CITY, GAZA - JULY 24: A general view of the Beit Hanoun neighborhood on July 24, 2017 in Gaza City, Gaza. For the past ten years Gaza residents have lived with constant power shortages, in recent years these cuts have worsened, with supply of regular power limited to four hours a day. On June 11, 2017 Israel announced a new round of cuts at the request of the Palestinian authorities and the decision was seen as an attempt by President Mahmoud Abbas to pressure Gaza&#039;s Hamas leadership. Prior to the new cuts Gaza received 150 megawatts per day, far below it&#039;s requirements of 450 megawatts. In April, Gaza&#039;s sole power station which supplied 60 megawatts shut down, after running out of fuel, the three lines from Egypt, which provided 27 megawatts are rarely operational, leaving Gaza reliant on the 125 megawatts supplied by Israel&#039;s power plant. The new cuts now restrict electricity to three hours a day severely effecting hospital patients with chronic conditions and babies on life support. During blackout hours residents use private generators, solar panels and battery operated light sources to live. June 2017 also marked ten years since Israel began a land, sea and air blockade over Gaza. Under the blockade, movement of people and goods is restricted and exports and imports of raw materials have been banned. The restrictions have virtually cut off access for Gaza&#039;s two million residents to the outside world and unemployment rates have skyrocketed forcing many people into poverty and leaving approximately 80% of the population dependent on humanitarian aid. (Photo by Chris McGrath\/Getty Images)\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease__text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/israel-and-gaza-a-syllabus-of-background-readings\/\">Israel and Gaza: A Syllabus of Background Readings<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<div class=\"byline\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/daily-author\/the-editors\/\">The Editors<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-date\">\n\t\t\t\t\tOctober 19, 2023\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"subtitle\">How can we help students begin to make sense of the current and recurring violence in Israel and Gaza? <\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n<p>Even the resolutely non-communist Hannah Arendt, as late as 1945, saw Zionism as an elite collaboration with European imperialism that would \u201cpass over\u201d the \u201cgenuine national revolutionary movement which sprang from the Jewish masses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 1947, the Soviet Union, writes Balthaser, \u201cwhich had either sided with Palestinian anti-colonial revolts or at least was ambiguous enough so that local and national Communist Parties often went their own way,\u201d came out in support of Partition. This was the UN plan to split British Mandate Palestine into Arab and Jewish states. Followers of the Moscow \u201cline\u201d suddenly switched from \u201cadvocating a binational, democratic state to supporting a single Jewish state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t<div class=\"daily_email_signup weekly-digest \">\n\t\t<h4>Weekly Newsletter<\/h4>\n\t\t\n                <div class='gf_browser_gecko gform_wrapper gravity-theme gform-theme--no-framework' data-form-theme='gravity-theme' data-form-index='0' id='gform_wrapper_17' >\n                        <div class='gform_heading'>\n                            <p class='gform_description'><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class='gform_required_legend'>&quot;<span class=\"gfield_required gfield_required_asterisk\">*<\/span>&quot; indicates required fields<\/p>\n                        <\/div><form method='post' enctype='multipart\/form-data'  id='gform_17'  action='\/?after=2026-08-06T00%3A00%3A00&#038;page=2&#038;rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts' data-formid='17' novalidate>\n                        <div class='gform-body gform_body'><div 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value='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' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' autocomplete='off' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_target_page_number_17' id='gform_target_page_number_17' value='0' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' autocomplete='off' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_source_page_number_17' id='gform_source_page_number_17' value='1' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' name='gform_field_values' value='' \/>\n            \n        <\/div>\n                        <p style=\"display: none !important;\" class=\"akismet-fields-container\" data-prefix=\"ak_\"><label>&#916;<textarea name=\"ak_hp_textarea\" cols=\"45\" rows=\"8\" maxlength=\"100\"><\/textarea><\/label><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"ak_js_9\" name=\"ak_js\" value=\"135\"\/><script>\ndocument.getElementById( \"ak_js_9\" ).setAttribute( \"value\", ( new Date() ).getTime() );\n<\/script>\n<\/p><\/form>\n                        <\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n<p>The 1948 Arab\u2013Israeli War culminated in the establishment of Israel and the expulsion of nearly 700,000 Palestinians from their homes. Balthaser connects that history to what he describes as decades of Palestinian \u201cdisplacement and state violence\u201d and, since 1967, Israel\u2019s \u201csettler colonial project.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Balthaser, these developments bore out some of the Jewish left\u2019s warnings about Zionism as a project of nationalism, imperialism, and ethnic exclusion. He\u00a0argues that the \u201cwide-spread opposition of working-class and left-wing US Jews to Zionism during the 1930s and most of the 1940s\u201d was largely forgotten in the following decades as Zionism was claimed to \u201crepresent the unified interests or will of \u2018the Jewish people.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the legacy of Jewish anti-Zionism has been reawakened in the work cited here, and in the writings of Peter Beinart, Judith Butler, Naomi Klein, Shaul Magid, and others, as well as, more collectively, in organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow, and a reborn <a href=\"https:\/\/progressive.org\/latest\/the-bund-is-back-mogul-20260331\/\">Jewish Labor Bund<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For many Jewish leftists before 1948, Zionism was far from the only vision for the Jewish future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":338201,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,11137],"tags":[4996,1158,4997],"class_list":["post-337977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-world-history","tag-israel","tag-labor","tag-palestine","pub_tag-american-quarterly","daily_article_types-quick-reads"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Jewish Labor Bund\u2019s Anti-Zionist Legacy - JSTOR Daily<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For many Jewish leftists before 1948, Zionism was far from the only vision for the Jewish future.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/the-jewish-labor-bunds-anti-zionist-legacy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Jewish Labor Bund\u2019s Anti-Zionist Legacy - JSTOR Daily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For many Jewish leftists before 1948, Zionism was far from the only vision for the Jewish future.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/the-jewish-labor-bunds-anti-zionist-legacy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JSTOR Daily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JSTOR.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/matthew.wills.9465\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-31T13:40:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/the_jewish_labor_bunds_anti_zionist_legacy_1050x700.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1050\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthew Wills\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JSTOR_Daily\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@JSTOR_Daily\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/the-jewish-labor-bunds-anti-zionist-legacy\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/the-jewish-labor-bunds-anti-zionist-legacy\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Matthew Wills\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79555175827fa94c76561265141d66e7\"},\"headline\":\"The Jewish Labor Bund\u2019s Anti-Zionist Legacy\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-31T13:40:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/the-jewish-labor-bunds-anti-zionist-legacy\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":699,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/the-jewish-labor-bunds-anti-zionist-legacy\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/daily.jstor.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/the_jewish_labor_bunds_anti_zionist_legacy_1050x700.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Israel\",\"labor\",\"Palestine\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Politics &amp; 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Some argue that cultural norms of male leadership and even outright discrimination keep women from top roles, while others argue that women are less ambitious than men. These explanations may not be mutually exclusive, though. Research by Susan R. Fisk and Jon Overton shows that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/48588953\">women&#8217;s leadership ambitions are depressed<\/a> by the expectation that women will be disproportionately penalized for failures.<\/p>\n<p>Fisk and Overton use three surveys to trace how expectations of harsher penalties for failure can dampen women&#8217;s leadership ambitions. First, they find that both women and men\u2014but women to a greater degree\u2014&#8221;believe that women leaders face greater sanctions for failure than otherwise similar men.&#8221; There&#8217;s good reason for that belief. Research has found, for example, that &#8220;women managers are formally penalized more harshly for committing an ethical violation than otherwise similar men managers&#8221; and &#8220;women surgeons receive a sharper drop in referrals when a patient dies than male surgeons.&#8221; Fisk and Overton&#8217;s findings suggest that this phenomenon is common knowledge.<\/p>\n\t\t<aside class=\"pull-quote center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"pull-quote__text\">Harsher sanctions for women leaders when things go wrong can discourage women from seeking those roles in the first place.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/aside>\n\t\t\n<p>Second, they asked respondents to consider whether they would take on a professional leadership role with a high risk of failure. Half of the respondents were told that failure would not affect their careers: they could return to their current team and could count on support from their manager. The other half were told that failure could mean losing their job and that their manager had not pledged support. Both men and women were less likely to say they wanted the leadership role when failure carried these risks\u2014but the effect was stronger for women.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<div class=\"daily-explore story-list more-to-explore bg-color-gray\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"story-list-header\">More to Explore<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease image-left default \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease__featured-image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/how-gender-discrimination-works-at-work\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/how_gender_discrimination_works_at_work_alt_1050x700.jpg\" class=\" wp-post-image\" alt=\"A man and woman in office attire discuss something against a gray and orange background.\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"article-tease__text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/how-gender-discrimination-works-at-work\/\">How Gender Discrimination Works at Work<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<div class=\"byline\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/daily-author\/laura-clawson\/\">Laura Clawson<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-date\">\n\t\t\t\t\tFebruary 20, 2026\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"subtitle\">A study of employment discrimination cases reveals how bias operates through workplace rules.<\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n<p>The final study used the same scenario as the second, but added additional controls and questions to test whether women\u2019s lower interest in a risky leadership role could be linked to their expectation of greater sanctions for failure\u2014and to rule out alternative explanations. The research found that &#8220;anticipated sanctions account for about 31 percent of the decrease in women\u2019s leadership ambitions.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\t<div class=\"daily_email_signup weekly-digest \">\n\t\t<h4>Weekly Newsletter<\/h4>\n\t\t\n                <div class='gf_browser_gecko gform_wrapper gravity-theme gform-theme--no-framework' data-form-theme='gravity-theme' data-form-index='0' id='gform_wrapper_17' >\n                        <div class='gform_heading'>\n                            <p class='gform_description'><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class='gform_required_legend'>&quot;<span class=\"gfield_required gfield_required_asterisk\">*<\/span>&quot; indicates required fields<\/p>\n                        <\/div><form method='post' enctype='multipart\/form-data'  id='gform_17'  action='\/?after=2026-08-06T00%3A00%3A00&#038;page=2&#038;rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts' data-formid='17' novalidate>\n                        <div class='gform-body gform_body'><div id='gform_fields_17' 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value='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' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' autocomplete='off' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_target_page_number_17' id='gform_target_page_number_17' value='0' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' autocomplete='off' class='gform_hidden' name='gform_source_page_number_17' id='gform_source_page_number_17' value='1' \/>\n            <input type='hidden' name='gform_field_values' value='' \/>\n            \n        <\/div>\n                        <p style=\"display: none !important;\" class=\"akismet-fields-container\" data-prefix=\"ak_\"><label>&#916;<textarea name=\"ak_hp_textarea\" cols=\"45\" rows=\"8\" maxlength=\"100\"><\/textarea><\/label><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"ak_js_10\" name=\"ak_js\" value=\"199\"\/><script>\ndocument.getElementById( \"ak_js_10\" ).setAttribute( \"value\", ( new Date() ).getTime() );\n<\/script>\n<\/p><\/form>\n                        <\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n<p>It is true, then, that women can be less likely than men to have leadership ambitions. But that is not simply an innate difference. Rather, to a significant extent, it can be a response to the greater risk women face in leadership positions. As a result, harsher sanctions for women leaders when things go wrong can discourage women from seeking those roles in the first place. As Fisk and Overton write, &#8220;gender discrimination against women leaders not only harms women leaders: this discrimination also decreases the likelihood that women pursue leadership positions in the first place.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research shows that harsher penalties for failure can discourage women from pursuing top positions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":322,"featured_media":338200,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,8027],"tags":[628,7556],"class_list":["post-338045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-and-society","category-social-sciences","tag-gender","tag-leadership","pub_tag-social-psychology-quarterly","daily_article_types-quick-reads"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why Is Leadership Riskier for Women? 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