2 Pictures - Look How Far We Have Come America!!!

[kpete]

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. cool

[spanone]

2. k&r

[Cha]

3. Anybody else..

Verklempt! :cry::)

[wanpete]

5. I've teared up each time I've seen the pictures of Michelle and the girls going to school today...

as an African-American, I can honestly say that I never dreamed I'd see this in my lifetime, and I'm not old. We have indeed come a very long way.

[Cha]

9. Sweet! It's

the kind of incredulousness I could get use to:)

[MarianJack]

77. When I used to teach,...

...I always told the kids that I believed I'd live to see a woman president. I told them I didn't think I'd live to see an African American president but I believed that THEY would.

I'm glad I was wrong about the African American. I hope that I'll be right about the woman (as long as it's not Sarah Palin(comparison).

BTW, I'm 53 and white. My wife is Puerto Rican and my son is African American and I'm very happy that he has his hero in the White House.

[annabanana]

4. ... Going to school, with a securtiy escort... both pictures..

Such similarities, such different circumstances.

[madeline_con]

17. I was thinking the same thing.

Good for the Obamas, a truly cool first family! :woohoo:

[Posteritatis]

59. Nice catch, I hadn't thought of that angle (nt)

[Optimistic]

74. Great Observation

[StClone]

76. By extension consider this!

The Republicans have often painted African Americans as uneducated, drug riddled, gun totting and having kids out of wedlock. Now tell me where you see this condition actually on National Display? Think of the leading contender for the GOP in 2012 Saras Palindrome! Ironies abound!

[Sebass1271]

6. I am proud of America.. but those girls above seemed

elegantly dressed and sophisticated. We can also say we have also degraded as women, not only minorities but in general, at least comparing how we used to dress as to how our generation dresses now...

[Merlot]

13. I have mixed feeling on the clothes

I also appreciate when anyone (male or female) is well dressed. But on the other hand, when I see little girls running around and being able to play without worrying aobut messing up their clothes, or "getting their dress dirty" well, I like that. The have a physical freedom to run and exercise, and participate in sports.

[starroute]

22. Clothes like that were a drag

You couldn't really play in them because of all the stupid crinolines. Sometimes we'd even take our crinolines off so we could actually play hide and seek or whatever. When I was about 11 and the crinolines started disappearing, it was a great relief to see them go.

A certain touch of elegance might not be a bad thing -- certainly too many Americans these days are simply slobs -- but just keep it loose and easy.

[crikkett]

29. Ha! You made me look up 'crinoline'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crinoline

I'm happy to report that I have no memory of wearing one.

[pipi_k]

33. They were a mixed blessing, sort of

I wanted the biggest, stiffest, pouf-iest ones we could find

But they were awfully scratchy

and if they were half-slips (as they often were), they tended to slip down and I had to keep pulling them up throughout the day.

Oh...and they were never supposed to peek out from beneath the hem of your skirts.

Although we could whirl around in a circle and show them off that way

:7

[Hepburn]

36. Do you recall the inflatable ones?

My best gal pal and I ~~ I am 60 and she is 58 ~~ compared notes the other day on what we wore in the 50s. Her son is getting married in the fall and he and his fiancee are planning a 1950s style wedding! My pal brought up the "poofy" slips and we both laughed our butts off over the ones that were the ultimate ~~ an inflatable half slip!

I am now on the internet looking for saddle shoes and patterns for a Poodle shirt! Need angora for my class ring, too!

:hi:

[pipi_k]

41. Wow that is really cool!

a 50s style wedding!!! :) So, how did they decide on a 1950s style wedding? Will there be a soda fountain and jukebox at the reception?


I don't remember the inflatable slips (I'm 56), but maybe I just wasn't paying attention to them, or they weren't being sold in my area?

Oh, saddle shoes....my mom would get us our school clothes about a month before school started, and saddle shoes were part of the wardrobe. We weren't allowed to wear our new stuff before school started, but that didn't stop me from sneaking them out so I could stick my nose in them to smell the leather

:)

[Hepburn]

56. Spaulding Saddles?

I loved mine! And...I remember them well. I do recall the smell of new saddle shoes ~~ like I just my first "school" pair of them yesterday and not over 50 years ago!

The young ones getting married are 29 and 28 years old. The 28 year old is a hairstylist in WeHo and she is totally on the cutting edge of things. But...she LOVES the 50s. The groom is the son of my best gal pal. Not sure why, but the two of them are totally fascinated with the 1950s. I recall the 50s very well so it seems I have become a source of folklore to both of them. I am sure whatever the music will be for the reception, it will be from the 1950s.

My best guy pal ~~ who went to LA HS in the 1950s ~~ is looking to rent for the wedding the same car he had back then ~~ '57 Ford Fairlane. There is a place in LA on Wilshire that rents classic cars. My guy pal was a "bad boy" in HS and got expelled from LA Hi for ~~ get this ~~ riding his motorcycle to school! Can you believe that!?!?!?! So he is thinking of riding the motorcyle he has now with his boots, pegged jeans, etc. Looks like I would be the one driving the classic Ford! (Works for me!!)

:hi:

[pipi_k]

70. Isn't it funny...

that people tend to idolize/romanticize the past?

I knew a guy who was born in 1969 who was totally into the early 60s. He said he would have loved being a hippie.

My son is fascinated with the "Greatest Generation" years...those during WWII.

Me, I'm still sort of caught up in the late 60s - early 70s, but at least I actually lived through that era.

Maybe people believe things were more innocent back then, I dunno. They weren't really, I don't think. I can't speak for people who romanticize eras they never lived through, but for myself, it's not the innocence of the era itself I miss, but my own lost youth and innocence.

Sometimes I wish I could go back and not know a lot of what I know now....not have memories that hurt that can never be changed.

sigh...

Oh well, didn't mean to be all maudlin or anything...



I think it's great that the youngsters are in their late 20s for the marriage. Get all those wild oats out. I was way too young the first time around. Second time, too. Sometimes it's just better to wait. I wish them all possible happiness in their marriage....

:)

[pipi_k]

32. You're not kidding!

I loved my crinoline slips that used to pouf out my dresses, but trying to play or exercise in them...what a horror show.

I remember one time out on the playground...I must have been 8 or 9 years old...I had on one of my favorite dresses...a white sleeveless number with the requisite poodle on the skirt part...we were on the monkeybars and something happened and I fell off and ripped the skirt of my dress right off the top, at least halfway around. OMG I was just heartbroken, and afraid my mom would yell at me when she saw it, even though it wasn't my fault....it was recess...girls wore dresses then...what could we do....

The teacher safety-pinned it back up...I went home and tearfully told my mother...we went to my Meme's house and she used her old Singer treadle sewing machine and fixed it good as new.


But anyway, yeah...girls didn't have a lot of leeway back then except for when we got home and could change into our corduroy pants or shorts (for summer).

[BonnieJW]

39. I remember those without any fondness.

They were scratchy and very uncomfortable. I also wore a poodle skirt and cardigan sweaters. I will be 60 in June. Can't believe it. But I also marched for civil rights in the 60's. If I had been born later, I would have missed that great opportunity. There were tears when I voted for Barack. It was a long time coming.

[pipi_k]

43. I think I missed it

by a few years.

I was born in 1952, so I was about...what...13 or 14 when MLK was doing the Civil Rights marches in DC and other places?

Even if I had been a couple of years older, I don't think my mom would have let me go do stuff like that.

I wanted to go to Woodstock in '69 but she said "no", and that was that. I feel like I missed out on a whole lot back then

[LibDemAlways]

51. Nowadays the girls at my daughter's high school show up

in short shorts (with their butt cheeks hanging out), tank tops (no bra), and ugg boots on their feet. What a look!

When I went to high school in the late 60's girls were still required to wear dresses or skirts and blouses. No jeans or slacks allowed. I wouldn't want to go back to those days, but it seems that the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction.

[Sequoia]

67. I remember that. On cold days we could wear pants "under" our dresses.

But we still had to sit like ladies with legs crossed or knees together.

[pipi_k]

71. I graduated from a Business-prep High School in 1970

and there was definitely a dress code there except for during my Senior Year.

The kids went wild for a little bit with the "hippie" look, but then it got to be sort of old hat after a while.

I often wonder what the kids who go there are wearing these days...

[crikkett]

28. Back then people sewed their own clothes.

Go for it!

[TygrBright]

45. Cripes, yer joking, right? GIRDLES??? Crinolines??

Home permanent waves? Stockings with garter belts?

Bleh.

We can still be elegant and sophisticated when the occasion warrants it and/or the impulse strikes us. But I much prefer an era where we didn't feel OBLIGED to conform with a weird, objectifying notion of "how women should look" ALL THE TIME.

contemporarily,
Bright

[autorank]

7. k*r Excellent and true

What a dramatic contrast. Thanks so much. That means more than any of the verbiage I've heard
explaining this.

Thanks!

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

8. That was the first thing I thought of, of the contrast between the Obama girls and Rockwell's Ruby

Ruby Bridges

[Lorien]

11. That was my thought too

and I saw that Rockwell painting at an exhibit just last year!

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

12. It's kinda like it's own perfect juxtaposition. Surreal.

Rockwell did some remarkable stuff. I so admire him.

[kpete]

40. thanks for the art...

Rockwell's and yours too, kp

[Minnesota_Lib]

48. This Rockwell was also my first thought upon seeing the Obama kids being escorted by a SS agent

Very moving contrast.

[Patiod]

57. I cried when i saw the Obama pics yesterday, thinking of this pic

It was the first thing that came to mind yesterday when i saw those pictures of those sweet little Obama girls heading off to Friends school with their big hulking security escorts.

In both cases, it's sad for the girls, 50 years apart, that they need security escorts at all.

But it is encouraging that the key reason has changed - needing escorts because they were black, vs. needing it because Dad is the President-Elect (and their white predecessors also needed hulking security guards, sadly, when THEY headed off for their first day of school in DC)

[stuntcat]

10. the First Children!

I'm still pinching myself :bounce:

[Chipper Chat]

14. I hope we have progressed from this too:

I wonder how that woman making the nasty face feels today?

[spanone]

15. i bet like me she can't believe this has happened in her lifetime

[Canuckistanian]

16. I read that those two women met a few years ago

And the white woman DID apologize.

Sorry, don't remember their names or specifics.

[Chipper Chat]

18. If that happened that's cool.

The student's name was Elizabeth Eckford.

[Lisa0825]

19. I also read that, here on DU. nt

[whopis01]

21. Actually she apologized back in 1963. n/t

[Kind of Blue]

23. You are correct. I saw it on the Oprah Show a few years ago.

The white woman could not stop weeping and though she was forgiven, I'm not sure she was able to forgive herself at that time. I do hope Obama's victory will help her stop self-flagellating.

[BrklynLiberal]

62. Here is an account of it. The link is in my post below.

The photo, taken by Will Counts of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, depicts hostile whites surrounding Eckford, who looks straight ahead of her as she walks. Behind her, Hazel Bryan Massery jeers. “Hazel, she apologized in 1963 on the phone,” Eckford said. “And in 1997, a photographer brought us together. She absolutely needed forgiveness.”

[crikkett]

27. TV tracked her down.

She's embarrassed.

[malaise]

30. She propabably attends Rethug conventions

Damn' she's full of hate.

[monmouth]

31. There was a pic not too far back with the two women meeting (I think

they both live in the same town) and the white woman apologized to the AA woman. Both have aged of course, gained some weight and spent time talking. It was shortly after Obama won the election. I'm sure I saw it here on DU...

[BrklynLiberal]

63. Here is the info...in my post below is a link to the article.

The photo, taken by Will Counts of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, depicts hostile whites surrounding Eckford, who looks straight ahead of her as she walks. Behind her, Hazel Bryan Massery jeers. “Hazel, she apologized in 1963 on the phone,” Eckford said. “And in 1997, a photographer brought us together. She absolutely needed forgiveness.”

[monmouth]

66. Thanks so much...n/t

[mt13]

42. sadly..

most likely the same way. one can only hope that she grew out of her hatred.

[Politicalboi]

47. She was probably

The crazy gray haired lady that told McCain that Obama was an Arab.

[MrsBrady]

50. that looks like a Palin rally n/t

[BrklynLiberal]

61. I read an article in which it said that she had made contact and apologized in later years.

http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=721
That black girl is Elizabeth Ann Eckford.


http://www.america.gov/st/diversity-english/2007/August/20070822172142berehellek0.267265.html
An EXCELLENT article from 2007

The photo, taken by Will Counts of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, depicts hostile whites surrounding Eckford, who looks straight ahead of her as she walks. Behind her, Hazel Bryan Massery jeers. “Hazel, she apologized in 1963 on the phone,” Eckford said. “And in 1997, a photographer brought us together. She absolutely needed forgiveness.”

[kentuck]

20. The little one is still wearing her peace sign...

:-)

[stuntcat]

25. she's so cool!!!

My president's kids wear peace signs!! :headbang: :patriot: :patriot:

[Buzz Clik]

35. No doubt the school is still populated with progeny of neocons.

They'll probably not like the peace symbols: "Make war, and take a vow to be a virgin." Culture clash, for sure.

[DrZeeLit]

49. It's Sidwell Friends, right? That's Quaker. Not about war and usually progressive.

[Buzz Clik]

54. Really? A Quaker school? Wasn't Nixon a Quaker?

[Posteritatis]

60. Most Democratic presidents lately sent their kids there

The Quakers aren't exactly a hotbed of militarism.

[Patiod]

64. Nixon's form of Quakerism was almost a different religion

There are actually several very different types of Quakers, and it's all sort of confusing, even if you're a practicing Quaker (like me)

Lots of good, authoritative information on Quakers here

Broad brush: the further East you go, the more liberal and progressive the politics, and the further west you go, the more conservative and Moral Majority the politics and attitudes. An older man in my Meeting attended Sidwell Friends many years ago, and Sidwell is definitely one of the "East Coast Liberal" Quaker institutions.

There are 3 core and 2 peripheral groups of Quakers. Among the 3 core groups are Friends General Conference (FGC) which serves Friends and Friends meetings in the United States and Canada, where worship groups practice worship grounded in silence (unprogrammed worship).

There are also Pastoral meeting of Friends United Meeting or FUM, where Christ is acknowledged as teacher and Lord (tend to be in the Midwest), or Evangelical Friends International, where Christ is acknowledged as Lord and Savior (these tend to be on the West Coast). Pastoral meetings have programmed or semi-programmed worship services, which may include prepared messages, Bible readings and hymns.

There are also unprogrammed meetings not affiliated with FGC are identified as Independent (generally universalist or Christian universalist), or Conservative (traditional Quaker, trusting in immediate guidance of the Inward Christ). Independent meetings are located primarily in the West Coast and Rocky Mountain states. Conservative meetings are found in Iowa and nearby states, Ohio, and North Carolina.

One of the best analyses of the impact of Nixon's Quakerism on his life and thought was written by Chuck Fager, a liberal Quaker. It explores the resentment Nixon harbored against the Eastern, liberal, "intellectual" Quakers, and the influence of evangelicals like Billy Graham.

[DrZeeLit]

78. As an alum of Whittier College, a Quaker-affiliated place, we never took Nixon seriously as a Quaker

I attended Whittier in 1969, and I clearly recall my first visit to campus.
In the old admin hall, front and center, was a poster of the then-President -- with mud splattered all over it.
What a welcome!

Supposedly, Nixon's forte as a Quaker resides with his "dedication" to issues of Civil Rights -- as these applied to the African-Americans. Since I usually only look at him through the prism of the war, I don't really know if he fulfilled any of his ambitions toward equality.

As far as the adamant stance against war that most Quakers I know profess (down to subtracting a percentage of $ from their taxes that they consider inappropriately sent to war) -- Mr. Nixon was not that Quaker. And never professed to be. More's the pity.

But don't paint all Quakers by the Nixon brush.

[intheflow]

65. My first thought was that Sidwell probably always admitted blacks.

They were desegregated from at least the 1930's, though I think it was even earlier. According to the history on their web site, they were open to international students of the DC elite by the turn of the last century. They desegregated voluntarily. As opposed to Little Rock, which had to be forcibly desegregated by the state. Big difference in school attitudes for the OP to be an apt comparison. imho.

[orleans]

24. backpack vs. holding your books? dresses vs. blue jeans?

government escorts vs. ?? government escorts?

[pleah]

26. Cool.

:)

[NJCher]

34. very sweet

I love these types of threads.

I'm sorry I missed the "apology" thread of the two women from that picture. I think an acknowledged change in attitude like that is some of the strongest evidence of how far we've come.

Meanwhile, in some other countries, women are threatened with death for just going to school. I do my share of kicking this country but there are some things we do right.



Cher

[OwnedByFerrets]

37. Yeah, we have come far in certain areas, but nowhere in others....

we still discriminate against many in OUR country "and" kill innocent children with our bombs and bullets if they are a different shade of pale than we are. We have some things to celebrate, but so many more that make me shamed to be an american. Dont like that sentiment, too fucking bad. I refuse to stick my head in the sand and think we are superior to others on OUR planet.

[zipplewrath]

52. Yup

I went and saw "Milk" and it was striking how similar life was today.

[nevergiveup]

38. We have come a long way

I was a white child living in rural America when the first photo was taken. I remember being confused at the time. Thanks for the photos. They are a reality check that remind us of the degree to which we as a nation have come.

[mt13]

44. the top one:

bittersweet victory. the bottom one: bittersweet victory!

i am agnostic but find myself "praying" to keep them safe.

[slackmaster]

46. Within the lifetime of many of us, including mine

K&R

:kick:

[YOY]

53. Changes like this don't get done unless you MAKE them get done.

Good on us. We got this done. We've got more hurtles.

[glitch]

55. Hurtles - I like that spelling. Very poetic. :) nt

[YOY]

68. I can honestly say that I wish it was on purpose...

n.t.

[glitch]

69. Everybody makes typos now and then, I do like the freudian slippish ones though. nt

[BrklynLiberal]

58. Well, we still have something about which we can still be proud...

Let's hope that prez shit-for-brains does not send us any further down the tube before he is done.

Thanks for this post.

[DeepModem Mom]

72. Wonderful! K&R!

[Shardik]

73. Or....

[southernyankeebelle]

75. As the old commercial goes

We come a long way baby. A picture paints a thousand words. We have gone far but we aren't done yet. Until this country can look at interracial couples and not have a second thought than we will have gotten farther.