MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

The great migration served as an exodus for many African American people. It not only describes the change in geographical locale, but also a reimagining of American life for black people. Transitioning from southern rural life to northern bustling cities full of possibilities was not met without challenges— some political, others social, but many challenges were economic. Socially and politically African American’s were plagued by Jim Crow laws prohibiting movement, housing segregation, and unfair labor policy. Economically, unemployment rates among African American’s were between 50 and 60 percent. In spite of economic downturn and social injustice, photograph collections in the Library of Congress and Schomburg Research Center for Research depict black women in urban cities during the 1930s and 1940s wearing fashion-forward clothing. Donning their heads with slouch hats (also known as cloche hats), berets, and Jocey caps. Adorning their bodies with trendy A-line dresses, flair hem lines, silk stockings, furs and completing their outfits with purse, gloves, broaches or necklaces. Sometimes outfits included all four accessories. Through a material culture analysis of photos by James Van Der Zee, Austin Hansen, Lee Russell and Edwin Rosskam, clothing reveals narratives of access, creativity, joy, and desire. As black women created, enhanced, and styled garments they created “liberated identities” of power and autonomy. During the 1930s and 1940s many black women were silenced and overarching narratives of hypersexualization and violation were perpetuated and ingrained into the minds of the American people. This project explores modes of “talkin’ back” through self-fashioning. This examination of clothing provides a cultural history that expands our scholarly understanding of black women as style architects, innovators, and cultural producers.