Chiara Baravalle, Week 3

1) Ocklemann

In “‘Don't Fuss, Mother, This Isn't So Fast’: Flappers and the Struggle Between Modernity and Modesty,” Ocklemann investigates the “tension between modernity and modesty inherent in 1920s representations of women” as seen specifically through images in popular culture of one type of modern woman, the flapper. Ocklemann argues that the seemingly diametric concept of modernity and modesty “are actually not always on opposite ends of a single spectrum.”  Ocklemann breaks her argument down into five sections, which include: (1) “The Creation of the Modern Woman”; (2) “‘What the World Expects of Women To-day’: Advertising Modesty and Modernity in an Unmarked Box”; (3)  “The Flapper In Transition: Innocence and the Vamp”; (4) “A Magnetic Force: The Sexual Modernity and Modesty of the ‘IT’ Girl"; (5) “An Attempt to Modernize: Fitzgerald Weighs In”

In the first section, Ocklemann contextualizes the emergence of the term flapper to refer to a new kind of young woman who embraced a “variety of news situations and contexts” that supposedly allowed her to cast of the yoke of Victorian propriety. Ocklemann notes that while “the casual sexuality of the ‘modern’ woman” in popular culture was “lusted after, and even glorified,” “it was rarely accepted as the societal norm.” Furthermore, Ocklemann believes that “the feminine ideal of modesty and purity” did not altogether disappear from popular culture. In fact, Ocklemann argues that each media representation of the flapper told a different story about the interaction between modernity and modesty; as such, Ocklemann sets out to analyze four different primary sources: advertisements for disposable sanitary pads; two films, “The Flapper” from 1920, and “IT” from 1927; and a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald entitled “Bernice Bobs Her Hair”.

To start, Ocklemann believes that advertisements promoting sanitary pads capitalized on the fact that women with modern, active lifestyles (e.g. working women with busy social schedules, who were not yet bogged down by the responsibilities of family life) were nonetheless concerned about menstrual modesty. Privacy was of the utmost importance in matters related to women’s “private problem[s]”. Yet this was a new kind of modesty—a modesty that adapted itself to—that was convenient in—a life outside the confines of the home. In fact, Ocklemann suggests that the paradox of the modern woman was the dichotomy between her public persona and her private virtue. In her discussion of the two films, Ocklemann argues that Hollywood promulgated a fundamentally moral message about the importance of maintaining feminine “standards of morality and purity”. For instance, Ocklemann notes that “The Flapper” explicitly connected sexuality with criminality. In “IT”, Ocklemann seems to suggest that Hollywood at least acknowledged changing norms of feminine behavior, and condoned a balancing act between traditional gender roles and looser moral codes. Ocklemann, concludes that “no single modern woman or flapper entered the scene in 1920 and left it in 1929 exactly as she had been 10 years earlier”: in summary, the Roaring Twenties were a time of change and continuity for women—for expectations of women, and for expectations of themselves. 

Ocklemann: Verdict

            Ocklemann’s essay succeeds in many ways, most notably by: (a) dividing her argument into sub-arguments; (b) delving into detailed primary source analysis; (c) including images and/or describing visual sources. At times, however, Ocklemann’s argument about one primary source sounds a lot like her argument about a previous source which can lead to either boredom or confusion. Although detailed analysis of primary sources can reveal much about a time period/historical subject, extraneous detail dims the lights on all, including more relevant insights. Ocklemann’s discussion about sanitary pads was perhaps the most interesting part of the essay because it delved into a seemingly minor, but hugely impactful, facet of female life that is still relevant today. Furthermore, her analysis of sanitary pads offered insight into the lives of everyday women, as opposed to the lives of women on screen construed (supposedly) by men. Had she cut down her description of the two films, she might have included a greater breadth of primary sources, which would have given her thesis more sound grounding and perhaps even greater, more original insight into her subject. Although Ocklemann’s essay was overall interesting and well constructed, she chose a subject that does not lack in historical analysis (and that many—especially female– readers are already somewhat familiar with), and yet she did not provide a wholly novel perspective.  

2) Dang

In “Critical of Compromise: Henry McNeal Turner and the Rise of the Emigration Movement in Post-Civil War America,” Bianca Dang analyzes the false promise of Civil War for African Americans and the resulting disappointment of Reconstruction. Dang does so through the lens of Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, or more specifically, through the development of his views from African American integration to emigration “back to Africa.” Dang charts Turner’s “shift away from compromise” in three phases: (1) Turner’s reaction to the “potential for compromise” presented during the Civil War; (2) Turner's rhetoric after the demise of Reconstruction in the 1880s; (3) and Turner’s defense of his emigration movement based on his earlier ideas about African colonization. Dang, thus illustrates changes and continuities in Turner’s attitude towards civil rights, and more broadly in the African American civil rights movement at large.

            In the first section, Dang explains that the Civil War “provided Turner with the experience and imagery of African American participation in American causes that he later utilized in the fight for African American equality.” Dang points out that while Turner saw potential for building bridges between African Americans and their ‘former’ white oppressors, he also did not complete concede to the idea of interracial harmony in Africa. Dang argues that the “the Civil War [provided] only a slight respite in oppression of African Americans,” and cites two particular damning events, the 1876 election of Rutherford B. Hayes to the Presidency and the 1883 Supreme Court ruling that established the Civil Rights Act of 1875 as unconstitutional, that convinced Turner that there was nothing left in United States for African Americas. Dang believes that Turner’s stance on emigration not only represents his rejection of the moral and legal racism in America, but also “helped lay a foundation for Black Nationalism movements in the twentieth century based on African American power.”

            In fact, the third and final section in Dang’s paper is by far the most riveting. She traces Turner’s controversial relationship with the American Colonization Society, and contrasts his views with those of other prominent African American figures in the late nineteenth-century like Frederick Douglass. What differentiates this section from the previous two are the historical and conceptual discussions of Turner’s beliefs—like the Turner’s idea of nationality vs. Douglass’s defense of equality. In other words, the third section combines historical context with philosophical debate—what is interesting is how Turner’s views picked up on and contrasted with those of his contemporaries. Ultimately, Dang’s most salient conclusion is that although Turner’s “emigration movement was not successful in terms of how many African Americans actually emigrated, … it was successful in the sense that it unified many African Americans in a movement based off of their positive qualities and their entitlement to justice and equal treatment.” In other words Dang makes an argument about how a failed historical effort actually had a positive impact on the construction of a collective African American identity. 

Dang: Verdict

Dang takes a close look at Turner’s writing includes, for instance, his correspondence with the Christian Recorder, published letters in the a public weekly newsletter by the A.M.E., his 1866 emancipation speech, among other documents. Unlike Ocklemann, Dang does not place as much individual importance on individual primary sources, but still manages to capture a great deal of imagery and insight. Dang also makes greater explicit use of secondary sources than Ocklemann, which gives the impression that Dang has done more research into the existing historical debate about her topic than Ocklemann. While Ocklemann did not provide a wholly original perspective on her topic, Dang at least showed that she was adding to—rather than reiterating—previous scholarship on her topic.

3) Higginbotham

In “African-American Women’s History and the Metalanguage of Race,” Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham challenges feminist scholars, especially those of African-American women’s history, to give race greater consideration in their analyses of power. Like Dang, Higginbotham breaks down her argument into three “interrelated strategies,” namely: (a) Understanding the construction of race, as well as those of gender and sexuality; (b) the role of race as a metalanguage for discussions about gender, class and sexuality; (c) the potential for race as a site for dialogue and debate, given its historical use as a “tool for both oppression and liberation.” In practice, Higginbotham divides her essay into five parts: (1) “Defining race”; (2) “Racial constructions of gender”; (3) Racial constructions of class”; (4) “Racial constructions of sexuality”; (5) “Race as a double-voiced discourse”. Higginbotham concludes that a discussion of race is, like the Afro-American experience, inherently syncretic—a “complex of social meanings” that is neither stable nor universal.

Higginbotham: Verdict

There is obviously no comparing the academic repertoire and eloquence of two undergraduate students with that of a nationally acclaimed historian, however there is much in Higginbotham’s essay that can be of use to an aspiring undergraduate and historian. To start, Higginbotham makes ample use of secondary sources, not only to show how her argument builds on previous scholarship, but also to demonstrate the validity and necessity of her argument. Second, Higginbotham’s essay is clearly structured, with an easily identifiable introduction, conclusion, as well as sub-titled sections; this delineates the progression of her argument and creates pit stops in the mind of the reader. Third, each of the Higginbotham’s sub-argument builds on the previous sub-argument. Fourth, Higginbotham’s essay is both historical and relevant to contemporary understandings of race. In other words, Higginbotham’s essay successfully uses history/historical analysis to carry forward contemporary conversations about race.