In my online Sociology of the Family course, I am mak-- er, encouraging my students to do a bit of research into the laws and social customs that would have defined their dating lives in one of the following years/eras: 1780, 1880, 1920, and 1970. As I wrote in our discussion prompt, "Just like real life, if you’re non-straight, trans, non-White, or so on, this will be especially challenging for you." I got so excited by my own assignment prompt, I did the assignment, too. (Yeah, I just admitted that.) Anyway, below is my queer, White exploration of dating in the 1920s. I was born around the turn of the 20th century. Exciting times! Tons of White folks are moving to the city to pursue careers in factories and in the service industries. My farming family is very poor, and my mother nudged me to move to the city and work in a department store in order to snag a rich husband. While working at the department store, I met another young woman, and we became fast friends.
Author Holly Gray's Meditations on Writing and Social Justice