Were they all flappers? Far from it.
In my 2022 novel about the Jazz Generation (born from 1883 to 1901), my three main female characters – in their thirties in 1928 – discuss the women of their generation. First, two of the main male characters join them in recalling their college years:
“How about the co-eds of the 1910s?” I ask. “Not wallflowers, not shy, not naïve.”
“That’s right,” says Gwen. “We had our own gymnastics, basketball, tennis, and hockey teams.”
“And we had our Songfest moonlight serenade,” says Carmen.
“What was that?” asks Mary.
“On several spring evenings,” Carmen tells Mary, “the sorority girls stood on the steps of Old Main and sang songs to the boys.”
“Songs like ‘Love Me and the World Is Mine’,” I say.
“And ‘Cuddle Up a Little Closer, Lovely Mine’,” says Troy.
“And ‘Next to Your Mother, Who Do You Love?’” says Carmen.
“Oooh,” coos Mary, “the spell of romance.”
Troy smiles at her interest. “Every spring the girls also put on their Masquerade for us boys.”
“Including vaudeville acts in the gym,” I say.
“We co-eds wrapped flowing garments around our bodies and pulled drooping hats over our eyes,” Gwen says.
“We guys were amused and intrigued,” says Troy.
Then our conversation goes a bit like this:
Mary: “Are women making any real progress?”
Gwen: “Some.”
Carmen: “Before the Great War, women were still arrested for appearing on public beaches without stockings.”
Gwen: “Arrested for driving a motor car without a man beside us.”
Mary: “Arrested for wearing shorts, slacks, or a man’s hat.”
Gwen: “For smoking a cigarette or swearing like a man.”
Carmen: “And for not wearing a corset!”
Mary: “Arrested and prosecuted. So absurd. And futile. At least those days are over.”
Gwen: “Thank goodness for progress. In the 1920s, we young women have got moxey. We’re meeting modern life with confidence. In fact, we’re providing modern life plenty of its color, its charm, its faster pace, and its achievements. We don’t surrender our creativity, our intelligence, our determination, or our strength. And husbands and wives share decision-making more than our parents did.”
Mary: “However?”
Gwen: “However, Mary, of the women working in our cities and towns in the 1920s, one-third are doing domestic work and almost all the rest are teachers, nurses, telephone operators, hairdressers, store clerks, or office clerical workers like bookkeepers, secretaries, and receptionists. All work is honorable, of course, but there are still very few women doctors, attorneys, business managers, and other leaders.”
Mary. “I see those things the same way you do, Gwendolyn. And Colored women are stuck doing the work White women don’t want to do. Especially food and kitchen work and the laundry.”
Gwen: “Yes, true. But overall, we possess a new freedom. We also have less cumbersome clothing than our mothers.”
Carmen: “We are so much freer as we move around.”
Mary: “We are behaving in a new way. Breezy, playful, carefree, self-assured, bold, daring, even fearless.”
Carmen: “Women share the challenge of becoming individual, separate, different, unique, and independent persons. We’ve got to own our own willing. We’ve got to affirm our own creative, positive, and productive will. We’ve got to act from our own sense of purpose from our primal life force.”
Gwen: “Ah, Otto Rank has taught you well, Carmen. And that’s what it means to become a New Woman.”
Carmen: “The New Woman. She pursues college and a profession.”
Gwen: “More than that, I think. We’re full of curiosity about the future. We have a sense of possibilities for ourselves. We’re smart, we’re sensible, we know our own minds, and we’re independent enough to define ourselves on our own terms.”
Mary: “As all women should be.”
If you haven’t seen the dual Hindu mythology and female jazz singer free work of Nina of New Mexico, see Sita Sings the Blues here: https://youtu.be/RzTg7YXuy34
I love Gwen's last comment. As a jazz musician of 30+ years, I'm moved to sit and compose a song. I'm going to title it "On My Own Terms." I'm in tears just thinking about it.