Reader Jennifer E.B. alerted us to the Dutch tradition of Zwarte Piet, “Black Pete.” Jennifer writes:
I grew up in a town that was overwhelmingly Dutch. Most people in town had Dutch anscestry (though not my family), there was a Dutch festival each spring, and before Christmas there was a Sinterklaas parade (Dutch Santa Claus). When we were there for Christmas this year both of my daughters received a chocolate in the shape of their initial in their stockings from my sister. I had let them have some of the chocolate several times before the background picture on the box caught my eye.
What Jennifer saw was what looked like a character in blackface (product found here):
Jennifer did some digging and she discovered that Zwarte Piet is a traditional Christmas Sinterklaas character in the Netherlands.
Lulu Helder at the Museum of Racist Memorobilia explains:
The role is usually played by a white woman or man who wears black or brown grease paint on their faces (Saint Nicholas is always performed by a man). He or she wears large golden earrings, a curly wig and red lipstick. Right now they wear brown grease paint more often because “the blackness frightens children”.
Once the transformation is completed, a change in voice and behaviour usually follow. He or she will speak improper Dutch with a low voice and a Surinamese accent.
Below the jump are some pictures (not safe for work):
Evidence that they’ve been trying to sell us high-technology razors since at least the 1930s (source):
Text:
The Schermack Round Safety Razor is the first really efficient and safe razor for women–because it’s round. It fits all under-arm curves perfectly–any way you hold it. No sharp points or porjecting edges. Shaves faster–smooth and clean–yet with no danger of cutting delicate skin. Just what women have long been looking for.
Carolyn Steel answer this question with a long range view (and lots of fascinating information), and points out the problems in our supply chain, in this TED video:
These days the talk is about adult-olescence, or the seeming extention of adolescence well into ones twenties. But the idea that children should have a childhood at all is actually pretty recent. Before industrialization, when families tended to work their own land, children got to work as soon as they were able. Being apprentices to their parents was the difference between life and death.
Industrialization brought a whole new kind of work: wage work that occurred outside the home. At that time, it made perfect sense that kids would work, as they’d be working on the farm all along. Only later did we decide that working outside the home was different than working at it and that, perhaps, children working outside of the home needed protection. The first federal law regulating child labor was passed in 1938.
Nora H. sent in this excellent example of how advertisers gender chores. The ad goes through how generations and generations of women have done laundry.
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