Department Stores Are Basically the Reason Women Were Allowed in Public

rafi-dangelo:

This was so unexpectedly informative and a delightful, brisk read to boot.

I’ve found that a lot of essays that take a look at women’s issues, especially around the turn of the 20th Century, are really talking about white women and just labeling it “Women” as if women of color were automatically included in these movements or shifting societal norms. There’s still a lot to learn from them and I still read them, but in the back of my mind there’s an undercurrent of “Black women weren’t allowed to…” or “this did not apply to Black women at all…”

So kudos to this author for dropping references to Black women with some historical anecdotes illustrating those differences. For such a short piece, it’s really well-rounded.

Department Stores Are Basically the Reason Women Were Allowed in Public