Repost, more high school uniforms in the 1930's.
From - Thursday, October 23, 2014
More uniforms
I continue sharing old yearbook pictures of young people in uniforms.
He's listed at the top of members as the Major. (See my post about him HERE .) Since then I've heard from my cousin about her family members who were in bands that being the major means he didn't play an instrument.
My father's older brother, Chauncey, was in an ROTC uniform also, right column in photo below, 3rd from bottom.
By 1933 my father had met my mother probably, in Jefferson High School in San Antonio, TX. She signed her name (Mataley Munhall) by her picture below, the right column at the bottom of portraits. Is she in Company C's group picture? Yes, front and center (well, to the right of the tall young man in the very center.)
I don't think my father (George Rogers) was in Company C until 1934. Then he was listed among the members, but I can't find him in the crowd (photo below). But where is my mother in 1934?
Mataley went to the newly formed Company D in 1934...and she was then listed as a sponsor. I think George missed his chance, (that time) since she changed her marching company. Incidentally, like many yearbooks, the group picture below does not have my mother located in the place that is indicated by her name. She is actually the girl in the middle of the front row, with her eyes closed. I know you were wondering about that!
When I remember Hitler's youth troops, it is even possible that his influence came into south Texas through the German connection. These high school students certainly appeared to have enjoyed wearing uniforms. Here's another post about The Girls who liked to March. And another one with similar photos HERE.
Yes the club was made of young women who met "as a social aid to the Battalion"...and were called the Swastika Club. I'm sure the young women stopped using that insignia in the early 40s.
1934
The highschool band also had great looking uniforms in San Antonio.
Sharing with Sepia Saturday.
It seems the swastika was used in many cultures as a symbol of good luck before the nazis appropriated it. Hopefully that is how they were using it in the club. So many uniforms here.
ReplyDeleteI have to also consider the German influence being high in that area of Texas...and the original movement of youth to march was somewhat innocent at that time.
DeleteI remember some of these pictures from your old posts. The swastika was an ancient symbol used by many cultures around the world. (I think its simple symmetry was easy to draw.) It was a design used by several Native American tribes of the Southwest and later was borrowed by many schools and organizations in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona as a distinctive brand to identify with Indian heritage. In your parents' time it had no connection to the German Nazi party but was just a weird coincidence of history.
ReplyDeleteYes, indigenous designs often include the swastika, or running cross. It had other meanings before Hitler. However the area of SW Texas in those times had many German immigrants, they even published German language newspapers. The original youth groups like Germany had to march and be orgainized were attractive...though not much later became part of Hitler's schemes.
DeleteAgree with Kristin and Mike that the symbol was likely used due to its ancient symbolism in Native southwestern and other cultures and was not then connected with fascism. My favorite here is Chauncy's yearbook page with the quotes next to each photo.
ReplyDeleteI agree about this design. But as I'm mentioned, I don't put it past the German American communities to follow early youth marching groups at that time. They would not have know what was coming yet.
DeleteThose photos with the girls wearing hats with the Swastika design are rather unsettling. I don't think they had anything to do with Indian culture or ancient symbols. They were German and with Germany having been so involved in WWI, I really am surprised the schools allowed such a thing? Hopefully they did stop wearing them when WWII broke out. I wonder how they felt about having worn such at that point?
ReplyDeleteI remember learning that the English PM was all for Hitler for a long time...till somehow Churchill got elected. For the 30s the news reels probably showed those German Youth groups marching (and saluting Hitler). Those were times when it looked like he was saving Germany. I can understand many of the Texas-Germans had had to hide their connections during WWI, but in early days (12-15 years after WWI) were in support of Hitler. My mom was born just as WWI started 1917. My great-grandfather (born in Germany, immigrated as a 2 year old) had to try several times to get his citizenship...he worked as a conductor on the trains. And of all those ROTC guys, at least 3 of the 4 Rogers brothers fought in WWII. I agree, as soon as Pearl Harbor happened, or maybe with the US finally entering the European war, the Tex-Germans had to change their point of view.
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