Girlhood in America: Personal Stories 1910 - 2010

by Suzanne Sherman

Overview

Collected stories from fifty-six women and young girls around the country reveal the times and tensions of a wider world, from a first ride in a Model T in 1911 to leading a school campaign against bullying in 2011.

Girls' lives change in expected—and surprising—ways when indoor plumbing and electricity come into homes in the 1920s. Antibiotics replace mustard plasters, World War II ends, soldiers come home, and there is an explosion of new suburbs followed by the fascination of TV. Girls’ lives take a new turn, as culture includes them in new ways.

And history keeps unfolding. From the 1960s onward families include single moms and “weekend dads,” and more mothers are at work when school is out. It’s an unusual way of seeing culture change as you read about the fads and fears that come and go through the 1980s and 1990s. And then the Digital Age is here, expanding girls’ worlds even further. In the 21st century, girls’ culture tells a new American story.

Have fun time-traveling! The power of the personal teaches in ways history books never can—it’s the real story, in the voices of experience.

“A useful sourcebook and an entertaining read.” Kirkus Review

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780990452706
Publisher:	SZS Publishing
Publication date:	12/22/2016
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Suzanne Sherman's new book series, 100 Years in the Life, is inspired in part by the thousands of memoirs she has shepherded in her thirty-year career as a memoir teacher, consultant, and editor (www.suzannesherman.com). 100 Years in the Life of an American Girl is the first book in that series. Visit www.100yearsinthelife.com for more and find out how you can submit your story to a planned book in the series.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS A Note to the Reader. Chapter 1: 1910s-Big Savage Mountain, Mary Kent, Frostburg, Maryland; Chasing Horse-Drawn Fire Engines, Mary Ann Natly, New York City; Crank Up the Model T!, Florence Smith, Dayton, Ohio; The Pink Parasol, Emma Thomas, Eau Claire, Wisconsin: The Appetizing Store, Mary Bragman, Brooklyn, New York; When Johnny Comes Marching Home, Beulah Teraveinen, Gustine, California. Chapter 2: 1920s-Tomboy, Julia Murray, Napoleon, Ohio; Here Come the Talkies, Lois Patterson, Santa Rosa, California; Tagging Along, Charlotte Oram, East Chicago, Indiana; Fog City, Natalie Christensen, San Francisco, California, Hamburger Stand, Patricia Dunn, Coles County, Illinois; Avenue of the Giants, Marna Stansberry, Humboldt County, California; Outside Town, Adrien Avis, Grants Pass, Oregon. Chapter 3: 1930s-Rich Little Poor Girl, Dorothy Lockett Hansen, Norman, Oklahoma; The Medicine Cabinet, Joyce Cass, San Francisco, California; Big Sky Country, Helen Gilstrap, Columbus, Montana; FDR Makes an Impression, Dorothy Anderson, Sunbury, Pennsylvania; Where She'll Always Stay, Joan Childress Muhlstein, Henderson, Kentucky; Pond Monkeys, Jo Ann Miller, Delleker, California. Chapter 4: 1940s-Wartime on the West Coast, Sharon Porter Moxley, Eureka, California; Pucker Up!, Barbara Friedman Ramrus, Mount Vernon, New York; Quaker Views, Elspeth Benton, Madison, Wisconsin, Flour Bombs, Linnie Sternik, Westchester County, New York; No Wonder We Behaved, Lenore Pimental, Brooklyn, New York, At the Top of Saddleback Ridge, Elizabeth Robinson, South-Central Pennsylvania. Chapter 5: 1950s-The Old South, Belva Carole Lamb, Savannah, Georgia; In the Heartland, Shannon Rose, Wyoming, Michigan; Endless Summer, Lorna Penland Hernandez, Pensacola, Florida; American Bandstand, Linda Ann Jung Wong, Dallas, Texas; Townie Girl, Chris (Linda) Archambault, Le Mars, Iowa. Chapter 6: 1960s-Woodstock, Victoria Lester, Long Island, New York; Survival Rules, Johnny Gilbert, Little Rock, Arkansas; Tales of a Triplet, Shoshana Frieden, Sharon, Massachusetts; California Dreamin', Suzanne Sherman, Los Angeles, California; We Were the Bird Dogs, Adrienne Raker, Maryville, Arizona; What's Important to You?, Susan Aaron, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Chapter 7: 1970s-Black Lights and Lava Lamps, Kim Fusch, Dallas, Texas; After Saigon Fell, Terri Ann Smith, Funston, Georgia, Island Life, Jennifer Lei Bowen, Moloka'i, Hawaii; Wheat Country, Michele Moore, Oakley, Kansas; The Cold War, Janet Snow, Yonkers, New York; The American Dream, Angela Lam Turpin, San Jose, California. Chapter 8: 1980s-Gen X Poster Child, Jenny Isenman, Baltimore, Maryland; Ms. Pac-Man Is IT!, Nicole Bivens, Little Rock, Arkansas; Stuck Between Two Cultures, Amy Lam, Bronx, New York; White-Bread Cowboy Country, Rachel Nixon, Rohnert Park, California. Chapter 9: 1990s-Boom Dynamite!, Brianna Bonzheim, Grandville, Michigan; Daughter of the Second Wave, Elsa Evans, Jenner, California; Pop Star, Jordan Galvan, Houston, Texas; Born Vegetarian, Risa Bailey Rubin, Los Angeles, California; The Kenney Ridge Land Girls, Fiona Sheehan, Athens, Georgia. Chapter 10: 2000s-This I Believe, Marina Rose Sherman, Berkeley, California; Stay Strong, Dylanne White, Petaluma, California; The Hat Collector, Clare MacKenzie Walsh, Yarmouth, Maine; Only Child with a Big Family, Kaya Stitzhal, Seattle, Washington; I Am Home, Aalaa Albaroudi, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Acknowledgments. Questions for Discussion. Photo Credits.

Editorial Reviews

"There's much food for thought here, whether readers focus on a single decade or trace themes over time, such as the immigrant experience, how appliances have eased household chores, or how expectations regarding girls' dress, schooling, and careers have changed. Some cultural experiences serve as common touchstones through the years (such as reading Louisa May Alcott's works); others are very much of their time, such as accompanying the iceman on his deliveries. Overall, the contributions are wonderfully lively and vivid. Here, Florence Smith—5 years old in 1911—describes the excitement of her family buying the first Model T on the block: "Neighbors up the street came outside to see us, and they waved as we passed. My mother was laughing and hugging my father as we bounced along and I was feeling the air move through my fingers with both hands held up." Readers inclined to take modernity for granted will find much here to surprise and interest them. As the first in a planned series of "100 Years in the Life" books, it also has great classroom potential with its discussion questions. A useful sourcebook and an entertaining read." —KIRKUS REVIEWS

I wish this book was in every school; the historical perspective and the personal stories weave together to create a complex and fascinating tapestry—Mary Carouba

Here are memories of the look of the flag waving over a victory bonfire on Nov 11, 1918; the sounds of a horse drawn rag and bone cart in San Francisco; a girl treasuring a penny flattened by the wheels of FDR's campaign train, the look of the San Gabriel Mountains as my own mother would have seen them in the 1940s. Here are principled children trying to save the world in their own ways, and playful kids beguiled by the million toys the silicon chip brought them.—Richard von Busack

In the first four to five decades (chapters) of the book, I revisited aspects of my grandmother's stories and my mother's stories. I revisited some of my own experiences during the 60s and 70s, and finally I revisited some of those of my son's (and his friends) during the 1980s and 1990s. It is oral history at its very best. It is something of more than ordinary significance.—Ella Wong

From the Publisher

2015-07-02
This nonfiction collection offers more than 50 entertaining, informative memoir pieces about American girlhood from 1910 to 2010.Sherman (Lesbian and Gay Marriage, 1992) taught memoir writing for many years. Many of these entries were written by her students, while others were adapted from interviews with women and girls from diverse cultural, geographical, racial, and class backgrounds. Sherman asked her interviewees about their first 13 years and specifically about their experiences with family, school, friendships, and play; other topics include "racism, divorce, [and] being ‘different.' " Readers will see the differences, similarities, and connections within and across decades as they compare and contrast other childhoods with their own. Each chapter has a useful introduction explaining the historical characteristics of a particular decade, including its newest products, books, and similar artifacts, and the 10 most popular girls' names. There's much food for thought here, whether readers focus on a single decade or trace themes over time, such as the immigrant experience, how appliances have eased household chores, or how expectations regarding girls' dress, schooling, and careers have changed. Some cultural experiences serve as common touchstones through the years (such as reading Louisa May Alcott's works); others are very much of their time, such as accompanying the iceman on his deliveries. Overall, the contributions are wonderfully lively and vivid. Here, Florence Smith—5 years old in 1911—describes the excitement of her family buying the first Model T on the block: "Neighbors up the street came outside to see us, and they waved as we passed. My mother was laughing and hugging my father as we bounced along and I was feeling the air move through my fingers with both hands held up." Readers inclined to take modernity for granted will find much here to surprise and interest them. As the first in a planned series of "100 Years in the Life" books, it also has great classroom potential with its discussion questions. A useful sourcebook and an entertaining read.

Kirkus Reviews