Protesting the High School Dress Code that Banned Slacks for Girls, Brooklyn 1942
This photograph was originally published in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in March of 1942. These girls were students at Abraham Lincoln High School on Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn, New York. This all started because one student, Beverly Bernstein, was suspended from school when she showed up wearing slacks, and it was considered “inappropriate” for girls.
The girls responded with a protest by having every single girl show up to school wearing pants. Remember, that this was during World War II. So the girls got together to sign a petition, saying that this was a safety issue, since pants make it easier to run away during an air raid. It also helped the war effort by preventing the need to wear silk stockings. Most of the boys signed the petition, too. The next day, the principal said that girls could wear pants to school.
