Author: annsepstein@att.net

L. Frank Baum wrote his classic book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in Chicago in 1900. In 1928, under pressure from educators and ministers, the Chicago Public Library banned the book for its “ungodly influence” depicting women, including witches, as leaders. The book was also banned by libraries in Florida and Detroit in the 1950s, and in 2004 Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson conspired to get the movie banned from broadcast on public television because of “moral turpitude.” Read more about the making of the movie based on the home book in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

Candy manufacturers began using corn syrup during WWI when sugar was rationed. Popular “war candies” were Amalkaka (chocolate-covered animal crackers) and the Goo-Goo Cluster (a mound of caramel, marshmallow nougat, fresh roasted peanuts, and milk chocolate). Labels told consumers “You are performing a patriotic duty in conserving sugar.” Corn syrup was so cheap that they never stopped using it after rationing ended. Today, high-fructose corn syrup is not only found in candy and soda but in scores of other products including flavored yogurt, salad dressing, bread and crackers, frozen pizza, peanut butter, and pickles. The sweetener is even found in sour cream! Read more about food and popular culture during WWI in On the Shore (see NOVELS).

When Prince Harry married American divorcee Meghan Markle, commentators harked back to the Duke of Windsor (the former King Edward VIII) giving up the crown for “the woman I love.” That woman was Wallis Simpson of Summit, Pennsylvania, who met the then prince during her second marriage, through his then mistress. After the King’s abdication in December 1936, they lived in France and were believed to be Nazi sympathizers. She was suspected of spying by passing along British and French naval secrets to the Germans. When the couple visited http://viabestbuyreviews.com/ Hitler, he declared the Duchess would have made a great queen, but the new King George VI decreed she could not be called “Her Royal Highness.” The Duke died in 1972, the Duchess in 1986. Read more about British history in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

Hitler, he declared the Duchess would have made a great queen, but the new King George VI decreed she could not be called “Her Royal Highness.” The Duke died in 1972, the Duchess in 1986. Read more about British history in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

In the early 1900s, tragedies such as the Triangle Shirtwaist fire and Sinclair Lewis’s exposé The Jungle about the meat-packing industry, contributed to the growth of labor unions. Over the next several decades, unions won shorter hours, higher wages, and better conditions for laborers, many of them immigrants and minorities. The number of people in the middle class rose. But, since the mid-1950s, as union membership has declined from a peak of 33% to less than 7% today, income inequality has risen to levels not seen since the era of the “robber barons.” Read more about the exploitation of workers and early labor laws in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

The taboo against wearing white when summer ends is rooted in social class snobbery at the turn of the twentieth century. As more people entered the ranks of the wealthy, those who inherited money wanted to distinguish themselves from those who acquired it. One way was to establish strict dress codes on the assumption that the nouveau riche would commit fashion faux pas. Hence arose the rule to pack away white dresses and suits after lawn parties and beach vacations were over. When Labor Day was declared a national holiday in 1894, it became a convenient date for the seasonal shift. Although the rule was observed primarily among the elite (poorer people, whose wardrobes were limited, shunned white year-round simply because it got dirty), by the 1950s women’s magazines also made it clear to the middle class that whites were out between Labor Day and Memorial Day. Fashions have changed — “winter white” is in style — but many people still think twice before donning white clothes from early September to late May. Read more about fashion rules and trends over the past century in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

FDR created the Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC) in 1941 to ban discriminatory employment practices by federal agencies, unions, and companies engaged in war-related work. FEPC was intended to help African Americans and other minorities obtain jobs in home-front industries during WWII, and contributed to substantial economic improvements among black men during the 1940s. Analyses showed that blacks who gained entree into the defense industry benefitted from higher wages and retained their jobs through 1950, after which discriminatory practices returned. While the minority unemployment rate today is twice that of whites, the federal government still employs more minorities than industry as a whole. Read more about labor laws over the last century in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

In 1942, architect Albert Speer was placed in charge of Germany’s Economics Ministry. The war required large-scale employment of forced laborers. To supply the Third Reich with slave labor, the Nazis abducted 12 million people from twenty countries, the majority from Central and Eastern Europe. Many died from mistreatment, malnutrition, or torture. Others became civilian casualties of Allied shelling. Jews were also subject to forced labor in ghettos and work camps before being sent to death camps for extermination. Org.Todt, a civil and engineering organization named for its founder Fritz Todt, administered the construction of the concentration camps used to supply German industry with a steady flow of workers from 1943-1945. Read more about Nazi Germany in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).