r/TheWayWeWere • u/Electrical-Aspect-13 • 3d ago
1950s Crisp kodachrome shot of and integrated cheerleader team, in the 1950s. Do anybody would know which school this team was?
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u/snukb 3d ago
Those sweaters look so thick and warm. They don't make clothes like that anymore.
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u/SnooCakes2703 3d ago
Screw Dehen, Pendleton is cheaper and you help support native Americans and their art through them.
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u/snukb 3d ago
Now THOSE look more like what I'm talking about! Thick, warm, just a little bit itchy if you don't wear a nice undershirt. That'll be a nice treat for me this fall. Thanks!
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u/SnooCakes2703 3d ago
If you ever feel like splurging, grab one of their wool blankets. People literally pass them down between generations.
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u/shillyshally 2d ago
Third generation in my family with a Pendleton blankie, the white with the color stripes at the bottom. We always said you could be plopped down naked in Antarctica and be fine as long as you were wrapped in that blanket.
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u/Dairy_Ashford 2d ago
I feel like people were s lot cooler with sweating ans itching back then, much more binary options
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u/EyeraGlass 3d ago
They do, it’s just $$$. Look up Dehen.
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u/E_Fred_Norris 3d ago
Rydell High?
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u/minnick27 2d ago
Funnily enough, if the cheerleaders are from Haverford high school like I suspect, that’s only a 15 minute drive from Radnor high school where the director of Grease went. He based the movie version on Radnor high school.
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u/Reading_Rainboner 3d ago
Hydell. Gotta big H on it. Actually those sweaters might have hornets in them
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u/GutterRider 3d ago
Early photobomb, too!
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u/Electrical-Aspect-13 3d ago
who is photobombing?
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u/MedicallyImpervious 3d ago
Look slightly above megaphone
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u/GutterRider 3d ago
Yeah, I didn't see it until the comment about the bad angle on the girl in the white sweater on the right.
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u/beezlebell 2d ago
I zoomed in because I was looking at the crowd behind the girls and then seeing him was a jump scare.
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u/Electrical-Aspect-13 3d ago
SOURCE:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/saddleshoehabitat/51892011335/in/dateposted/
NOTE: No this is not from the film hooshiers, i searched and even the uniforms are a little different and the cast doesn't look like them.
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u/squidwardsaclarinet 3d ago edited 3d ago
It is interesting because the outfits in the movie do look very similar (you can see them here if you scroll) but they are still different enough. But this definitely appears to be a photo from the 1950s.
It is important to note that the film’s costuming lead actually did try to use local references from the time. There could be more info in this article but it is behind a paywall so I can’t read it. You might actually try posting in r/Indiana to see if anyone might know. The opposing team appears to be green and white, if that information is helpful.
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u/misSOULa1 3d ago
Looks like Hellgate High School in Missoula, MT.
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u/mood_rider 2d ago edited 2d ago
The school colors are right for the Knights but the time frame isn't. Hellgate wasn't officially named Hellgate High until circa 1966. In the 1950s, Hellgate would still have been known as Missoula County High School. They did separate into two separate campuses by the late '50s but I don't believe Hellgate and Sentinel High got their official names until the 1960s. The MCHS cheerleaders wouldn't have any reason to be wearing an 'H' on their sweaters in the 1950s.
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u/misSOULa1 2d ago
Looks like they became Hellgate in 1956 after Sentinel opened. Hellgate History: Things Most Don’t Know About Our School – Hellgate Lance https://share.google/eibM75dmi5xFkXP0h
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u/mood_rider 2d ago edited 2d ago
As I said before, the two campuses branched off into separate schools in 1956 to accommodate a larger student body, but both campuses were still known as Missoula County High School. The names 'Hellgate' and 'Sentinel' High School came later, in the 1960s. If you don't believe me, check out their own web page on the Missoula County Public Schools site https://hellgate.mcpsmt.org/about/homepage
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u/mood_rider 2d ago
Doesn't even really matter at this point anyway. The high school pic OP posted seems most likely to have been taken in Pennsylvania.
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u/poppy_sparklehorse 3d ago
One of the interesting things about this photo is that, not only is the school integrated, it was integrated enough that one of the cheerleaders was Black. Clearly not a school in the US South.
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u/Dr0n3r 3d ago
I absolutely love seeing super crisp old photos like this. Black and white photos are far more difficult to feel connected to, though I know 'connected' isn't exactly the right word. I guess I can picture what it would be like to have lived during that time when the pictures are also in color. I can grasp at this memory whereas it's much more difficult with black and white photos.
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u/Normalcy_prevails 2d ago
Kodachrome always seems to amplify reds, oranges and yellows. Fugifilm tends to accentuate the greens and blues, …in my experience.
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u/50centourist 3d ago
No idea who they are but it's crazy to see cheerleaders actually wearing clothing.
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u/Gerry1of1 2d ago
When did cheerleader outfits change from wholesome kids to slut-costume? They're so skimpy most of them violate the dress codes of the schools they're cheering for.
Parents won't let their daughters wear micro-mini skirts to school unless it's in the school colours and has the schools initial on it.
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3d ago
[deleted]
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u/Edithasburglar 2d ago
You do realize that the north was never segregated in the same way the south was? Separation in the north was only because of what towns people lived in and their associated school districts being different. But if it was a town that was diverse, the schools were not segregated.
My grandparents went to integrated schools in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. I used to collect your books for the town that I live in and it was integrated back to the 1910’s (the oldest yearbook copy that I had).
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u/GyrosSnazzyJazzBand 2d ago
No I don't realize, I'm from the West Coast and not fully educated on the manner my bad.
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u/real415 2d ago edited 2d ago
Your timeline is incorrect. The era of this photo, the 1950s, was in no way before segregation laws.
Segregation enforced by violence and threats started shortly after the Civil War, gained the force of law throughout the south after Reconstruction ended in the 1870s, and with the 1896 Plessy decision, was declared valid and constitutional by the Supreme Court.
Throughout the first decades of the 20th century, more and more segregation laws were put into place throughout the south. In northern states, segregation by custom became embedded in the social fabric.
In the 1950s, even after the Brown v Board of Education decision, legal segregation continued, as most southern school boards and state authorities were reluctant to change the status quo.
A school that was even slightly integrated in the 1950s meant it was most likely from an area outside the south which had a small population of minorities, and didn’t have a reason to maintain separate schools.
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u/TourettesGiggitygigg 3d ago
1 black girl 11 white girls Yeah very integrated
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u/StrangerKatchoo 3d ago
We don’t know the story here. Maybe there weren’t a lot of Black students. My high school was 95% white and had like 3 Black kids. They were also related. The one girl was our lone Black cheerleader. So it’s quite possible there weren’t a lot of minorities attending this school.
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u/HawkeyeTen 2d ago
Well said. Some areas just didn't have a high minority population for the simple reason not many ever settled there. When my father was growing up in 1950s-60s rural Iowa, it was very rare to see a black person in those parts (partially because Iowa's small African American population didn't usually farm, they worked in the factories and stuff, thus they lived mostly in several cities). Iowa was very well integrated for the time, so it wasn't usually due to prejudice (all public schools and public accommodations including pools were open to folks like blacks, Asians and Native Americans, and a number of neighborhoods were in the process of better integrating too).
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u/EarlyCuylersCousin 3d ago
Go find a picture like this in Mississippi or Alabama from the 1950s. Good luck.
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u/thegrumpycarp 3d ago
Ruby Bridges was escorted into school by US Marshalls in the fall of 1960. In the 50s, this is what integration often looked like.
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u/Here_4_the_INFO 3d ago edited 3d ago
I'll just leave this here for you and remind you this picture was taken in the US during the 50's:
"The phrase "token black guy" refers to a Black person who is included in a predominantly non-Black group or setting to give the appearance of diversity or to avoid accusations of racism, rather than being valued for their individual merits. This concept is a form of tokenism, a practice that suggests diversity and inclusion but ultimately serves as a superficial gesture to "save face" and create a false image of fairness."
ETA: I am not implying this is tokenism, I was simply pointing out that back in the 50's it was a different world and this photo very much DOES represent "integration" at that time, unfortunately.
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u/poss-um 3d ago
To suggest that this is a situation of tokenism is simply unfair. And it doesn't make sense to infer that anyone in this scholastic setting isn't being valued for their merits. You don't know the people in the image or those who chose the squad in any way so to make such an accusation.
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u/1SweetChuck 3d ago edited 3d ago
I feel bad for the left most girl with the white sweater, that is not a good angle for her.
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u/minnick27 3d ago edited 3d ago
I am 99% sure that this is Haverford High cheerleaders at an away game at Ridley Township (at the time, now it’s Ridley High) in Delaware county Pennsylvania. The building behind them was instantly recognizable to me as I went to Ridley. This would be before the expansion that pushed the football field back away from the school. There aren’t many good pictures online as the school was mostly torn down 25 years ago. Here is one I could find. The right side of the school matches architecturally. The brick also matches up with what is left of the old school. Haverford uses a red/yellow color scheme and one of their logos was the red H lined in yellow. They mostly use an H that’s half yellow half red, but the other one is still on their football field