Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 2019)
February 20, 2019 The Skanner BLACK HISTORY EDITION Page 9 Black History How Sears Helped Make People of Color Feel More Like Americans By Einav Rabinovitch-Fox The Conversation ears did more than pioneer the mail-or- der catalog over a century ago. The iconic retailer helped make America a more inclusive place at a time when Jim Crow was ram- pant and women couldn’t even vote. The news that Sears had filed for bankruptcy is a reminder of this his- tory and the important role it played in changing the very fabric of Ameri- can society. Indeed, while it’s only the latest in a growing list of retail institutions that have gone under in recent years, Sears’s de- mise feels different to me — a U.S. historian who focuses on how consum- er culture shapes gender and racial identities. More than any of its other competitors, Sears — and its mail-order catalog — helped usher in the current culture of consumerism, which played an important role in making women, immi- grants and people of col- or feel part of American life. S Changing the way we shop The Oct. 15 announce- ment that Sears – found- ed in 1893 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck – filed for bankruptcy did not come as a surprise. After all, the company, which began as a mail-order catalog and later devel- oped into a department store chain, had been struggling for years. For younger Ameri- cans — accustomed to shopping on the internet with a couple of clicks and getting virtually any- thing they like in a box at their doorstep within a day or two — the news of Sears closing might not seem like a big deal. The image of customers cramming downtown streets on their shopping sprees or the excitement of receiving the season’s catalog in the mail is for- eign to them. Yet, in the late 19th century, as department stores and trade catalogs like Sears began appear- ing on the American landscape, they changed not only how people con- sumed things but culture and society as well. At the same time, consumption was starting to become crucial to Americans’ understanding of their identity and status as cit- izens. In particular, for mar- ginalized groups such as women, African Amer- icans and immigrants, who were often barred from positions of power, consumer culture gave them a way to participate in American politics, to challenge gender, race and class inequalities, and to fight for social jus- tice. Opening doors to women The establishment of the department store in the mid-19th century facilitated the easy con- sumption of ready-made goods. And because con- sumption was primarily associated with women, it played an important role in shifting gender norms. More specifically, de- partment stores dis- rupted the Victorian “separate spheres” ide- ology that kept women out of public life. The new stores allowed them to use their position as consumers to claim more freedoms outside of the home. The first department stores catered to these middle-class women and were very much dependent on their dol- lars. They were built as “semi-private” spaces in which women could enjoy shopping, eating and socializing without transgressing sexual respectability norms – yet providing women with the opportunity to expand “the domestic sphere” into the city. Horseshoes, gramophones and dresses for all Department stores mainly welcomed mid- dle-class White shop- pers. Barriers of race and class prevented working-class women or non-White women from participating fully in commercial life. Yet, if the tangible space of the store proved to be exclusive, the mail-order catalog – a marketing method that Sears per- fected and became most famous for – offered a more inclusive vision of American democracy. Beginning in 1896, af- ter Congress passed the Rural Free Delivery Act, Sears catalogs reached all across the country, of- fering everything from a dress and a drill to a horseshoe and a gramo- phone, all at prices many could afford. The color- ful illustrated catalogs were especially attrac- tive to rural consumers, who despite many of them not knowing how to read could still partic- ipate by looking at the pictures. Taking advantage of the ready-made revo- lution, Sears catalogs offered women from dif- ferent classes, races and regions the possibility to dress like the fashion- able women in Paris or New York, turning con- sumption into an agent of modernity as well as of democracy. For immigrant women, the “American Styles” sold at Sears enabled them to shed their “for- eignness” and appear as an American with all the privileges of citizenship. Read the rest of this story at TheSkanner.com