All 1940s Blog Posts
…So this is what I want to know:
When we see Victory’s glow,
Will you still let old Jim Crow
Hold me back?
When all those foreign folks who’ve waited—
Italians, Chinese, Danes—are liberated.
Will I still be ill-fated
Because I’m black?
From Will V-Day Be Me-Day Too, 1944 | Langston Hughes
Beverly Fladas, North Dakota Baton Twirler (1949)
Katherine Stump Werntz Kridler (1925-2013)
Katherine Stump Werntz Kridler (1925-2013) and her identical twin sister, Betty, twirled for College High School, Warrensburg, Missouri. They were also majorettes with the Central Missouri State University Drum and Bugle Corps.
Wisconsin Majorette in Treble Clef Costume (1945)
A La Crosse State Teachers College majorette poses in her marching band uniform featuring a treble clef at the shoulder and and hemline decorated with a musical staff, symbols and notes. This costume is very similar to what Mary Hartline wore in 1955, 10 years after...
Dorothy Vinella Humphrey, Drum Majorette (Prairie View College)
Dorothy Vinella Humphrey (1928-2002) was a drum major for Booker T. Washington HS, Dallas, and also Prairie View College, now Prairie View A&M University. Prairie View is a public historically black land-grant university located northwest of Houston. It was...
Louie Jolene “Jo” Hardison, Olton HS Drum Majorette (1940s)
Louie Jolene "Jo" Hardison was a drum majorette for Olton High School, Olton, Texas, in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Olton is located south of Amarillo where Hardison was born. She lived in Dallas most of her life and died in McKinney, Texas in 2015, at the age of...
Bonnie Parr Zinn
Bonnie Parr Zinn served as a majorettes with the Shippensburg town band, Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, for more than 70 years. She retired her marching boots in 2018. You can read her story here. She's pictured above in a professional portrait taken in her majorette...
Vintage Scrapbook of World War II Era Majorette
This vintage scrapbook was created by a World War II-era majorette named Martha Jean Cooper. It is currently for sale on eBay for $1,400. We did some research and discovered that Cooper was a majorette in the late 1930s and early 1940s. She marched and twirled with...
Tulsa Christmas Parade and a Troupe of 35 Sapulpa Baton Twirlers (1949)
A long time ago, a troupe of 35 baton twirlers from Sapulpa, Oklahoma, marched in the Tulsa Christmas parade. A popular local photographer, Howard Hopkins, took their picture and it ended up on a postcard. Click here to see a watermark image of the University of Tulsa...
Woonsocket, Rhode Island Majorettes (1940s)
What a time to be alive, right? Look at all the men in their trench coats and hats and women with their heads covered with scarves. I can feel the cold rain and hear the tuba making its way down the winding avenue. I am 100 percent sure these photos were taken in...
Rare 1940s Portrait of Black Majorette Mae Alice Hinkle
Check out this lovely rare 1940s portrait of Black majorette Mae Alice Hinkle. It was taken in 1943. Ms. Hinkle grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri where she attended Douglass High School. Formal portraits of baton twirlers and majorettes from the early 1940s are...
1940s Gallery
This page was designed to feature all 1940s blog posts. For quick viewing of all 1950s baton twirling photographs, click the button below.
1940s Collection
Visit the 1950s collection page to view baton twirling photos from the 1950s, year by year. For example, with one click, you can pick a year, such as 1953, and view all the photographs we have published from that year.
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Photo Epigraph
A Black majorette corps marches in a parade to honor James T. Wiley, Tuskegee Airman, June 1944
PITTSBURGH’S HILL DISTRICT | JUNE 1944
Black majorette corps march in a parade to honor James T. Wiley, Tuskegee Airman. The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African American military aviators in the U.S. Armed Forces. From 1940-1946, nearly 1,000 were trained at Tuskegee Army Field. The installation was the air training site for Black men and women preparing to fight in World War II. Approximately 445 Tuskegee airmen were deployed overseas and 150 lost their lives. (Photo by Charles “Teenie” Harris.)
Stories from the 1940s
Do you know any baton twirling stories from the 1940s? Email us at info@vintage-baton-twirler.org.
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