The Roaring Twenties were definitely roaring in 1922. The United States was marked by postwar recovery and economic growth. Mass production made consumer goods more available to Americans. Innovations like automobiles, radios, and airplanes led to the development of new industries. There was a sense of optimism about the future, and the sky seemed to be the limit. It wouldn’t last long. But in 1922, no one knew the Roaring Twenties would crash into the Great Depression. Life was good.
The University of North Dakota, like the rest of the nation, was undergoing significant change, much of it social in nature, as wartime austerity faded and the Jazz Age burst onto the scene. Social events like the annual military ball and formal dances proliferated, and the university curfew was gradually pushed back toward midnight. Chaperone requirements were dropped for all women except first-semester students. The dean’s rules of 1920 illustrate concerns about changing social interactions. The rules banned cheek-to-cheek dancing, cuddling, unnecessary clinging, and dancing the shimmy. The increasing presence of student automobiles meant more events were taking place off campus at popular venues like the States Ballroom, where students could dance the Charleston and the Black Bottom without the prying eyes of university faculty and staff.
On this date in 1922, UND was celebrating commencement week. Graduates were reflecting on the baccalaureate address delivered the day before by University President Thomas F. Kane. He counseled graduates to become the best version of themselves and embody the “highest measure of a man.” He noted that “everybody’s doing it” is not a final argument for the individual who thinks for himself. He hoped graduates would act out of conviction rather than the influence of others, and observed that doing so would require courage as they left the protected confines of the university. He referenced a young man killed while charging the enemy during the war. As he fell, he called out to his comrades, “Carry on.” President Kane urged the graduates to carry on and closed by telling them, “Put your hand on the plow and don’t look back.”
Dakota Datebook written by Dr. Carole Butcher
Sources:
- Grand Forks Herald. “Annual Commencement Season At University Opened Sunday.”Grand Forks ND. 6/12/1922. Page 1.
- Geiger, Louis G., "University of the Northern Plains: a History of the University of North Dakota, 1883-1958" (1958). UND Publications. 4.
