Here’s a good example of how kids still went completely barefoot not all that long ago. This is from an article in the April 9, 1945 issue of Life Magazine about a traveling nature museum in Alabama.
NATURE MUSEUM
In rural Southern county it brings birds and animals into the school
Barefoot boys of Alabama listen attentively to a talk on wild birds by Foundation Director John Ripley Forbes, on furlough from the Army (click for larger picture)
Rural schools in the U.S. generally lack money and good teachers. Consequently, rural schoolchildren seldom receive anything approaching the cultural education that is offered in most urban schools. Curiously enough, they have little knowledge of the natural world surrounding them. To provide this the William T. Hornaday Foundation, named for the naturalist who developed New York Zoological Park, has established children’s nature museums in several poor communities in the South. The foundation gets castoff exhibits from big-city museums, sens a curator to set up a museum, tries to persuade local people to take over from there. In Geneva County, Ala., where most of the children wear bare feet (above), it has established two museums, one for white children and one for Negro. The stuffed animals, Indian relics and nature films on display are big treats to the children. Most of them have never seen a movie before.
Yes, they are barefoot because they cannot afford “better”. But they are also wearing jeans because they cannot afford “better”. Yet today jeans are considered acceptable and more comfortable. Bare feet are more comfortable; why can’t they be acceptable?
(Also notice how healthy, albeit dirty, those feet look, even the low-arch feet of the boy in the middle.)
Ahcuah 
Great peice Bob! You raise a lot of good points in this one, especially about accepance and how people see things. I really like the point you made about how jeans are accpeted today but bare feet are not. Short before I read your blog, I put out one on Nature Deficit Disorder for today. But again you gave me a great idea for a blog entry. I wrote it up for tommarrow and have it set to come up automatically in the morning.
Hint: If you want to see how I Competely trash the argument that shoes are healthy, tune in tomorrow and read “Are Bare Feet the Secret to Healthy Children?”
http://stylebinge.ocregister.com/2011/07/13/hey-fashionistas-barefoot-is-back/57219/
From someone who lived in southern california in the 1950s and 1960s.
I was thinking today about the kids in schools and stores, etc., in the past (1930’s – reading The Grapes of Wrath right now) and I realized that back then, when hookworm was a real threat to people, most went barefoot, and now, when hookworm is basically eradicated in the US, almost no-one goes barefoot anymore. When it was really dangerous, people could go almost anywhere barefoot without being harassed, and now when it is really safe, it is considered too dangerous to do, and people turn us out of their stores (and schools and libraries)! What a topsy-turvy world it has become!
Regarding the link to the article above, I just thought of something. The fact that she said “we did not do shoes in the 1950s and 1960s” would make her an interesting person to interview. I wonder if she would accept an interview with you, even by e-mail, so we can get a historical perspective. Did she and others go barefoot in stores and public buildings as well? When was the first time she saw an anti-barefoot sign? Does she remember people getting kicked out once those signs went up? And is she aware of how much discrimination exists today? I am sure you can come up with a lot if good questions to ask her as well. Before people who have such information in their memories die off or retire.
Bob, that boys don’t look “poor”, they are all well-fed and clean.