Given today’s attitudes, can you even imagine a school holding a Barefoot Contest? Me neither.
But in the 1930s they held them.
The story is here, in The Most Popular Contest in Town.
The contest was held in Ocean View Elementary School in Norfolk, VA in the 1930s and even spread throughout the region. The reason for the contest was the Great Depression, when many families simply could not affort shoes. Thus, the school’s principal, Lucy Mason Holt, came up with the idea so as not to embarrass those kids.
This is similar to something that John Wesley (the founder of the Methodist Church) did. See John Wesley’s Barefoot Story. That was also in the 30s: the 1730s.
We know that the contest lasted until at least 1950, because the story tells us that in that year six boys made it until December 5, even through snow.
Here’s a picture from the story.
Photo of the 1937 contestants (L-R) Walter Steele, Edwin Smith, Thomas Allison, Alvin Staley Hardy, Bob Vannater, George West and Thomas McClenney admire the leather soled foot of Alvin Staley Hardy.
[Caption from the story.]
Notice that the boys in the picture are not trying to extract mythical glass or examining a horrific injury. They are simply admiring what bare feet constantly used naturally do: develop nice leathery soles.
Could such a contest possibly be held today? Of course not. People have forgotten that way that real feet work. And as for the Norfolk School District?
We only have to look at their Standards of Student Conduct Handbook, where it says:
The Norfolk Public School dress regulation states that students shall not wear the following items:
(11) Footwear that is inappropriate for school (including, but not limited to, shower shoes, beach shoes, thongs, bedroom slippers, and unfastened shoes, or shoes missing appropriate closures).
No, it specifically does not mention “bare feet”. But you can be sure they are included in the “not limited to” clause.
Unfortunately, this is the sort of contest that is long gone, and given today’s attitudes, I guess I never see anything like it returning.
[H/T: Machi.]
Ahcuah 
this has long been my favorite barefooter story and my favorite barefoot pictures. Notice how healthy looking the boy’s feet look. If you took a picture of modern kid’s feet, they would already look deformed at this young age.
I didn’t know about barefoot contests, they seem like a really good idea.
By the way, I’ve been watching through a show called ‘Wakfu’ because I heard there were numerous barefoot characters and I wanted to see how they were treated. Mostly fairly good, it turns out, but the main barefoot character has just recently been put in shoes for a three parter in which shoes have super powers.
The show hasn’t had her step on stuff and get hurt, yet, but it did have a big shaming section where it’s revealed she has a horrible foot fungus problem from going barefoot.
Most importantly it’s obvious that these kids are having great fun doing the contest, nobody is being forced. I notice a gender disparity though – only boys can be seen, was it considered improper for girls at the time to go barefoot?
Often it’s not the rules of schools that force children into shoes but overly worried parents. So some education of parents may be in order ….
I found an article of Ökotest magazine testing indoor shoes for children.
Summary:
A kindergarten in Hallein near Salzburg has no rule about house slippers.
But some parents insist that their children don’t go barefoot. When parents leave, children take them off and kindergarten doesn’t stop them.
If parents come and complain they ask if children wear house slippers all the time when they are at home?
Parents fear that children catch a cold or get hurt.
When children go to kindergarten parents get a list of things to supply and in most cases house shoes are among them.
Experts warn for years that it can be harmful if children walk too early and often in shoes, especially if these shoes are too small.
A doctor is quoted that the feet of children are very soft and can easily be deformed or squeezed, many showing a skewed position of the big toe at young age.
The test article comes to the conclusion that most indoor shoes for children are bad (with few exceptions) and it would be better to just walk barefoot or in anti-slip socks.
(If you ask me even socks are harmful as they interfere with the sense of touch and temperature. Cold feet don’t come from cold ground but from poor circulation and not moving enough, that’s where parents and preschool can be a good example. If parents suffer from bad circulation and constantly cold feet they should not apply the same to their children who still have a chance to train themselves to develop better than their parents did.)
I forgot the link for anyone who understands german
http://www.oekotest.de/cgi/index.cgi?artnr=107577&bernr=07&seite=01
Thanks!
That contest was looking just for the barefoot boy of cheeks of tan, the poem didn’t include girls.
Thank you for the article. The John Wesley story is a great one. I once served at a Methodist church which criticised youth Sunday when the youth led worship, taught, and preached barefoot. Ironic when you consider Wesley’s story. I wish I knew about Wesley’s story back then, only found out about it a year later. I will check your writing about this enlightening incident. For more on John Wesley please visit the website https://www.francisasburytriptych.com/book-series/characters/charles-and-john-wesley/. Enjoy the numerous articles, videos, podcasts, and pictures about Wesley and his amazing 18th-century movement.
My brother, Bruce Monte “Bucky” Shugart, and another boy named Paul Stewart won the Ocean View Elementary School barefoot contest in about 1947. He thinks his teacher’s name was Mrs. Olson. He thinks the reason the school held these contests was to remove the stigma from kids who didn’t have much money and couldn’t afford shoes.