Dallas History Items: Blonds Go On Strike

In the past century, Dallas has witnessed the struggle for equal opportunities for minorities and for women, but the fight for equality did not stop with just these two groups.  In the midst of the Great Depression, sixteen-year-old Helen Ramsey fought for Equal Opportunity Employment for...blonds and redheads.

The caption reads, "Helen Ramsey, charming Texas Centennial Rangerette, is declared by Sculptor Lawrence Tenney Stevens to have a figure comparable to that of Venus de Milo. She posed for Stevens' statue, 'Texas', one of the six major decorations for the Esplanade of State. The statue will be 20 feet high and will stand on an 11-foot pedestal." Helen Ramsey would become the leader of the blonds and redheads as they went on strike on February 15, 1937. The picture was taken from Centennial News 1936, Vol. 1, No.25.

In 1937, Pan-American Expostion announced that only brunette "Latin types" would be hired as "Texanitas", the official hostesses of the Exposition. To Helen Ramsey, sixteen years old and blond, this was unacceptable. In February 1937, she organized six fellow blondes to protest. On Monday, February 15, Ramsey and her comrades marched into the mayor's office. She announced that they had an appointment, then they walked past the receptionist and promptly established themselves in Mayor George Sergant's inner office. By the time he arrived, they were already firmly entrenched. The sit-down strike had begun.

The following excerpt is from a telegram written by publicity director for the Centennial Exposition Virginia Clarahan:

"[The girls remained] while official business of the day was carried on as they sat in as spectators stop girls argument was that they worked in Centennial last year and Latin American theme of this years exposition shouldn't be extended to exclusion of Texas blondes stop...city officials amazed but tolerantly amused..."

The situation was further complicated when those involved learned that the Exposition Director General Frank L. McNeney was out of town on business, forestalling any immediate resolution of the conflict. "We are going to stay here until the Mayor gets exposition officials to recognize blondes," said Ramsey. "And who is this [producer] Vollman to say that only brunettes are typical Texas types? Blondes and redheads are just as typical as brunettes, and we want jobs and refuse to be discriminated against."

The "committee" received support from locals. According to Clarahan: "Unique local hotels and restaurants...[supported] strikers with elaborate meals being served and beds set up in the [mayor's] inner office...To forestall criticism strikers appealed for a chaperone..."

Their appeal was met by a substitute Dallas school teacher who "volunteered to remain nights". The girls had the audacity to invite the mayor to breakfast, and, Clarahan continues, the chief of police sent a guard from the Dallas Police Department, and sympathizers were to picket city hall.

As a result of this daring and "spectacular" strike, blonds were assured equal chances for Texanita positions at the Pan American Exposition. McClelland Barclay, New York artist who was to judge the competition was "instructed to include blondes in his choices for successors to...[the previous year's]... famous Rangerettes" (Dallas Times Herald 2/16/37). It was a triumph against discrimination, making all women equal, no matter their hair color.

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