"In danger of becoming morally depraved": single black women, working-class black families, and New York state's wayward minor laws, 1917-1928.

University of Pennsylvania Law Review, June, 2003 by Hicks, Cheryl D.

INTRODUCTION

In 1923, Gail Lewis attended a local Fourth of July party. (1) Instead of coming directly home after realizing that she had broken her curfew, the black seventeen-year-old New York native decided to stay out all night and face her parents, especially her father whom she feared would be angered by her actions, the following day. (2) Clearly, Lewis's broken curfew and night away from home violated her parents' rules, but her actions also indicated, in her parents' estimation, her potential for future inappropriate behavior. When she finally returned home, her parents had already notified the police. (3) Although school officials reported her skirmishes with fellow classmates, Lewis was considered well behaved and not a juvenile delinquent. (4) In...

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