Book excerpt: Modesty on the line in "The Summer of Death"
Summary
In 1936, a severe heat wave caused about 5,000 deaths in the United States. During this time, a female police officer in Covington, Kentucky, tried to enforce rules against women and girls wearing what she considered revealing summer clothes in public.Key Facts
- The heat wave of 1936 caused roughly 5,000 deaths in the U.S.
- In Covington, Kentucky, police patrolled to watch for girls and women wearing shorts and halter tops.
- Police matron Elizabeth Cohran, a rare female officer at the time, asked for these patrols.
- Cohran wanted to cite girls over ten years old for indecent exposure if seen wearing skimpy clothes outdoors.
- Some local officials disagreed, saying shorts and halters were common and not indecent.
- Cohran's actions reflected the social norms and concerns about modesty and safety in 1936.
- Women in her role handled sensitive cases like runaways, abuse victims, and pregnancies.
- The story is from Geoff Williams’s book "The Summer of Death," published in 2026.
Read the Full Article
This is a fact-based summary from The Actual News. Click below to read the complete story directly from the original source.
