To Americans, prom is known as a huge school celebration for many kids. It is the most glamorous, exciting, and anticipated night of all! But, have you ever wondered how prom originated, and where it all began?
The eighteen-hundreds is when prom originated. It was originally known as The Promenade but was later shortened to Prom. The purpose of the prom was for men to show their wealth and social status. Also, at first, they were only thrown in colleges, and only men were allowed to attend.
Women could attend as a date to the man, but only as a date. This celebration wasn’t even classified as a dance, but rather a tea party. As prom migrated to the twentieth century, it expanded to high school seniors, and it was more of a debutante ball, yet the tradition of a tea party carried on into the twentieth century.
As Americans gained more money and more leisure time, prom became a social event where kids wore their best clothes and partied at night. Proms became more popular and extravagant in the 1950s.
Also, the infamous tradition of the prom king and queen started in the 1950s. This tradition was created to ensure society’s “gender roles,” which is a controversial topic now in the twenty-first century.
There were also some serious race issues regarding prom in the 1970s. When the schools were not segregated, the black people were included in prom, and the white people were unhappy with this. This caused white people to throw their own prom, and the black people would throw their own prom too.
Until movies like Sixteen Candles and Heathers were released, which were movies that promoted proms, the prom tradition died down. But as soon as these movies came out in the 1980s, prom sparked back up again, and American teenagers across the world continued the tradition.
Present-day proms have their own traditions, like renting limousines, wearing bright colors, and wearing bigger dresses are now customary. The traditions of modern prom will be maintained as today’s youth creates new ideas for this iconic celebration.
