“Once hired on the ‘slave market,’ we would find after a day’s backbreaking toil, that we had worked longer than was arranged, got less than was promised, or were forced to accept clothing instead of cash. We were exploited beyond human endurance. Only the urgent need for money made us submit to this daily routine (Mitchell, 2000).”
“When I was young, there were more than two million women engaged in domestic work in the United States. At the time, this was the largest occupational group for women and about half of them were Negro women (Mitchell, 2000).”
“And though many Negro women worked for as little as two dollars a week and as long as 80 hours a week – we had no social security, no workmen’s compensation, and no old age security (Mitchell, 2000).”
“But as bad as life was in New York in 1937, it was worse in the South. In Mississippi, the White southerners all said that we Negroes were a happy, laughing set of people, with no thought of tomorrow. How sadly mistaken they were. We had such a feeling of unrest, insecurity, almost panic. In our homes, in our churches, wherever two or three of us would gather, there was a discussion of ‘What do we do? Should we remain in the South or go elsewhere? Where can we go to feel secure like other people feel? Do we go in great numbers or only in several families?’ These and many other things we discussed over and over (Mitchell, 2000).”
“And yet sometimes it’s easy to forget just how hard life was back then. Southern railway stations had three waiting rooms, with very conspicuous signs that told the ignorant that this room is for ‘ladies,’ this one is for ‘gents’ and that one is for ‘colored’ people. We were neither ‘ladies’ nor ‘gents,’ but ‘colored’ (Mitchell, 2000).”
“Many, many times I have thought of a neighbor of mine in Mississippi, a Negro woman. She was killed because she was accused of using ‘abusive language.’ Her provocation was great. Her brother had been almost killed by a mob because he had been suspected of taking a pocketbook that had been dropped in the public road (Mitchell, 2000).”
Summary
Until relatively very recently, African Americans were denied their history. The rediscovery of this history arouses pride in a legitimate past, enhances self-respect, and provides heroes and leaders with whom we all, and especially African Americans, can identify.
African American women have been doubly penalized. Their history, as written by white, male historians, fails miserably in documenting the female contribution to society’s growth and survival. My hope in this paper is that we look anew at those vital contributions and start to give credit to the millions of women who have shown the pride and strength of people who have endured and survived great oppression.
Barbara Jordan once wrote, “‘We the people’; it is a very eloquent beginning. But when the Constitution of the United States was completed on the seventeenth of September, 1787, I was not included in that ‘We the people’ (Editorial, 2000).” We should honor her memory by continuing to work toward equality and inclusion for all.
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