Living In, Living Out: African American Domestics in Washington, D.C., 1910-1940 - Softcover

Clark-Lewis, Elizabeth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1588342867 ISBN 13: 9781588342867

Publisher: Smithsonian Books, 2010

Synopsis

This oral history portrays the lives of African American women who migrated from the rural South to work as domestic servants in Washington, DC in the early decades of the twentieth century. In Living In, Living Out Elizabeth Clark-Lewis narrates the personal experiences of eighty-one women who worked for wealthy white families. These women describe how they encountered—but never accepted—the master-servant relationship, and recount their struggles to change their status from “live in” servants to daily paid workers who “lived out.”

With candor and passion, the women interviewed tell of leaving their families and adjusting to city life “up North,” of being placed as live-in servants, and of the frustrations and indignities they endured as domestics. By networking on the job, at churches, and at penny savers clubs, they found ways to transform their unending servitude into an employer-employee relationship—gaining a new independence that could only be experienced by living outside of their employers' homes. Clark-Lewis points out that their perseverance and courage not only improved their own lot but also transformed work life for succeeding generations of African American women. A series of in-depth vignettes about the later years of these women bears poignant witness to their efforts to carve out lives of fulfillment and dignity.

About this title

About the Author:

Elizabeth Clark-Lewis is director of the Public History Program at Howard University and co-producer of the award-winning video Freedom Bags.

From Booklist:

Clark-Lewis conducted interviews with African American women born in rural areas of the South around the turn of the century. It is with great respect that she presents the life stories collected from these stirring oral histories. Each woman migrated to Washington, D.C., while still very young in order to find work, and in this way contributed to her family's welfare by sending money home each month. Clark-Lewis portrays the background for this vast migration, illustrating the harsh conditions that existed for the young girls once they assumed live-in positions with the families of Washington's white elite. Throughout her study, Clark-Lewis shows the strength of the African American community and the inner fortitude of a generation of women who networked in order to find the day work that would eventually lead to more independence and release from an enduring form of servitude. Alice Joyce

About this edition

• Publisher: Smithsonian Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1588342867
• ISBN 13: 9781588342867
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256