FREE ESSAY ON COMPARING THE DAILY LIVES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN IN THE 1940S AND TODAY

COMPARING THE DAILY LIVES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN IN THE 1940S AND TODAY

Comparing the Daily Lives of African American Women in the 1940s and Today
For much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in America, Black women were an
after-thought in our nation's history. They were the mammies and maids, the cooks and
caregivers, the universal shoulder to cry on in times of trouble. Often overlooked and
undervalued, Black women were just ... there.
African American women have come a long way. In the 1940s, women were treated as
second-class citizens and Blacks faced discrimination everywhere they looked. They were
not taught to be proud of being Black (Dressier, 1985). They had a hard time going to
school. Black children were not taught Black history. African Americans were not able to
have a sense of pride about themselves or their culture (Farley & Allen, 1987). 
In this paper, I will try to describe and compare the lives of African American women
around the time of World War II, a period of great change in the U.S., with their lives
today. Due to the enormity of this subject, I am limiting my scope to the discrimination
and the resulting economic hardships African American women in particular have endured. 
Discrimination in Daily Life
In 1940, it was very difficult for Blacks to get a job due to discrimination. Naomi
Craig, an African American and former World War II defense plant worker, describes that
when she graduated from high school, she could not get a job. "I went to the offices of
the different insurance companies. I was a crackerjack stenographer, and I was smart, but
I was colored. When I would go down for a job, the girl in the office would look at me
and then call for the employer. He'd come out; he'd say, 'Uh, uh Miss Jennings, um, yes,
well the job is filled.' I'd go home and call right back. 'Is there a position open as a
secretary in your office?' 'Yes there is.' By my voice, he didn't know that I was colored
because I spoke the same as anybody else. So I said, 'I was just down there.' 'Oh,' he
said, 'Oh were you the Miss Jennings that was down here?' I said, 'Yes, I was.' He said,
'Oh, well one of the girls...' I said, 'You said the job was open.' He said, 'Well, one
of the girls has decided that she's going to take it.' And this was the run-around that I
got" (Dressier, 1985).
"When we first worked there was no such thing, for instance, as a coffee break. And there
was no such thing as leaving at five o'clock if there was still work to do. I stayed many
a night until six o'clock or two o'clock on a Saturday because the work had to be done.
You didn't get paid for that. There was no such thing as overtime. We were very used to
long hours. I was used to working two nights a week until ten o'clock and every other
weekend. And if I didn't work the full weekend, I would work Saturday one week and Sunday
another week. So there was no such thing as a five-day week. In those days as soon as a
woman married, she lost her job (Dressier, 1985)."
"When I went to the school department where they were giving out jobs to help people they
said to me, 'Naomi Jennings, you've done very well, haven't you?' And I said, 'Yes, I
have.' She said, 'Well,' she said, 'we don't have any jobs for you as a secretary or a
stenographer.' Because these jobs were going to white girls. I said, 'There's nothing for
me?' She said, 'I have a little job for you taking care of these twins if you want to
take that.' I said, 'No, thank you.' And I went out. You know I was crying. I cried all
the way home. I got home and I said to my mother, 'I'm never going to be able to work.'
She said, 'Why?' I said, 'Because they're only giving out jobs to white people.' She
said, 'That shouldn't be.' I said, 'it shouldn't be, but it is' (Dressier, 1985)." 
When the war came, women went to work for the first time in factories and driving trucks.
If a delivery truck came to your house, a woman would be driving it. Women were postmen
and garbage workers. They did those jobs because all the available young men were in the
service (Editorial, 2000). 
"We had a terrible time buying a house. Oh yes we did, because we were Black. We went to
buy a house and they said, 'Well, uh.' When my husband came home, he just got home from
the service, and they said we couldn't get a mortgage. You weren't shown houses in the
sections you wanted to buy. They would take you over to a place that had all rundown
houses. When they asked me on the telephone, 'Would you like to see a house?' I would
say, ' Well certainly.' And we would meet at the house. And I would go there and his face
would fall because I would be a Black woman. Talking over the telephone, he wouldn't
know." (Dressier, 1985).
Fannie Lou married Perry "Pap" Hamer in 1944, and the two settled on the Marlow
plantation outside Ruleville, Mississippi. She found that, as a black worker, she was
frequently treated as less than human. Ms. Hamer said, "When I was cleaning the boss's
house ... his daughter came up to me and said 'You don't have to clean this room too
good.... It's just Old Honey's.' Old Honey was the dog. I couldn't get over the dog
having a bathroom when the owner wouldn't even have the toilet fixed for us. But then,
Negroes in Mississippi were treated worse than dogs (Halpern, 1990)".
Although Fannie Lou adopted four daughters, she always wanted children of her own.
Tragically, this basic right was denied to her. Like many poor women of color worldwide,
a white doctor sterilized Fannie Lou Hamer without her permission. The experience
underscored the lack of control she felt she had over her own life (Halpern, 1990).
Salary and Workplace Opportunity
In comparison to U.S. women as a whole, African American women are disproportionately at
a greater risk of living in chronic poverty (Belle, 1990; McLoyd & Wilson, 1992). Racism
creates further obstacles for women of color to escape chronic poverty (Ulbrich, Warheit,
& Zimmerman, 1989) by limiting access to education, employment, and the attainment of
goods and services (Halpern, 1990; McLoyd & Wilson, 1992). However, it is also a mistake
to view ethnicity as merely a burden. African Americans have learned ways to survive
racism and poverty through extended family networks, a strong church, and personal
toughness (Dressier, 1985; Taylor & Roberts, 1995). 
If women received the same pay as men for comparable work, the incidence of U.S. poverty
would drop dramatically, according to a new study. As it is, women, on average, lose more
than $4,000 a year in wages due to lower pay scales (Sokoloff, 1999). 
The study, jointly released February 24, 2000 by the AFL-CIO and the Institute for
Women's Policy Research, states: If married women were paid the same as comparable men,
their family incomes would rise by nearly 6 percent, and their families' poverty would
drop from 2.1 percent to 0.8 percent (Sokoloff, 1999). 
If single working mothers earned the same as comparable men, their family incomes would
increase by nearly 17 percent. Their poverty rates would be halved, from 25.3 percent to
12.6 percent. If single women were paid comparably, their incomes would rise by 13.4
percent, and their poverty rates would be reduced from 6.3 percent to 1 percent
(Sokoloff, 1999). Other analysis shows that women who work full-time are paid only 74
cents for every dollar men earn - $148 less each week. Women of color who work full-time
earn only 64 cents for every male dollar - $210 less per week (Darity & Myers, 1998). 
Income inequality issues are not new, but there is a renewed revival of concern. In a
1997 study, "Ask a Working Woman," one third of all women and half of all African
American women told AFL-CIO researchers they do not have equal pay in their jobs. This
year, in his State of the Union address, President Clinton declared his support for
strengthening equal-pay enforcement (Darity & Myers, 2000). 
Even where the comparable pay news is good it is bad. In Washington, women earn 97
percent of what men make, but minority men in the nation's capital receive very low
wages. Unequal pay for women is worst in Michigan, Louisiana, Indiana, Montana, North
Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming, where women earn only 70 percent of comparable men's pay.
Women of color fare worse, earning less than 60 percent of men's rates, in Louisiana,
Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah and Wyoming (Taylor & Roberts, 1995).
The best states - comparably speaking - for women are Arizona, California, Florida,
Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island - but even there women earn only 80
percent of the comparable male wage (Taylor & Roberts, 1995).
Increased postwar opportunities for women allowed Black women to leave domestic work for
white-collar jobs in the typically female-dominated professions such as social work,
nursing, teaching, and library science. During the period of 1960 to the early 1980s,
African American women increased their representation in white-collar professional jobs
from 0.6 to 2.2%, African American men went from 0.7 to 1.9% and White women went from 13
to 31% (Sokoloff, 1999). These statistics clearly show that while Black women more than
tripled their participation in the professions, their beginning point was extremely low.
The reality of African American women's experiences in the work force is that they
continue to work in low-paying, gender identified jobs. Although some progress has been
made in increasing Black women's participation into the higher paid professional job
areas, the vast majority of these women occupy unenviable job positions. At the end of
the 19th century the majority of Black women in the work force were engaged in domestic
work. Almost 100 years later, there are still more African American women employed as
domestic workers than there are African American women professionals (Farley & Allen,
1987). With equal education and employment, Black women's wages have been lower than
White men's and White women's. Men in "female-dominated" jobs - clerical workers,
cashiers, librarians, and childcare - suffer the same wage penalties as women, the report
stated (Hess, Markson, & Stein, 1992).
Theoretical Perspective
African Americans have suffered from many types of oppression. Discrimination in housing
via restrictive covenants and redlining, employment discrimination in hiring and by
harassment on the job, and prejudice at work and in their daily life. Whites practiced
labeling by viewing all actions of African Americans with suspicion. Of course, African
American women suffer from double jeopardy by being both African American and female
(Schaefer, 2000).
Only in the last sixty years has the federal government worked to end discrimination. New
laws such as the 1968 Civil Rights Act and Linda Brown et al. v. Board of Education of
Topeka, Kansas stating that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.
Intercession by the Executive branch such as President Truman's order to desegregate the
military. Also Congressional action such as the repeal of the 24th Amendment outlawing
the poll tax that had long prevented Blacks from voting (Schaefer, 2000).
Natural Beauty
The acceptance of the naturalness and beauty of blackness is now firmly rooted in Black
popular culture. For African peoples the adornment and beautification of the hair and
body is an essential cultural component. In traditional African societies, cosmetic
modification has been ritualized. It can be part of a social occasion or may symbolize a
stage of development from childhood to maturity, or indicate marital status or the group
to which you belong.
The difficulty in accepting this cultural legacy arises in a racially conscious society
where Black women and Black men are still struggling with how to present their physical
image and still be accepted in the society. It is very complex trying to negotiate your
self-acceptance through two opposing cultures.
Advertising in the 1930s had an impact on how African Americans defined themselves,
particularly African American women. It is still the same more than 60 years later (Brown
& Lieberson, 2000).
Advertisers have successfully exploited the self-image of Black men and women. To be
Black, especially if you were particularly dark, was loaded with negative stereotypes.
Several products, promising miraculous transformations, were manufactured and marketed
specifically to the Black community. Their sales pitch implied that using the right
product would eliminate the social conditions that defined Black life, helping them in
the assimilation process.
Throughout the 1930s, bleach not only whitened clothes, it was marketed as a means of
lightening and whitening black skin. Advertisers swamped readers with a sales pitch that
may now seem implausible and insulting, but much of these products, or products making
similar claims, are still readily available.
In the 1930s, as much as 20% of a popular African American magazine's ad revenue,
AFRO-American, came from cosmetic companies hawking skin bleaching and hair straightening
products. The advertisers were merciless in reinforcing the insecurities of Black women.
While some ads were directed at Black men, women were the primary targets of skin care
products while men were encouraged to "improve" the appearance of their hair (Brown &
Lieberson, 2000).
The implication was that natural physical traits of blackness were defective; whiteness
was now the norm for Blacks to emulate. Blackness could be corrected by purchasing and
using the proper chemicals on the hair and skin. The standard of beauty was undeniably
White, "the whiter the righter" (Brown & Lieberson, 2000). Through their products and
marketing strategy they produced and reproduced whiteness.
Ads were carefully worded to play on stereotypes and promoted a negative association with
natural blackness. Consequently many Black women and Black men have mutilated their
bodies and have even died because they used products, containing harsh chemicals, that
promised peace of mind in a bottle (Brown & Lieberson, 2000). (See figures 1 through 7)
It must be clearly stated that much of the fascination with straightening hair and
lightening skin became such a part of the culture that some Black men and Black women
were simply unconsciously responding to the social norms and expectations. This is not a
criticism, only an observation of people trying to survive by any means necessary.
Inevitably, the situation was futile for those who believed the elaborate claims of
products promising "whiteness." Even Blacks who were light enough to pass as white could
only gain greater success and acceptance by denying their true identity, living in
self-imposed isolation and with the constant fear of discovery.
While American popular culture reserves its most positive stereotype of blackness to
light-skinned Blacks, they have never gained complete acceptance in White society, merely
marginal tolerance. However, the ads supported and reinforced the prevailing attitude and
the historical circumstance that Blacks of mixed race have received educational and
economic advantages.
The legacy of all this conditioning is so ingrained in the Black psyche, that exploring
the natural beauty of blackness is still not an option for many. While hair and skin
color is not the totality of the African American definition today it remains a
preoccupation.
Darkness is loaded in negative stereotype. To be dark is to be ugly. "You can't HIDE skin
ugliness forever. Start right today to BLEACH skin to new beauty" (Brown & Lieberson,
2000). This very negative language is used to define what is a natural consequence. Black
women like all women in the society were and are concerned about "beautifying" themselves
but advertisers took the focus away from enhancing her natural qualities to transforming
blackness to whiteness or ugliness to beauty.
Today's multicultural schoolchildren are fortunate to grow up in classrooms where they
are taught to appreciate all of the many heroes of American history, no matter what color
their skin was. While previous generations read textbooks that told only part of our
Nation's story, textbooks have been developed in recent years that give students a more
accurate picture. 
Telephone interview with Mrs. Louise Mitchell
The following is part of a telephone interview with Mrs. Louise Mitchell of Paris,
Tennessee. I was introduced to Mrs. Mitchell through my mother, Mrs. Alice Lee Hurt, who
is her friend and neighbor. Mrs. Mitchell is African American, 83 years old, a widow, and
a former resident of New York City and Mississippi.
"Mrs. Mitchell, could you tell me what life was like around World War II for African
American women?"
"In 1937, I was a colored woman, a wife, and a mother. Every morning, rain or shine, I
was part of a group of women with brown paper bags and cheap suitcases who stood on
street corners in the Bronx and in Brooklyn waiting for a chance to get some work.
Sometimes there were 15 of us, sometimes 30, some were old, many were young, and most of
us were Negro women waiting for employers to come and bargain for our labor (Mitchell,
2000)."
"We would come as early as 7 in the morning, wait as late as four in the afternoon with
the hope that we would make enough to buy supper when we went home. Some had spent their
last nickel to get to the corner and were in desperate need. When the hour grew late, we
sat on boxes if any were around. In the afternoon, our labor was worth only half as much
as in the morning. If we were lucky, we would get about 30 cents an hour scrubbing,
cleaning, laundering, washing windows, waxing floors and woodwork all day long. In the
afternoon, when most had already been employed, we were only worth the degrading sum of
20 cents an hour (Mitchell, 2000)."
"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. 
Bibliography
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