Domestic Workers

Maintaining Dignity in the face of oppression

The climate in which African American women worked as domestics was not ideal, but the women who occupied that space took advantage of every opportunity they were provided to care for their families. Women who held these positions were expected to simply complete their daily duties, not being seen or heard. Domestic work required women to be strong mentally, physically, and spiritually as it was not for the faint at heart. Aside from the strenuous labor, these women were disrespected, often not being regarded as an equal. With all of the unjust treatment it would be easy to assume that these women lost sight of who they were in the face of social oppression. However, with works such as Alice Childress’ Like One of The Family, Tera Hunter’s To ‘Joy My Freedom, and Natasha Trethewey’s Domestic Work just the opposite is shown. Through the experiences of the various women and their stories the reader is able to see how internally strong these women truly were. Learning to differentiate between what it means to have a career as a domestic worker without letting it define who they were and what they represented displayed that the requirements of work did not estrange black women from the scope of dignity.

In her novel Like one of the Family, Alice Childress depicts the life of Mildred through her conversations with her friend Marge. Mildred, though a domestic worker, was not afraid to express her opinions, realizing that her job as a domestic did not detach her from who she truly was. After being upset when she heard her employer refer to her as “Like one of the family” Mildred says to her “In the first place you do not love me; you may be fond of me, but that is all…In the second place, I am not just like one of the family at all! The family eats in the dining room and I eat in the kitchen. …and whenever your husband gets tired of something you are talkin’ about he says, ‘Oh, for Pete’s sake, forget it…So...