A collection of narratives from older African American women of the Great Migration

What is it about?

The stories are unforgettable, full of humor in the midst of demeaning treatment, less by the individual employers than by the social norms of the day. The white narratives confirm, through their reminiscences, the close relationships between white and black women and exclusion of black men in a society characterized by white supremacy. This was a caste system, not a class system. The strength of the black community shines through. While the black narrators reveal their resilience in rising above the situation, the white narrators express feelings of regret and guilt. The interviews were all done by interviewers of the same race as the narrators.

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Why is it important?

This whole generation of women who worked as maids in the Deep South are dying off. Few today of either race know what Jim Crow etiquette was actually like and all the cruel ways that blacks were held back, starting with education. This collection is preserved in the tradition of the slave narratives that take you into the life and feelings of the former slaves.

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