Jones

Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work, and the Family, from Slavery to the Present. By Jacqueline Jones. New York: Basic Books, 2010.

In Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow, University of Texas historian Jacqueline Jones describes the work patterns of black women from slavery to the present. Originally published in 1985, the 2010 edition is revised and reflects black women’s gains and losses in the past quarter century. Jones argues that black women, consistently demonized throughout history as “lazy” and facing the double burden of sexism and racism, faced an uphill battle in their quest for equal treatment in work.

Female slaves did not receive any kinds of breaks based on their gender, according to Jones. They toiled in the field and in the house at the same rate and with the same expectations of male slaves. Even pregnancy did not offer women any substantial protection from excessive work, and white overseers and masters posed a sexual threat to female slaves. Additionally, female slaves returned from their work to face more demands from their families and community. They were responsible for most food preparation, spinning, the care of elderly and children and meeting the spiritual and emotional needs of their kin.

After emancipation, that difficult life did not cease. Although former slaves often desired to have a male breadwinner household, economic necessity and the derision of some southern observers and northern reformers at the idea of a black woman’s “lazy” decision to do frivolous housework prevented that course. Instead, black women continued to toil beside their husbands as sharecroppers. White families also employed black women as domestic “help,” a job title that belied a multitude of tedious and poorly compensated tasks.

As blacks moved into the North in search of better paying jobs, black women’s work took on a different quality. Although they were still, as were their white counterparts, expected to fulfill all the household duties, black women began to move out of agricultural jobs. However, secretarial and retail jobs were not available to black women. Factories hired black women for the most menial and lowest paying jobs, closing even those opportunities when the Depression hit. Most black women turned to the service industry for employment as maids and janitors in keeping with traditional employment in the South.

World War II provided a brief window for black women in terms of gainful employment. They flocked to high wage jobs in the war industry and enjoyed a better standard of living. However, they continued to face discrimination on the job. As white women returned to work in the 1950s in “pink-collar” service jobs or suffered the pains of the “feminine mystique” in suburban enclaves, black women begrudgingly shuffled back into their traditional occupations.

However, World War II laid the foundations for a change. Historians often consider the official beginning of the Civil Rights Movement to be Rosa Parks’ historic decision to refuse to give her bus seat to a white passenger. Jones argues that Parks was a representative of the general black woman in the postwar era: overworked, community-spirited and tired of the status quo.

In her last sections, Jones ties the plight of the black woman to welfare and poverty issues over the last three decades. She contends that welfare legislation is shortsighted and often mean-spirited and rejects the claim that black women simply will not work, showing that black women on welfare usually have full-time jobs but are still unable to rise above the poverty line. Delving into the harsh effects of the global economy on unskilled positions and the loss of public service jobs due to state and federal governments’ budget trimming, Jones argues that an economy that hurts nearly all Americans is particularly devastating to black women.

This work could easily have turned black women into passive victims of a system out of their control. However, Jones shows that black women have been agents in their own history, protesting discrimination and injustice at every turn. Her research is solid, and she is able to defend her argument both logically and passionately, a thin line that many historians find difficult to tread. She successfully integrates black women’s history into the greater narrative of gender, class and race history, producing a work that adds dimension to a bigger picture. The work can be highly recommended to historians of race, women’s history, Southern history, urban history and political scientists struggling with issues of poverty and class. Although Jones does not offer a remedy for many black women’s impoverished status, she clearly shows why the situation exists.

Meredith May Texas Christian University

Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work and the Family, From Slavery to the Present. By Jacqueline Jones. (New York: Basic Books, 1985).

In Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work and the Family, From Slavery to the Present, author Jacqueline Jones chronicles the relationship between African-American women, work and family life as it evolved from 1830 to the present (1980s). According to Jones, African-American women labored under the oppression of white-dominated institutions and shouldered the burden of providing for their families and communities throughout the period. African-American women labored under the disadvantages of both race and gender. As marketable labor they endured the dehumanizing effects of agricultural, industrial and domestic work that provided only enough income to feed their families on a hand-to-mouth basis. As a result, they found solace in their community as mothers, wives and agents of change. The recurrent theme of African-American mothers as valiant protectors of their families throughout the period examined transcends the narrative.

Jones begins her investigation of the roles African-American women filled with an examination of their lives as slaves. Under bondage, slave women labored in an economic system that identified them first as laborers for immediate tasks and as the means of perpetuating the system of slavery to future generations secondarily. Their roles as caretakers of their own children was largely incidental to the dehumanizing system of slavery. Following emancipation, former slave women found opportunities for paid labor limited as they sought to establish independent households free from oversight by white employers. Gender based roles flourished within newly freed households. Understandably, families sought solace in being together, an emotional reaction seen by the author as primarily an attempt to emulate white families. Their efforts often failed, as white employers sought to control the work environment and distribution of labor among “free” employees. Jones examines work and family life in large cities, towns and rural environments in her attempt to document the evolution of work from slavery to emancipation. Jones concludes that African-American women with children were often forced to accept whatever work was available in order to preserve their family. Division of labor based on gender after slavery become more distinct, as African-American men and women identified domestic labor as “women’s work.” Finally, the author examines white attitudes toward African-American labor and the proclivity of whites to view them as “lazy.” Jones argues that whites gradually learned that the extent of such “laziness” depended on the amount of white supervision inherent in the tasks involved.

Jones’ examination of evolving African-American households notes the persistent inability of African-American males to retain employment enabling them to contribute substantial and consistent income to the family as a unit. This situation created a stressful environment conducive to the fracturing of the family, as men often abandoned their familial responsibilities in order to allow women to qualify for much-needed assistance or to secure employment in other regions of the country. Conversely, women found relatively steady, though low income, employment as domestic servants and in service occupations. As a result, increasing numbers of African-American households became single-parent households. This trend continued to present times, as government assisted aid programs set standards of qualification effectively penalizing two-parent households.

The author’s analysis of post-1915 work environments for African-American women fails to impart much new information. Though Jones repeatedly stresses the importance of education to African-American mothers, she remains focused on the poor and largely ignores the small, but growing group of educated African-American women. Jones argues that educated African-American women retained low aspirations by gravitating toward teaching and social work. Benefits to African-American families, as well as the community at large are not explored.

The author’ admiration for African-American women pervades the book and at times prevents investigation of related issues. For example, with the exception of disagreements arising from the Black Panther Group, tensions between African-American men and women during this period remains largely unexplored. Additionally, comparisons of the challenges faced by white and immigrant women from the lower classes of American society to those of African-American women are dismissed because of the racial element of discrimination experienced by African-American women. No doubt, Chinese and Irish immigrants, among other ethnic groups, identified with racial discrimination. The dismissal is too easy and ignores class, with inherent misconceptions and educational handicaps, as a determining element in employment practices. Efforts by private and governmental organizations to improve the conditions of poor families, however well intentioned, are summarily dismissed by the author as ultimately, and almost maliciously, detrimental to African-American women. The enfranchisement of women also is alleged to be largely supported by white women “bored” with their privileged lives, and therefore benefits to African-American women was incidental.

The author’s study of African-American women is impressive in scope, provocative and well written with an extensive collection of primary and secondary sources. Though Jones displays a prevailing tendency to portray African-American women overwhelmingly as heroic victims, this work provides essential information for scholars interested in racial and social issues of American society.

Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow. By Jacqueline Jones. (New York: Basic Books, 1985. Pp. xiii, 432. ISBN 0-465-03756-9.)

Jacqueline Jones engages in a daunting task of scholarship in her examination of the black female experience and how she "shouldered unique burdens at home and endured unique forms of discrimination in the workplace" (9). The book creates discomfort for the reader; discomfort often asks us to rethink and reanalyze concepts with which we have grown comfortable. Jones's book tackles the common misperception that, "All the women are white, All the blacks are men" as taken from the book of the same title (Barbara Hull, Patricia Scott, Barbara Smith, New York: Feminist Press, 1982.) Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow distinguishes the differences in the black woman's experience as compared to white woman's and the black male's experience. Jones is explicit in asserting that her intent is not to expose black women as victims, but rather as having a distinctly different experience with historical events; indeed, she argues black women were (are) a subculture. Two themes throughout the book, which Jones develops and explores, concern the "cultural distinctiveness of black community life" and the "attempt by black working women to subordinate the demand of their employers to the needs of their own families" (9).

Jones explores in detail how black women were exploited for their skills and physical strength, as well as for their reproductive role. Jones dissects nuances of this duality, noting "the definition of slave women's work is problematical" because "if work is any activity that leads directly or indirectly to the production of marketable goods, then slave women did noting but work" (14). However, these two commodities provided by black women were in conflict as physical strength was needed in the fields where slaveholders saw little difference in gender, yet at the same time slaveholders wanted to protect their investment in the future (children). The black female slave literally submitted her entire self to the slaveholder. Jones notes child bearing added complexity into the black female slave equation as more women than men were likely to engage in "verbal confrontations and striking the master but not running away" because they did not want to leave their children (21). The economy of childbearing was very real and Jones says, "fertility levels among slave women neared human capacity" (35).

While immediate family relationships were thrown into a different dynamic, Jones also explores the strained relationship between white women and black women. Jones speculates that white women lashed out at black women "to vent their anger on victims even more wronged than themselves" (25). The patriarchal system placed almost inhumane strains on the black-white female relationship as well. It is well documented that white masters often had sexual relations with black females and this union often produced a child. The white woman's response could either involve taking out (unjust) aggression on the black female or the white female could leave her husband. However, if she left, she often had to legally leave her children. Further, if the white female came to the marriage with property, she would leave the property as well. The dynamic in this situation is a no win as the white woman is powerless and the black woman is powerless.

Jones believes previous accounts by whites of blacks preferring domestic service over fieldwork as erroneous. She says domestic work meant being continually "on call," having increased chances of being raped, and severe, immediate chastisement for minor infractions occurred frequently. In the field, however, the slave would be with her family, would be physically further from the master, and would not be under the ever-ready disciplinary eye of the house mistress. Jones recounts stories of slaves who intentionally were slow or inept in order to be placed in the fields.

With Civil War and Reconstruction, conditions did not get significantly better for the black female. Jones says that emancipation was not "a gift bestowed upon passive slaves by Union soldiers or presidential proclamation; rather it was a process by which black people ceased to labor for their masters" (46). The union territories did not symbolize the land of freedom, for blacks were crowded and hungry while existing as little more than "human contraband" in the Yankee army camps. Even though the Confederates and Yankees differed on the fundamental issue of slavery, Jones says they did agree that black wives and mothers should continue to work productively outside their homes, unlike their white counterparts. The priority of the black woman then became to "escape from oppression of slavery while keeping their families intact" (51).

By the 1870's there was a significant withdrawal of black women from the work force, especially if they were married to employed men. However, the general population looked upon this withdrawal with scorn and Jones says many historians have seen this trend as simply an attempt to emulate the whites. Jones posits that the situation was more complicated than this, saying both husband and wife generally made the decision for the woman to stay home and although they no longer worked for a white overseer, they did continue to labor for themselves in the fields. Ultimately, freedwomen perceived freedom to mean not a "release from backbreaking labor, but rather, the opportunity to labor on behalf of their own families and kin within the protected spheres of household and community" (78).

For all of the book's strengths in both narrative style and research, weaknesses are in her concentration on the pre-1880 black female. Her examination of the role of post World War II black women involve different ways women figured into the economy. She believes the booming economy did not guarantee black women increased opportunity to jobs, but that these opportunities depended largely on the efforts of organizing into civil rights groups. She says black women in the Women's Auxiliary Corps (WACS) remained segregated, paradoxically, which was an "affront to the ideals professed by Allies in the international arena of war" (288). The jobs after the Civil Rights revolution opened up white-collar jobs for women for the first time history. She spends time exploring the ways in which black women are currently (1980's) using government as a tool for change and includes an epilogue in which she discusses the ways in which this is being carried out. Arguably, the examination of the black female from slavery to present is a monumental task; perhaps a second book chronicling the changes in black women's life which covers 1900 to present would have been more conducive for an equally thorough, spellbinding book.

Happily, Jones does an excellent job of describing black women as agents for social change, defending the rights of their families and negotiating between the black community and the white community. The black woman was especially attentive to the call for change as it related to her children. Jones's documentation is significant; many scholars will be able to reference her research if interested in black studies, women's studies or the institution of slavery.