Comparing the Daily Lives of African American Women in the 1940s and Today

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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 hom... ... middle of paper ... ...own.edu/projects/WWII_Women/ McLoyd, V. C., & Wilson, L. (1992). Telling them like it is: The role of economic and environmental factors in single mothers? discussions with their children. American Journal of Community Psychology, 20, 419-444. Mitchell, L., (November 5, 2000). Personal interview via telephone. Schaefer, R.T. (2000). Racial and ethnic groups, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Sokoloff, N. J. (1999). Black women and white women in the professions. New York: Routledge. Taylor, R. D., & Roberts, D. (1995). Kinship support and maternal adolescent well being in economically disadvantaged African American Families. Child Development, 66, 15851597. Ulbrich, P. M., Warheit, G. J., & Zimmerman, R. S. (1989). Race, socioeconomic status, and psychological distress: An examination of differential vulnerability. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 30, 131-146.

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