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A Negro Nurse
More Slavery at the South
From The Independent, 72 (Jan. 25, 1912): 196-200. New York: Published for the proprietors, 1912.

Summary

More Slavery at the South (1912), written by a reporter for The Independent, was transcribed from an interview with an anonymous African American woman. The narrative explains the plight of African American domestics in the South during the early twentieth century by presenting a typical narrative by a nurse in Georgia. The African American woman explains her employer makes it impossible for her to spend any time away from the employer's home. She also laments the low salary she receives: her younger children must work in conditions similar to her own, so that the family can make ends meet. The nurse describes the sexual harassment that most African American nurses and house workers are forced to endure from their male employers. She also explains how younger women are tempted into illicit relationships by promises of more money and nice clothes. The narrative concludes that a lack of education, an inability to find better work, and the general confinement required by demanding employers make it almost impossible for African American domestics to remedy their situation.

Harris Henderson

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