The Washington herald., 1911-02-19
"BLACK MAMMIES"
OF SUNNY SOUTH
NEARLY ALL GONE

| What has become Of the old-fashioned
| black nanny" Has this picturesque
figure of the South and the border States
passed away forever? Will the black
woman who cared for the children of the
white families of the South soon become
| mere memory?
There is difference between the smart
! nurse maid with the white cap and the
snowy apron and the old-fashioned dark
skinned woman who is so fondly remem-
bered by so many folks who live now or
! once lived South of Mason and Dixon's
| line. She seems to have passed away
with much of the picturesque and color
| of life before the advent of freedom for
| the black man. She was as much a part
| Of the old South as the cotton gin or the
cane fields. Her kindly black face is a
part of the childhood memories of many
a native of the South, but the type is dy-
| ing out.
Search as far as you will now, the type
has disappeared. Smart little nursegirls,
aproned. capped. and cuffed, wheel the
perambulatOTs of the coming generation.
The Swedes, the Italians. and the Ger
mans have usurped the task of rearing
the children of the first families, and
the ample-bOsOmed black woman has dis
appeared from the nurseries and the
parks where the well-to-do little folks
are given their outings. The black man.
my was a part of the older and more
picturesque South, the South that lived
by cotton and cane and knew nothing
of the possibilities Of mill spindles and
deposits of iron ore
One Not to Be Found.
Il have tried for two long months"
said an ex-Southerner and adopted Wash
ingtOnian the other day, Ito find an old
fashioned black Southern woman who can
take care of my six-mOnths-Old baby.
At first I did not think l would have any
trouble finding such a nurse, as I knew
that Washington was very nearly a
Southern town in many respects. and 1
knew that we have a large number OF
negroes. l advertised in the papers stat
ing that | wanted an 'Old-fashiOned black
negro nanny to take care of a little
girl l expected to be literally swamped
by the number who would apply, and 1
was astounded when a day or two went
by and no one appeared.
Il went down to the newspapers and in
serted another advertisement to the same
effect / kept this up for nearly a week
before getting an answer. Finally one old
woman, bent with years and very white
haired, came out. | was sorry that she
was so OlQ. Much dS wanted u http
her l was obliged TO tell her that she was
too weak and worn to be able to take
care of even so tiny a bit of humanity.
From all my advertising and talking
among my friends received but three in
C-uiries. | took the youngest Of the three,
and while she says that she is only six
ty-five. ! am certain the wrtnkled old
soul is seventy-five if she is day.
Different Race Nowadays.
.'Ah. but they have a way with them in
handling little folks. these old women who
remember the slavery days. OF course,
all the replies that l received to my no
tice were from women who had worked
in white families back about the time OF
the war. None of the many women who
were horn in the North took the trouble
to answer it. They simply did not under
stand what it meant. Anyway, If they
had answered I would have been afraid
to have taken them. They are of a diff
ferent race someway from the real and
genuinely old-fashiOned nanny VINO
remembers slavery days"