New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-09
War Has Let COIOred Women
Come Out of the Kitchen
Statistics Show There Is Scarcely Branch of
Work Done by Women in Which Negresses
Are Not Employed To-day With Real Success

choice of occupation, and it occurred
to me that it would be q good plan to
place them on the tufting machines.
This experiment proved highly sue
cessful l then placed colored women
on the mattress filling machines, which
require deftness and judgment.
"The success of the entire project
so encouraged me that took another
step and placed colored women in the
sewing department among white wom-
without hitch.
"The colored women have taken hold
Of things very readily, being apt and
willing; their working conditions are
pleasing and they are receiving higher
wages than ever before. There is
feeling of satisfaction all round. They
are pleasant and appreciate the condi-
tions under which they work, and am
pleased with their attitude as much
as with the actual result-that of in
creased production at the same out
lay. The improvement made by the
change surpasses my most sanguine
.expectationIin other words, we are re-
ceiving full days work for a full
days pay
Pay Is Often Not Equal
In regard to wages there is unfor-
tunately a distinction between what Is
allotted to the white worker and the
colored. In fact, the colored girl has
been accused Of undertaking the white
girl-just as women in general have
been accused Of undertaking men. In
both cases the reason is the same.
The labor Of colored women Is almost
entirely unorganized. The attitude Of
the unions to them is, Miss Jackson
states, evasive. OF six labor secre-
taries with whom Miss jackson talked
last December in New York City, only
one made any objection to colored
members. The others agreed that the
colored woman was not only welcome
to the unions, but that she must be
made to see the mutual advantage of
her joining. But the fact remains that
there is practically no colored member
ship. In the 10000 members Of the
Ladies' Waist and Dressmakers only
about 100 are colored, although the
needle trades stand first among those
which the colored women are now en-
tering so rapidly.
The colored woman is in many cases
only beginner in her new trade. She
is doing unskilled work to large ex-
tent, and she is negro and therefore
working against tremendous preju-
dice.
"Scme people," said Miss Jackson,
"have actually said that the standards
of negro life are so much lower than
those of the white, and, therefore, the
colored woman does not need as high
q rate of wage. The most encouraging
case that I have come across, however,
was in Detroit factory, where found
one colored girl making as much as
$3.50 day working at punch press.
In striking contrast to this is the
In nut-shelling factories, where the
women pick out the meats after the
shells have been cracked by machinery,
woman makes from Sc to ST a week.
She is paid 10 cents a pound for whole
meats and S cents pound for
broken meats. Although it is possible
for woman to make as much as s12
week, she seldom does"
Prejudice Creates Hardship
Working conditions vary as much as
the wages. In the South the working
conditions for the colored woman are
vide equally we'll for both white and
colored workers. One firm out West
has for white and colored workers
alike lunch rooms, shower baths, a
circulating library and dressing rooms
with steel lockers.
In small city in Kansas. however,
where there were about fifteen colored
girls working at railroad roundhouse
wiping engines, the hours were from Z
until and the wages $2.47M a day.
These women were forced to walk two
miles in their greasy overalls to their
roomlng places, because a colored per-
son could not rent house near the
shops. They were obliged to prepare
their meal when they got home, wash
their clothes and prepare their lunch
for the next day.
Mr.. Eugene K. Jones, executive sec
rotary Of the National League on Urban
Conditions Among Negroes, 200 Fifth
Avenue, New York City, in speaking of
the new opportunities open to the col
ored woman, said:
chance to show what she can do--an
opportunity to prove her ability and
worth az an American citizen. She
doesn't want to be working in the
cellar all the time; she wants to get
away from the mere mechanical jobs
| and foundation work and do some of
the labor on the superstructure. The
white woman has gradually emerged
from the darkness with which she was
surrounded and is claiming her place
as thinking human being, with great
possibilities for service. Why, then,
shouldn't the colored woman emerge
at the same time p
Opportunities for the negro woman
TO prove her mettle are becoming
nation wide-less quickly in the south
than in the north; blu, surely and
steadily In both. She is accepting them
with dignity, buckling down to them
| in earnest, and achiexinD results