When Domestic Workers Rose Up in Atlanta

I see lots of cleaning services and the their women workers around my neighborhood, and most of them appear to be white and latino, not black. The domestic worker of yesteryear seems a nearly extinct species.

Too bad Abrams' policies would hurt poor African Americans most of all. Socialism always does.

If Abrams becomes the governor, she will be the governor of every Georgian. What is her feeling about the Confederate Memorial at Stone Mountain?

Wish Stacy Abrams the best whatever the outcome of the election. Change is evident and inevitable. I am 74 and white willing to embrace that change. All racial stereotypes are myths created to suppress or oppress. Not from Georgia and respect their choice, but it would be refreshing to see someone with exceptional qualifications prevail.

I’m finally well off now , and surprisingly, but gradually, matriculated from a square deal democrat to a moderate republican. What the Republican candidate is doing to win at any cost or moral turpitude, though, is very distressing and un-American IMHO! He’s not a Russian or a foreign agent doing the dirt either! That is what is so distressing!

This is grass roots organizing a la Obama. Go girls.

Would anyone give a rip about these domestic workers if they were white?

This is a great story. Black domestic workers, especially in the South, never had it easy. Not just the work but worker abuse and that was after slavery. It must be so exciting for their great granddaughters, a long time coming, voting and working to elect a black female governor.

From the far side of the globe: bravo for the fighter lady Stacy! What the local and global world needs is decency and compassion. The next step for these fighters will be to include the women of the developing world in their aspirations.

Stacy Abrams is clearly the best candidate for Georgia as well as a hopeful presence for our country. I wish I felt better about the election infrastructure in Georgia. The machines are old and don't provide a paper verified ballot. In this day and age how can that be just? There is no way to audit any complaints of irregularity. And all of this is just fine with their Secretary of State who is the R candidate for Gov. Our country has a critical need for a new and comprehensive Voting Rights Act.

We send warm wishes to Stacey Abrams from up North in Concord, Massachusetts. It's one of the races we really care about.

Democrats will be stopped from voting in Georgia. Somehow. That the same guy is running the election and running IN the election is as Banana Republic as it gets, so nothing is too much for him to do.

Godspeed!

Some folks live for 100 years, so 242 years is not long ago when Blacks were brought from Africa and made slaves in the land of freedom. Black American slaves were not considered sanctioned beings, rather they were considered property. American Blacks have been the target of White racist groups such as the KKK and the American Nazis. Racism and discrimination continues to be practiced by select American White citizens who do not belong to any hate group yet remain racists. On February 19, 1942, soon after the beginning of World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. The evacuation order commenced the round-up of 120,000 Americans of Japanese heritage to one of 10 internment camps—officially called "relocation centers"—in California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas. Since the perpetrators were Japanese the American-Japanese were racially profiled and sent to internment camps. In WWII Germans murdered 6 million Jews and were responsible for the deaths of 60 million people (civilians and soldiers) all sides who died during WWII in all countries. However, German Americans were left alone after WWII and were not sent to internment camps. Consider the Native American Indians who were exterminated (approximately 100,000), the rest were driven up to Canada, and those who remained in America were made to live in Indian reservations.

Bravo to Professor Hunter for sharing this important piece of American History to readers of The NY Times. I break with Professor Hunter in that the Abrams campaign covers MUCH MORE than expanded health care, a living wage, and quality public education for all. Win or lose, Ms. Abrams is now a role model for young African American women reaching for the stars. As we approach Thanksgiving, this is part of what I believe President Lincoln meant by a more perfect Union.

THIS is the one contest that I MOST want Democrats to win. VOTE, Sisters, and brothers. Help make history, and make a real difference, for everyone. Go, STACEY, GO !!!

Glad to see these citizens encouraging others to vote for Stacey Abrams. I also cast my vote for her to be our next Governor of Georgia.

On the eve of the election, I sound just like every other pundit that ever was on TV. Up until this time they argue against and hate on the party most like them, and then when the election comes they go all out in favor of that party. Ok, I'm not quite that intense, but regardless of my own principled actions (I won't bother to mention), go out and vote for Democrats people! They're the only large party that cares at all about most of us!

I moved to Florida in the mid-90’s to buy a house, as California had priced itself out of my ability to buy. I moved in time to get a 70,000 house before the rest of America discovered the gulf coast and homes jumped to 200,000+. I found a way to make a living quickly, which only lasted 5 years before My business was computerized, and my earnings cut by 2/3. After that, I found it impossible to make over 20,000/yr. Floridian bosses would tell me “we’re paid in sunshine” I see that Florida is a low wage low tax state with no chance for economic advancement. I was never able to replicate my first 5 years. We voted for mass transit, but Gov Bush told us we were wrong and made us vote again, narrowly losing. Industry doesn’t come here due to low intelligence and lack of transit. It’s great for people who retired from high paying Union jobs up north and came here to live cheap, but there’s little chance for improvement here if you’re a working person. We’ve been Republican for 20 years, and I’ve worked hard to elect progressive candidates this year. I hope there’s a difference

I had absolutely no idea that these extraordinary women and their gutsy domestic labor movement existed. Talk about audacity, to take on the power structure in the South after the Civil War! How has this story not been made into a play or movie?

Very glad to learn about this important part of our history, the Washing Amazons and Dorothy Lee Bolden. Thank you.

It is Trumps policies and economy that have created employment opportunities across the board. POC were asked by Trump what have you got to lose by electing him. They gained a lot. What do they have to lose by voting in Democrats who want to stop Trumps successful economic policies and creation of jobs? Everything. I believe you will see more Asians Blacks Hispanics voting for GOP candidates than you believe.

There is a lot of genius in the black community that is not being tapped into because of a lack of involvement and engagement. My hope is that this voter mobilization ignites this community to take up evermore space so that that they have the room to contribute more. Everyone would benefit.!

Get up and vote,everyone! All my best to Stacy Abrams! It's about time Georgia gets a competent brisk black female governor , who stands for all the right causes!

I grew up in a country where George Wallace was running for President, and black boys and girls were being blown up, shot up, and buried in dams by the KKK. Today a black woman may become Governor of Georgia. I should be thrilled, (and I am, for her). But, why am I also so frightened? How can we have had a black president, such a successful one, and immediately after find ourselves living in the world of today's Republican Party? Is this King's moral arc bending towards Justice? Or a cosmic joke bending towards farce? Maybe tomorrow will answer some of these questions, but I've been waiting for tomorrow since long before yesterday, and I'm just beginning to understand that perhaps the answer really is blowing in the wind.

As of 2018, we still need to improve wages and working conditions for many of those workers as home health aides, nurses' aides, domestic workers, nannies, fast food workers, hotel and office cleaners. Many are black or people of color and all need to be better compensated.

Domestic workers [most of whom were poor black women] were left out of the minimum wage laws passed in the 1930's because of opposition by rich phony white women who wanted to preserve a source of cheap labor. see http://wamc.org/post/dr-vanessa-may-seton-hall-university-labor-law-and-domestic-help

"Most important, she stands for the issues they have long fought for, like the expansion of health insurance, a living wage and quality public education. No one should be surprised that these women, following in the long tradition of their foremothers of grass-roots activism, might help her to win." This is the key part. If Stacy Abrams wins her uphill battle, Republicans will dismiss a black woman's victory as mere "identity politics." But the truth is she has good policy ideas that Georgia and the United States need. This isn't just about a black woman running for governor. This is a black woman who has important new ideas about the future of her state and her country.

I'm 67 years old, and the idea that a black woman can win the Governorship of Georgia strikes me as more amazing than the idea that a black man can be President of the USA. Change happens. it often comes much more slowly than we like, but it comes. I hope she wins.

As an Australian I was raised to be proud of the idea that the Eight-Hour Work Day was won by striking shearers in outback Australia - something like that. Anything that improves the lives of the common people - you should be proud of !

When all goes out and votes remember to pray to god for the right thing to happen and if it may not go as you planned accept it and say it as the will of god. Good luck and god be with you.

Interesting that they are only targeting black households. White households in certain well-to-do sections of Atlanta like Buckhead are a lost cause--these resident will vote Republican no matter how much at odds their well-mannered facades are with Trump's bluster and vulgarity. They would rather swallow a poisin pill than stray from a fellow white Republican.

I am so proud of these fine ladies in my hometown in Georgia. Thank you, NYT, for telling more of the story of black lives, black women, and black voting.

Wonderful article! Rich in history. So glad to see people mobilizing. This is a heated race with a nasty opponent...I'm pulling for Stacey Abrams for the win.

Amazing history here. "Doing X while black." makes me sad though.

american history has so much crime and so much shame against so many people. this is the antidote.

What a difference between Stacey Abrams, a very capable and honest politician, versus a liar full of conflicts of interest, and shameful proponent of voter suppression, Brian Kemper. We can anticipate that Ms Abrams will embrace all Georgians and dedicate her efforts to improve their lives, especially by diminishing the current inequality in Housing, Health Care and Education.

We shall overcome.

The Atlanta Washerwomen's Strike has been one of my favorite stories for 30 years. I wanted to see it as a film--to see it re-imagined in the hands of an artist. Not only were wages sub standard, workers weren't always paid, yet they had no recourse. When you think about these brave women who were not allowed to congregate, except for at church, who had their hands in toxic chemicals in the hot sun, who tended to be the moneymakers for the family because there were fewer jobs for men--this was a monumental moment.

Thank you so much for this enlightening, informative and inspiring article. Since my black African American ancestors were enslaved in Georgia just East of Atlanta until General William Tecumseh Sherman came by I am filled with pride hearing about these events. Immediately after the war my ancestors made an exodus away from their masters and owners who happened to be my white Georgia European ancestors. While some of them later moved to Atlanta, generations of my ancestors are buried in the colored sections of cemeteries in rural Georgia near Atlanta. My paternal grandparents moved to Atlanta where my father was born. After abolition my black Georgia ancestors were not domestics. They were professionals and business owners.

This is democracy in action. Respecting the power of voting to have a voice. What a wonderful thing to have a vote and to use it. Hoping they prevail.

America's African-Americans have always led the way on civil rights and voting rights progress in this country.....a harsh contrast with America's white privileged underbelly which tends to stand in the obnoxious way of affording basic human decency to people of color. America's greatest inspirational heroes, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Fannie Lou Hamer, Muhammad Ali, etc. tend to be black because of their inherent decency, humanity and compassion. "Nobody's free until everybody's free." -- Fannie Lou Hamer A little ironic that the true 'real' Americans are black Americans helping citizens vote as opposed to the fake, phony Whites R Us Republican Americans suppressing their votes for a living. Register and VOTE ! (from an older white guy)

What an extraordinary story, so many years before Dr. King's bus boycott.

An inspirational story for these workers are more broadly for democracy. " We as members of society" acting together can make things happen!

The Democrats have nothing to lose by returning to their labor roots. In fact, they have everything to win, in this election and in future ones. Labor and health care should be the focus of party efforts, now and in the future. Maybe they need another William Jennings Bryant.

Dr. Hunter's book is now on my reading list. I can't believe I grew up around Atlanta, and consider myself a history buff, but I've never heard this strike story, or even imagined that domestic workers would be unionized. Maybe in 1981, but certainly not in 1881. Thanks to Dr. Hunter and the NYT for this inspirational story.

Absolutely fantastic - I hope all young voters read this.