The Venerable Saint: A Black History Commemoration

(The polite terms of the period are used in this article.)

Fannie Lou Hamer, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Madame C. J. Walker, W. E. B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, Benjamin Bannecker, George Liele are all noteworthy selections that should be cited during Black History Month. Their accomplishments were stellar in the History of Americans of African descent. Their stories are inspiring. Their commitment and fortitude are noteworthy models to be used in future struggles against injustice.

Notwithstanding their noble accomplishments, this writing focuses on a sisterhood that spanned more than 90 years of American history. Its members are linked by their common choice to relinquish what little joy life may have offered, in order to enhance the lives of family members and friends. They were the washwomen of the Negro race in America. The times were the early days of the Negro's struggle for dignity and freedom in the United States of America.

Carter G. Woodson first called attention to them in The Negro Washwoman, a Vanishing Figure. Venerable saints - he called them. Saints they were; seldom venerated; more often forgotten. This note retells their story and calls for an annual remembrance of their life-struggles - especially their progenies and disciples of compassion.

Their Story: Pre-Emancipation
Their story began in the South during the ante bellum era. They were in service to an often-truculent plantation mistress. Their jobs were to keep their mistresses' lives free of drudgery. At dawn, they left their hut to prepare their mistress’ meals, to toil with their mistress' children, to wash and iron their mistress’ household clothes and to clean their mistress' houses, while their home went unattended until they returned at dusk.

Upon their return, they found their children craving  mother's love and attention; and their tired husbands resting from the drudgeries of fieldwork and the indignities of their life-status. Without regard for self, these ladies launched into the second half of their day’s toil. But this time, they were cooking and caring for their loved ones, thereby, stoking the flame that fueled their raison d'etre.

The final task of her day our saint devoted to her home enterprise; washing clothes for pay. From whence springs the term, washwoman. With this income, she purchased presents and clothes for her family, and sometimes, household items that turned her hut into a home. Amidst servitude, to become a washwoman was to surrender self for the good of others. It was a life commitment to elevate her family from mere existing, to a life with occasional joy. Our saint ended her day with less than a six-hours rest, ever knowing, the next weekday promised a rerun of the same.

The ante bellum system was taxing to the slaves, but to the female slave it was most agonizing. Slave marriages were prohibited by law, so masters encouraged their female slaves "to take up" with a man. Absent love, she refused, but the master's will prevailed. Some of these "unions" were lasting. But their purposes were to enlarge the master’s slave inventory for auction and maintenance of his slave force for service. This made birthing a child into slavery tortuous, but it made separating from that child to support such an economic system an agonizing abomination.

In the North the freed colored woman fared better. She did not have to contend with the problems of slavery. But her economic plight was no different. If her husband had no trade, he worked menial jobs for low pay. Many able wives without artistic talent opted to supplement their husband's low wages by "taking in wash" for pay.

Their Story: Post-Emancipation
Emancipation changed everything. Black men withdrew their wives and daughters from the fields to work at home. Many former slaves migrated to the North to seek a better life. The defeated South was in economic disarray. Returning soldiers were granted the skilled jobs, leaving the menial jobs with less-than subsistence pay to the emancipated. This prevalent scenario forced emancipated females to supplement their family income. Without education or artistic skills, washing clothes in her home was the choice of many: the washwoman.

To many of the emancipated, the North promised more than it delivered. Recently freed males were highly skilled from their trade experience on plantations. Unions closed their rolls to the emancipated to protect their members from these highly skilled competitors, leaving for them menial jobs with very low pay. Freedom in the North had changed the slaves’ social status, but it failed to impact their economic viability.

In the North, the emancipated female did not have to contend with the command  "take up with a man" nor did she have to see her child on an auction block. But her family experienced economic hardship equal to that of her Southern counterpart.  For her life’s trials merely changed its face from the demanding mistress or the dictating master, to that of economic reality in a cruel world: a nonworking husband or one with low pay.

After emancipation, the washwomen continued their sacrifices over 90 years. Then demand for their services gave way to modern wash machinery, modern laundries, and a more educated black people. Their sacrifices and courage during times of stress provided the foundation for the descendants of slaves to build a life position that was more stable than one built on only financial injections to the family. From this foundation, the family was fortified spiritually, civically and educationally. For from the experiences of her home business, the washwoman learned the know-how that ushered the Negro people into forming business enterprises to serve their communities. From the wisdom she gained from observing the American society, she supported building and maintaining organizations through which many emerged into the mainstream. From her zeal to overcome societies’ inequities, she embraced education as the optimal delivery system to a better life for succeeding generations. To that end, she funded causes that fostered education and societies that fought for her community. But equally important, she upheld the primacy of male leadership within the family as a cornerstone of a strong family unit. Upon that rock, the Black family met and fought the war for civil rights in the '60s.

Call to Remember
Throughout history, sacrifices have always been made. Why a call to immortalize the Negro washwoman? The washwoman's sacrifice was a collective action spanning three generations. This commitment of service bridged the lives of the washwomen’s loved ones into a world of hope to better life through education or business. A bridge she could not cross nor enjoy the fruits of its crossing. This was a uniquely selfless act of love and devotion. Further, American history points to no other group that sacrifice so long without the hope of enjoying its fruits. Equally important, the effects of washwoman's sacrifice were universal. Few black families, rooted in American slavery, are able to boast a successful emergence into American life free of her sacrifice. Thus the washwoman's life-struggles and its effect merit telling through the ages.

The Call: Select one day during the month of February to  honor the washwomen sacrifices.  At your dinner table set a place for her spirit an talk about her sacrifices during the meal.

C. G. Woodson, The Negro Washwoman: A Vanishing Figure Vol. XV July 1930 No. 3.