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Jim Crow Laws were set in place in order to legalize racial segregation. These statutes denied African Americans the right to vote, hold decent paying jobs, get an education, and other opportunities for advancement. -
During this time, more than 48,000 African American woman were employed by factories. They were put through harsh working conditions, little pay, and given less-skilled positions compared to their white counterparts. Low income and high unemployment rates keep low socioeconomic Black women in a low socioeconomic class and make it difficult, if not totally impossible, for Black lower socioeconomic women to better their life conditions.
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Black women have been heavily concentrated in two occupations, household and service work. Exploitative practices were carried over from slavery to private employers. As late as 1935, Black women did household work for as little as $3.00 per week. A week's laundry was completed for 75 cents. This was not enough money to get by much less if you had a family. -
Anne Moody was born on September 15, 1940. Her parents, Elmira Williams (Toosweet) and Fred Moody Sr, were both poor sharecroppers. After Moody's parents divorced, Toosweet was single and struggling to feed her kids. She worked for $5 per week, doing domestic work for a white family. -
Having to help her mother put food on the table, Moody was only 9 years old when she began her first job, working for the same family her mother worked for doing domestic work. She earned 75 cents per week and 2 gallons of milk. -
Moody began to work at her second job for more money than the first. She must've been 10 years old when she started working for Mrs. Claiborne. She worked everyday after school, and all day Saturdays for $3/week. She did like this job because she learned a lot from her boss, and they also didn't treat her any different for her race. In fact, they were impressed that such a young girl had such a good work ethic. She was hungry, literally & metaphorically. That's why she had this drive. -
Moody started working for Linda Jean after Raymond's crops did not make it. She was working on the land in the summer, but the conditions were so hot she could not take it anymore. She did housework and also baby sat Linda Jean's little girl. She was making $12/week. Her mother, Mrs Burke, did not approve of paying Moody that high, because she did not believe that Moody was equal to them but rather below them.
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Moody started working for Mrs. Burke after Linda Jean had moved away. Moody did not want to take this job because she knew Mrs. Burke was racist but Moody had no other choice, she needed a job. She was in 8th grade around this time about to enter HS. "The future looked very dim for us. It seemed as though we were doomed to poverty and more unhappiness than we faced before. Raymond was out of work again. And again our diet consisted of dried beans and bread." (Moody, 118) -
Moody travels to Baton Rouge at the age of 15 for the summer to get away from the gruesome crimes committed towards African Americans in Mississippi. She went in hopes of better pay and work but instead got a white lady that never paid her for her work. She got another job at a store but lied about her age in order to be eligible. She was sadly let go due to her coworker telling the boss how old Moody really was.
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Moody goes back home to Mississippi and resumes her job with Mrs. Burke, even though she dislikes her very much. Mrs. Burke does not like the fact that her son is getting close to Moody and makes her job even more difficult. Moody gets tired of Mrs. Burke's shenanigans and one day decides to quit, after Mrs. Burke accuses her little brother Junior of stealing something of hers. Moody then finds another job until summer where she can leave and look for better work. She is 16 by now.
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Moody travels to New Orleans in the summer and looks for a job with good pay but spends a month not working because of it. She refused to do anymore housework because that's what she was getting at home. Moody then hears about a chicken factory that needs workers and when she hears they're making $40-$50/week, she jumps at it not knowing what she got herself into.
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Moody goes to work for this chicken factory and soon realizes why people quit their jobs suddenly before she got there. In her biography, she describes it as so hot she can faint. She had chicken remains all over her, working with her bare hands. She made $9.60 in one day which was the only motivation to go back. She worked there for about a month before she returned home. Moody was a hard worker her whole life. She worked at a restaurant in New Orleans the next summer. -
After Moody returns home in Mississippi, she is now a senior in high school about to graduate.During this time, she gets into a fight with her mother's husband and leaves home to go live with her father. She spend most of her year there and finally does graduate from Johnson High.
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Moody gets awarded a basketball scholarship and attended Natchez Junior College, from which she later transferred to Tougaloo (Mississippi) College. She became an active member during the Civil Rights Movement in college. She helped organize the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and participated in a sit-in demonstration in a segregated restaurant. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the most important law to come into place since the Reconstruction era. This law, signed by Lyndon B. Johnson, ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, -
Moody graduates from Tougaloo in 1964, and continues her work as a civil rights activist and gets a job at Cornell University as a Civil Rights project coordinator. During this time, working conditions have improved tremendously but still not enough. -
Due to the Civil Rights Act being enforced and affirmative action underway, Black woman gained considerable occupation advancement. Employers were prohibited from discriminating a candidate based on their race, with the opportunity to not just work in factories but also in professional careers as well. -
The fight for equity and inclusion in the workplace for Black woman is still not over. It is a fact that white woman get compensated more compared to Black woman. While Black woman have more choice in choosing jobs than before, they still are not being treated fairly. On average, African American women still received lower wages than other groups. In 1988, the median income was $7,349 for Black women, $9,103 for White women, $12,044 for Black men, and $19,959 for white men.