Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Fall/105i/Section 026/Daisy M. Johnson

Overview
Daisy Johnson, or "Mary Smith" as the interviewers refer to her as, was an African American woman who was working as a hairdresser during the Great Depression in the 1930s. She was interviewed as a part of the Federal Writers' Project in April of 1939 by Grace McCune, Sarah H. Hall, and John N. Booth.

Early Life
Not much is known about the childhood days of Daisy M. Johnson. She was born after the abolishment of slavery and was raised in south. As a child, she received a small bit of education before, assumedly, joining her parents in the workforce.

Her birthday as well as her parents' names and identities, are both unknown.

Later Life
The later life of Miss Daisy M. Johnson is defined by her occupations in life. She worked as both a maid and a hairdresser and goes into the details and struggles of each occupation.

Life as a Maid
Daisy first started her occupational career at a young age in maid service. She had worked for many rich white people since she was young and, according to her, it was something she enjoyed. She looks fondly upon the memories she has of her former employers and often states that many African Americans would be nowhere without the whites, it should be noted here that her interviewers for the Federal Writers Project were white. Anything she said, in regard to racial relations, were most likely directly affected by the race of her interviewers.

Despite enjoying her career as a maid, she did comment on the lack of wages that many household workers were paid. Household workers were only paid two to three dollars a week, Daisy makes it known just how illogical she believes this is.

Daisy worked as a maid up until her mid to later life. She decided to quit, after so many years, due to her declining health as well as the low wages.

Life as a Hairdresser
Due to her deteriorating health and poor wages. Daisy decided to move into the field of hairdressing, as many black women did at the time, and had been in it for more than ten years. She did not have enough money to take all the courses regarding her preferred trade, but she did spend 35 dollars learning to do heads, hence that is all she does. While Daisy enjoyed her work as a hairdresser for black women, she loved to go off on tangents about different treatments and products that one could do to their hair, she does find faults in it as well. In particular, she mentions just how hard it was to get customers. She said that so many women had started to join the hairdressing industry that they would be forced to lower their prices to and, in turn, force everyone else to lower their wages as well. The competition was so fierce that most prices dropped to just 10 to 25 cents.

While Daisy never started out as a hairdresser for black women, she doe mention that seems to be her calling and that only becomes more evident in her descriptions of it. She came into this line of work because of her desire to go into business but goes on to say that she truly believes that no of the advancements made by, or for, her race have ever been more of a blessing that hairdressing.

Life After Slavery
Life after the emancipation of slavery was by no means easier for any African American. Daisy does not specifically mention any of her hardships in her interview for the Federal Writers Project but that, again, is most likely because her interviewers were white. Down below are just a few of the things that most likely affected Daisy in her day to day life.

Occupations
The Great Depression was a hardship that many people in America faced, but none so much as African Americans. Having already been dealt the lowest paying jobs, they had little to no financial cushion to fall back on when the economy collapsed.

In terms of occupation, many African Americans were doing the same jobs that had been delegated during slavery. Many former slave owners turned into employers who employed African Americans after the end of slavery. While most men still worked on farms, sharecropping, or within physically draining jobs. Most women still worked jobs pertaining to agriculture, household domestic service, and laundry work. It seems as if slavery's violent theft was just rebranded to fit new standards.

Racial Wage Gaps
These jobs themselves were not high, or even average, paying at all. In fact, most African Americans were getting paid no more than 3 dollars a week and this lead to no real advancement for African Americans. The advancements that were made by FDR during the Great Depression seemed to do no good in curbing this injustice, for his policies only helped those in the North facing unemployed and economic loss. African Americans in the south still faced the struggles of wage and employment. Mathematician and sociologist Kelley Miller once said that, “The Negro is up against the white man’s standard, without the white man’s opportunity." and that is explicitly seen in the economics regarding African Americans.

Importance of Hairdressing to Black Women
Hairdressing was, and is, a way for black women to express themselves. Hair styling has always been important for the many different cultures of Africa but when slaves were taken from their homes, they were often forced to drop it. Many female slaves were forced to cover their hair, or in extreme cases shave it, and often did not have any means in which to care for it.

After slavery, Hairdressing was slow to pick up. Many freed African Americans had other more pressing matters and haircare seemed to fall behind everything else that had to be done. That is until Madam C.J. Walker came along. She not only advanced hairdressing for black women, she also gave the voice and a chance to develop themselves outside of their domesticated occupations.

Madam C.J. Walker
Madam C.J. Walker is the who most people think of when they think of hairdressing, especially black hairdressing. She was the first self-made women, and black, entrepreneur in the US and she got her fame from hairdressing. Her intended audience was not white contributors or white buyers, but rather working class African American women who worked in low-paying domestic service jobs.

Madam Walker started her work in this industry because of her own history, regarding both hair and life, and she wanted to give other black women a chance to rise above what society had given them. She was not only an entrepreneur but also a philanthropist and she inspired many black women throughout the ages.