Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Spring/Section25/Odessa Polk

Overview
Odessa Polk was an African-American woman born in. She was a single mother of 3 and a full-time cook. She was interviewed by the in 1939.

Early Life
Odessa Polk was born on May 22, 1897, to William Polk and Mary Gaither in Charlotte, NC. She was the youngest child of her mother’s first marriage. When she was 3 years old, her mother remarried to another man. However, her step-father would not allow her mother to keep the children of her first marriage. Odessa would spend the rest of her childhood living with her grandmother. As a child, she regularly went to Sunday School. In an interview with the Federal Writers Project, Polk cited this as the reason she became involved with the church later in life.

At 9 years old, Polk began washing dishes for a white woman after school for a wage of 25 cents a week. Despite efforts to maintain her education, Polk dropped out in the 5th grade to work full-time in domestic service.

After the death of her grandmother, Polk moved in with her maternal aunt. Odessa’s aunt was often sick so Polk and her siblings continued to work to support her family.

Later Life
In 1912, Polk gave birth to her first child Madelene. Polk speculates that it was her lack of parental supervision that led her to have children at such a young age.

In total, Polk had 3 daughters-- Madelene, Wootsie, and Sarah. Their fathers are unknown. The birth of her third daughter led to a financially difficult period in Polk’s life. She began working at home by taking in washing. Her second child, Wootsie, was often sick leading to costly doctor’s visits. With the help of her sister, she was able to send her daughters to Sunday School. It was her intention for her daughters to complete their education. However, all 3 of her daughters became pregnant and had to discontinue their education. Polk felt the greatest sense of loss towards her youngest daughter, Sarah.

“[Sarah], more than any the others, realizes her mistake. She tells me that she don't want [Jean], her little girl, to come up like she did”

It was after the birth of her grandchildren that Polk turned to God and her church. She became the head of many clubs and stood in high esteem among the congregation.

In 1939, Polk made $9 a week working as a cook. Her household cumulatively made $23 a week. In her interview with the Federal Writers Project, Polk expressed sadness that she couldn’t provide her grandchildren with better accommodations

“I've always hoped we could move into a better house than this or at least one where there was electric lights. The children have been so crazy to get a radio, but we haven't been able to get one yet”

Polk never married.

Odessa Polk died on March 10, 1959, of a heart attack. She was 63 years old.

African American Women and Domestic Work
During the Great Depression, African Americans faced double or triple the rates of unemployment compared to their white counterparts. In the south, the Depression led to the Great Migration to Northern cities. While President Roosevelt established organizations to help the African American population, such as the Black Cabinet, many New Deal programs still excluded black workers.

Domestic work was one of the few options black women had in the labor force. Many white people desired American-American domestic workers as a status symbol. The result of this interaction was a paternlistic relationship between white employers and black employees. An implied code of social etiquette was imposed that supported the higher status of white employers and poor whites. Because of the limited social mobility of black workers, they were dependent on their white employers to provide them with things such as healthcare or criminal justice.

Black women who were service workers faced discrimination at the intersection of race and gender. Domestic work was a particularly difficult position because of the long hours, lack of labor protection, and rates of physical and sexual abuse.

African Americans and Access to Education


African-Americans have had limited access to basic and higher education since America was founded. During the Antebellum era, the education of enslaved people was looked down upon because education would lead to their liberation. It was the belief of many whites at the time that the education of black people would lead to “dangerous and uncontrollable” behavior.

Similarly, in the post-civil war Jim Crow era, access to education was limited because of the social mobility that came with becoming educated. For many black people, education was a form of seizing power and liberation. Education of African-American women was especially important as they had limited options for social mobility. Education was seen as a form of “racial uplift”

Figures in social activism, such as Booker T. Washington, sought to silence political mobilization among African-American women. Pervasive patriarchal values limited the ability of black women to attain the same civil rights as black men.

"The emphasis on manhood rights reinforced pre-existing patriarchal values among African Americans, and many African American men believed the contributions of African American women working outside the home was purely out of necessity"

Despite pushback, African-American women formed the National Federation of Afro-American Women and National Association of Colored Women. Most black-inclusive educational institutions were located in the North. In the South, few public schools existed for African Americans. As a result, many northern-educated African American women moved to the South to teach. By the turn of the 20th century, two African-American women’s colleges had been established-- Bennet and Spelman.