Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Summer II/Section 01/Rosa Lee Johnson

Overview
Rosa Lee Johnson was an African American cook and maid.Throughout her lifetime, southern states throughout her lifetime. She was interviewed for the Federal Writers Project, and her story has been accounted for in the archives.

Early Life
Rosa Lee Johnson, maiden name Smith, was born into a poor family with sixteen children in [:w:en:Waycross,Georgia|Waycross, Georgia]]. Although she was unsure of her exact birth month or year, she was educated up until about the fourth grade. Her father worked as a turpentine worker, and only came home about once a week on Saturday. The family later moved to Camilla, Georgia, where they were tenant farmers. There, Johnson took care of domestic duties and helped care for her younger siblings. Johnson was first married around the age of twelve. She and her husband worked together as tenant farmers. This marriage was short-lived however, because he died approximately year into their marriage, and before they could have children. After the passing of her first husband, she relocated to Ozark, Alabama and remarried. It was with this man that Johnson had a son. Her second husband committed adultery frequently, and was verbally and physically abusive at times. Despite all of this, Johnson felt she was unable to divorce him, for the fees were more than she could afford.

Home and Work Life
Along with her husband, son and 2 other housemates, Johnson lived in a four-room house that lacked heating, electricity, a bathtub, and a toilet. They heated the home with one fireplace, and used candlelight after dark. In lieu of a toilet and a bathtub, they used a back-house for personal care. The home was situated in an area known as the “Hollow.”

Johnson helped support her family by working for a white female named Laura Barnes. She served as a cook and a maid, and in return drew a weekly salary of $2.50. Because of her $4 monthly rent, Johnson rarely had any extra money. However, she was not upset by this, because she felt she wouldn’t know what to do with the extra cash anyway. Johnson was content with the laws of her time and had no intention of fighting for more rights. She accepted her lifestyle and felt there was nothing she could do to change it.

As a black woman, Rosa Lee Johnson experienced discrimination by society. Her job mirrored the times of slavery in America. She had almost no room for socio-economic growth and was left to work as a cook and a maid for a white woman. Johnson was tasked with cleaning their house, including making the beds, sweeping the front porch, sidewalk, and the rooms. This was taxing labor, yet like millions of other black women during this time, she was underpaid. Her weekly salary was barely enough to make ends meet. All of this aside, Johnson was content with her circumstances. “I don’t have much money,” she wrote, “but I don’t need much and it gits along alright. I wouldn’t know what to do with lots of money if I had it”. Rosa’s satisfaction with her lack of financial mobility does not reflect the mindset of all black Americans.

Living Conditions for African Americans During the Great Depression
The Great Depression was an era in which millions of Americans had to adjust to a new way of living. Many lost their homes, their life savings, their cars, etc. For black men and women, however, they were disproportionately affected. In the workforce, African Americans were typically the last to be hired, and the first to be fired. During this era, they experienced the highest unemployment rate. Furthermore, prior to the crash of the stock market, blacks mainly worked low skill, low wage jobs. When the depression hit, these jobs were either eliminated or given to white men and women. The African American community felt the impact of these hour and pay cuts harder and sooner than any other group. Black unemployment rates grew anywhere between 2 to 3 times higher than that of whites. "Among men, black unemployment rates ranged from a third above to about double white rates, averaging 50 percent higher."

Black Women During the Great Depression
The crash of the stock market and economy in America in August of 1929, and subsequent job losses resulted in millions of families struggling to stay afloat. This period of time proved difficult for everyone, but some were hit harder than others - black men and women. Employment rates amongst women went up during this era, because the jobs that were readily available were deemed as "women's work". In many cases, the women became the sole breadwinner of the family, yet wages did not go up. Women remained underpaid and mistreated by their employers. However, as more and more white women began to take jobs, black women were excluded from this boom. Decent jobs with fair wages grew increasingly harder to obtain for black women "In these labor markets, the "double disadvantage" of racism and sexism (Smith and Tienda, 1988) relegated most Black women to the bottom of the employment queue." Skin color for black women served as a double disadvantage during the economic crisis during the Great Depression.

Women, who already faced great disadvantages in society, were especially hit hard by the collapse of the economy. In Chicago, for example, the Chicago Relief Authority was established to help give Americans a break. The CRA deemed that an “unattached” woman could only qualify for relief payments if she was unemployed, unemployable, and unable to receive assistance from her family. These were tough qualifications for some women to receive relief, the government excluded women with extenuating circumstances. "Older single women, who may not continue to live with their families, women whose marriages end in divorce, desertion, or separation (with or without children to support); widows, more likely to be older—with problems comparable to women with broken marriages, although lacking the stigma of failure—and lesbians, all fail to appear in the paradigm."