Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Spring/105/Section 56/Annie Mains

Overview

Annie Mains, otherwise known as Madame Lucy, a beautician was interviewed by Grace McCune and Sarah H. Hall for the Federal Writers’ Project Papers. The date of the interview is unknown.

Biography
Annie Mains, or known as Madame Lucy, grew up in Athens, Georgia to a poor family. When Annie married her husband, they moved to multiple cities such as Knoxville, Tennessee, and Atlanta before settling down for some time in New York City. While living in New York, Annie got certified and a diploma from a school in beauty culture which led her to open up her first beauty shop in New York. Since Annie had spent a lot of time in the beauty business, her shop started to gain a lot of money, yet business went bad, and her shop started to lose money causing Annie to go on relief. After some time, Annie moved back to Athens and opened up her own beauty shop on the black side of town since the two races did not intermingle as she experienced in New York. Mrs. Mains's determination to have a well-kept, presentable and known business led to the popularity of her beauty shop in Athens. Her husband stayed in New York working for $35 a week while also looking over the shop Annie had opened there. Because of the bank crisis that was occurring, Annie’s husband did not trust the banks, so he would only send her money in cash. Annie hoped to have the best and most successful beauty shop in the whole city."

Beauty Industry and African American women
As the Beauty Industry progressed through the centuries, different styles, products, and opinions changed. When the middle class started to form in America during the 19th and 20th century, beauty shops and department stores began to appear in cities, gaining a lot of customers. . While Jim Crow laws were still occurring in the 1920s-1930s African American women were able to benefit from the increasing popularity of the beauty industry. The beauty business began to range from cosmetics, hair styling, teaching how to use beauty products, and social interactions between the customer and cosmetologist. Along with the increase in tangible beauty products being sold, fashion in it of itself began to split into niche groups for different types of women in society. The early twentieth century was a defining time for the beauty industry since African American women were able to make careers, products such as mascara and foundation were made, and styling for actors and actresses on film.

Economy during the first half of the Twentieth Century
Before the Great Depression America’s economy was slowly losing its momentum. In the beginning of the 20th century, many African Americans moved from the south to the north which created an increase in the economy. Because of urbanization, African American employment rates and businesses were higher than ever before, but mainly depended on black customers because of segregation laws. “In 1930, there were less than 1,000 African American bankers, cashiers, and other white-collar workers in banks representing less than one in six hundred for every white in those positions.” While opportunities for African Americans increased in the beginning of the 20th century, racial disparities between blacks and whites were still apparent. Businesses were opening all over the country, yet this amplified competition between black and white companies. The Great Depression caused the increasing economy that occurred because of the Great_Migration to plummet causing many African Americans into poverty.