Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Spring/105/Section 88/Odessa Polk

Overview
Odessa Polk was an African American woman born in Charlotte, North Carolina, during the Great Depression. She was interviewed in 1939 by the Federal Writers Project. She was a full-time cook and mother of three children, and was constantly affected by poverty and a lack of education.

Biography
Odessa Polk was an African American woman born in 1897 in Charlotte, North Carolina. When Polk was just a child, her mother remarried and her stepfather evicted her and her siblings, as he did not want to care for children that weren’t his own. She was sent to live with her grandmother and forced to work for 25 cents a week washing dishes. To help support her family, she gave up her education and continued her work in the domestic industry. When Polk became unexpectedly pregnant, she had to quit her job to take care of her children. Due to financial hardships later on in life, she began working as a cook in a white household, making nine dollars a week to pay for her daughters’ education and medical visits. Despite her wishes, all three of her daughters were unable to complete their education due to pregnancies. Polk and her family were affected by constant poverty, unemployment, and lack of access to resources such as education and medicine. Throughout her life, her strong dependence on religion allowed her to be content with her life regardless of her hardships.

African American Women in Domestic Service
During the Great Depression, many women were unable to maintain the jobs they had once held in the economy, and African American women in particular were unable to find jobs other than domestic household work. Although women in general were affected negatively by the Great Depression, there was also a great disparity among whites and people of color. Since white women had access to higher education and privilege, they were able to find jobs such as teaching and civil service within the economy. This led to “white women [replacing] black women by moving down the occupational ladder of desirability”. Black women were highly restricted in the jobs they were able to find, often cooking and cleaning in a white household. Larger businesses were pushing the smaller jobs out of the economy, leading to an increase in unemployment among African Americans. African American women were seen as the least important contributors to the labor force, and domestic work was looked down upon. However, they were forced to get jobs because the men of the family were unable to maintain a livable wage for their families, while white women had a choice of whether or not they would like to join the workforce. In general, African Americans did not have access to the same job opportunities that were available to white people, forcing all members of black families to work difficult jobs for minimum wage in order to survive.

African American Access to Education
There was a significant lack of education among African Americans, especially for African American women. White people were prioritized for education, and during the Great Depression, a financially difficult time period for all people, there was a significant lack of attention towards educating black people. Since resources were limited and funds were low for families, African American children often had to drop out of school to work at a young age, thereby aiding their family in maintaining a steady income. Education was seen as an unnecessary luxury for many families, and white people did not believe that the African Americans deserved this. Schools that existed within the black community were not provided with resources comparable to the education provided for white people, with significantly worse professors and larger classroom sizes. Since education could bring about liberation and social mobility, allowing black people to form their own opinions, the extent of materials provided to them for higher education were limited, and women were not prioritized at all to receive this education. The patriarchal structure existing in families ensured that if African Americans were allowed access to education, men would have access first while women would work domestically. Polk mentioned that she was quite upset that her daughters did not have the chance to finish school, as they were also affected by pregnancy and forced to take the same path as her, working to support their children and unable to attempt a life beyond poverty.