Cooking in Other Women's Kitchens: Domestic Workers in the South,1865-1960
As African American women left the plantation economy behind, many entered domestic service in southern cities and towns. Cooking was one of the primary jobs they performed, feeding generations of white families and, in the process, profoundly shaping southern foodways and culture. Rebecca Sharpless argues that, in the face of discrimination, long workdays, and low wages, African American cooks worked to assert measures of control over their own lives. As employment opportunities expanded in the twentieth century, most African American women chose to leave cooking for more lucrative and less oppressive manufacturing, clerical, or professional positions. Through letters, autobiography, and oral history, Sharpless evokes African American women’s voices from slavery to the open economy, examining their lives at work and at home.
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Cooking in Other Women's Kitchens: Domestic Workers in the South,1865-1960
As African American women left the plantation economy behind, many entered domestic service in southern cities and towns. Cooking was one of the primary jobs they performed, feeding generations of white families and, in the process, profoundly shaping southern foodways and culture. Rebecca Sharpless argues that, in the face of discrimination, long workdays, and low wages, African American cooks worked to assert measures of control over their own lives. As employment opportunities expanded in the twentieth century, most African American women chose to leave cooking for more lucrative and less oppressive manufacturing, clerical, or professional positions. Through letters, autobiography, and oral history, Sharpless evokes African American women’s voices from slavery to the open economy, examining their lives at work and at home.
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Cooking in Other Women's Kitchens: Domestic Workers in the South,1865-1960

Cooking in Other Women's Kitchens: Domestic Workers in the South,1865-1960

by Rebecca Sharpless
Cooking in Other Women's Kitchens: Domestic Workers in the South,1865-1960
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Cooking in Other Women's Kitchens: Domestic Workers in the South,1865-1960

Cooking in Other Women's Kitchens: Domestic Workers in the South,1865-1960

by Rebecca Sharpless

Overview

As African American women left the plantation economy behind, many entered domestic service in southern cities and towns. Cooking was one of the primary jobs they performed, feeding generations of white families and, in the process, profoundly shaping southern foodways and culture. Rebecca Sharpless argues that, in the face of discrimination, long workdays, and low wages, African American cooks worked to assert measures of control over their own lives. As employment opportunities expanded in the twentieth century, most African American women chose to leave cooking for more lucrative and less oppressive manufacturing, clerical, or professional positions. Through letters, autobiography, and oral history, Sharpless evokes African American women’s voices from slavery to the open economy, examining their lives at work and at home.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781469606866
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date: 02/01/2013
Series: The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture
Edition description: 1
Pages: 304
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Rebecca Sharpless is associate professor of history at Texas Christian University. She is author of Fertile Ground, Narrow Choices: Women on Texas Cotton Farms.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Sharpless's engaging use of primary evidence allows African American cooks themselves to define, describe, and interpret their work, their skills, and the contours of their lives. This book is a pleasure to read and an important, impressive piece of scholarship.—Lu Ann Jones, author of Mama Learned Us to Work: Farm Women in the New South

Anyone who wants to know the real story behind Kathryn Stockett's book The Help will savor Cooking in Other Women's Kitchens, Rebecca Sharpless's compelling history of southern domestic work. It's a riveting read and it's nonfiction.—Jessica B. Harris, Queens College, author of Iron Pots and Wooden Spoons: Africa's Gifts to New World Cooking

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Related Subjects

Social Sciences
African Americans
African Americans - General & Miscellaneous
Social Sciences
African Americans
African Americans - General & Miscellaneous

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