The remarkable story of Atlanta’s washerwomen strike is one in a series of pieces The Progressive is rolling out in honor of Black History Month 2018.
In the 1880s, twenty years after the “official” end of slavery in the United States, African Americans continued to suffer extreme oppression and violence. Lynchings were common and “separate but equal” Jim Crow laws gave African Americans minimal access to schools, the military, and labor unions—the kinds of institutions that helped other Americans move toward prosperity.
Washer Woman. Image Public Domain.
It was in this context that a group of African American washerwomen in Atlanta organized themselves to demand better wages and working conditions. “The Washing Society,” as they called themselves, struck in the summer of 1881, taking on the business and political establishment of Atlanta, Georgia. The action served to remind the city’s white majority whom they depended on for the clothes they wore. The strike—a group of black women organizing against omnipresent discrimination to demand recognition and respect for their work—stands out in union history as a most unlikely success.
The strike—a group of black women organizing against omnipresent discrimination to demand recognition and respect for their work—stands out in union history as a most unlikely success.
At the time, almost all African American women wage earners were domestic workers in white homes. And more black women worked as laundresses than in any other type of domestic work. The city had more laundresses than male common laborers. Wealthy, middle class, and even poor whites used their services. Wages ranged from $4 to $8 a month, and the job included making one’s own soap and starch, and building wash tubs out of old beer barrels. It also included making rounds to the houses of clients to collect garments, haul water, and iron. And it went on seven days a week.
“I could clean my hearth good and nice and set my irons in front of the fire and iron all day [with]out stopping,” recalled laundress Sarah Hill. “I cooked and ironed at the same time.”
The Washing Society began with just twenty members, but soon grew into a much larger force. Seeking higher pay and more respect, the group called a strike, and the women began canvassing neighborhoods and churches to gather more supporters. The Washing Society even managed to get the two percent of washerwomen who were white to join. Their demands included $1 per twelve pounds of laundry, as well as some autonomy over their work and more respect from clients. In just three weeks, the group—and the strike—stood at 3,000 members.
In just three weeks, the group—and the strike—stood at 3,000 members.
At first, coverage of the strike in the Atlanta Constitution was dismissive. “The washerwomen of Atlanta, the paper wrote on July 24, went on strike “for very unreasonably high prices.”
Francisco Laso, The Laundress,1858. Image Public Domain.
The paper also laid out how the strike was going to fail: “A number of our most substantial citizens have quietly gone to work to make up a large cash capital, and will … start an extensive Steam Laundry … equal to the wants of the whole city. . . Smart Yankee girls experienced in the business, will be employed in running it…”
But the washerwomen did not back down. White businesses and politicians threatened fines, attempted to enforce a tax on anyone found to be a member of the Washing Society, and arrested leaders, charging them with “disorderly conduct and quarreling.” The city grew increasingly nervous, as dirty laundry piled up, and as workers in other service industries also asked for higher wages.
Feeling the strength in their numbers, on August 3, the Washing Society laid down an ultimatum. In a letter to the mayor of Atlanta, the women wrote:
“We the members of our society, are determined to stand to our pledge and make extra charges for washing, and we have agreed, and are willing to pay $25 or $50 for licenses as a protection, so we can control the washing for the city. We can afford to pay these licenses, and will do it before we will be defeated, and then we will have full control of the city’s washing at our own prices, as the city has control of our husbands’ work at their prices. Don’t forget this. We hope to hear from your council Tuesday morning. We mean business this week or no washing.”
“We mean business this week or no washing.”
The city buckled. It agreed the washerwomen could pay for a $25 annual licensing fee in exchange for higher rates and more autonomy. The washerwomen succeeded, and set a precedent for others. Shortly after the strike, Atlanta’s government also relented to demands from cooks, maids, hotel workers, and nurses for higher pay.
Brandon Weber has written for Upworthy, Liberals Unite, and Good.Is magazine, mostly on economics, labor union history, and working people. He is author of Class War, USA: Dispatches from Workers' Struggles in American History, from Haymarket Books. For more information, email Brandon.Weber@gmail.com.