Like One of the Family: Conversations from a Domestic's Life (Black Women Writers Series)

by Alice Childress

Other authorsTrudier Harris (Introduction)
Paperback, 1986

Status

Available

Publication

Beacon Press (1986), Paperback, 264 pages

Description

"A new edition of Alice Childress's classic novel about African American domestic workers, featuring a foreword by Roxane Gay First published in Paul Robeson's newspaper, Freedom, and composed of a series of conversations between Mildred, a black domestic, and her friend Marge, Like One of the Family is a wry, incisive portrait of working women in Harlem in the 1950's. Rippling with satire and humor, Mildred's outspoken accounts vividly capture her white employers' complacency and condescension--and their startled reactions to a maid who speaks her mind and refuses to exchange dignity for pay. Upon publication the book sparked a critique of working conditions, laying the groundwork for the contemporary domestic worker movement. Although she was critically praised, Childress's uncompromising politics and unflinching depictions of racism, classism, and sexism relegated her to the fringe of American literature. Like One of the Family has been long overlooked, but this new edition, featuring a foreword by best-selling author Roxane Gay, will introduce Childress to a new generation"--… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Jim53
Childress's Mildred is a young black woman who works in other people's homes doing cleaning, laundry, and preparations for entertainment. In a series of very short (two to five pages) one-sided conversations, Mildred addresses her friend Marge and tells her about her experiences as a domestic
Show More
worker. Childress shows us how employers tried various ways of getting extra work out of Mildred, and how she stood up for her rights, her working conditions, and for respect as a woman. When one employer mentions that she's forgotten Mildred to produce her health card, Mildred responds that she's glad she brought it up, because she had forgotten to ask the employer for health cards for herself and her family, "since I'll be handling the laundry and everything." The employer quickly backs down.

Mildred's stories range beyond her employment situations. For example, she describes going to meetings about Africa, and she talks with her sister about her nephew's activism, coming down squarely in favor of the young man's activities. Mildred is not simply a font of folksy homespun wisdom; she is a sharp critical thinker who has quite a bit to say about race, poverty, civil rights, and treating people with respect. I would love to have a chance to meet Mildred.
Show Less
LibraryThing member mdbrady
Light-hearted, feisty essays, by an African American woman, describing her work in the homes of others and commenting on events around her.

Alice Childress (1916-1994) was an actress, playwright, and novelist who broke barriers for black women in the American theater. In her writing she focused
Show More
attention on those traditionally ignored by mainstream America. This book is a collection of short pieces originally written in the 1950s for distribution to African American newspapers about the only employment available to many black women.

The narrator of Like One of the Family is Mildred, a spunky African American woman ready to talk back to those who challenge her dignity. She is single, lives in an apartment house, and regularly stops off in the apartment of her friend, Marge, to relax and talk. She often describes herself as acting with bravery and wit, confronting whites in ways that most black women didn’t dare to do.

The title and first piece in the collection highlight the words of those who employed black domestic servants claiming to treat them “like one of the family.” (This is a response I still get online when I review a book critical of slavery and the treatment of domestic servants.) When an employer makes this claim, Mildred forcefully responds.

In the first place, you do not love me; you may be fond of me, but that is all. . . In the second place, I am not just like one of the family at all! The family eats in the dining room and I eat in the kitchen. Your mama borrows your lace tablecloth for her company and your son entertains his friends in the parlor, your daughter takes her afternoon nap on the living room couch, and her puppy sleeps on your satin spread. . . and whenever your husband gets tired of something you are talking about he says ‘For Pete’s sake, forget it.’

Mildred frequently snaps back at those who do not treat her with dignity. She also writes about an ideal employer and urges domestic servants to unionize. When whites were discussing whether or not Africans were “fit for freedom,” she responded “if educated folk can’t do anything but jail, whip, starve and abuse, what in the devil makes you think they are anything but unfit to rule"? Other comments relate to events she attends in and outside of the African American community.

I recommend this enjoyable book to readers interested in the views of working-class black women before they gained access to a greater range of jobs. It is simply fun to read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member written
According to the back of the book it says this book was written more than six decades ago. I found this book still fresh, interesting, funny, made me think and quite easy to read since it is written in short chapters. You can read a few chapters or put the book down and go back to it later. But I
Show More
found myself saying "just one more chapter" and I kept on reading. I like Mildred and I wanted to "hear" (read) what her next thoughts or topic she would share with me.

In my mind while reading this book I was seeing a one woman show on Broadway. A Black woman talking about her views on life being a domestic worker. Maybe not looking at "us" in the audience but talking on the phone to her friend Marge. Each short chapter sharing her day or week with her friend while we eavesdrop in on her mostly one sided conversation. She talks about everything from the people she works for to her family members or people on the street or riding the bus, shopping, just everyday events in her life and giving her opinions and speaking her mind. She's smart, witty and someone I would like to know.

I enjoyed getting to know Mildred and even though I have finished the book, I find myself still thinking about her.
Show Less
LibraryThing member LisbethE
I received a copy of this book from LibraryThing Early Reviewers in exchange for an honest review. "Like One of the Family" was written some 60 years ago, and its short chapters were serialized in Paul Robeson's newspaper, "Freedom." The author was a playwright, as well as a writer, and the pieces
Show More
themselves feel like a one-woman play -- as they are set up as one side of conversations between two women. Both are young, black, and work as day laborers in the houses of white families in New York City. The protagonist, and voice, is Mildred, a woman of some considerable strength and dignity.

My impression is that the collection is best read in a serialized manner, rather than straight through as a novel. Not for any lack in the writing, but just that otherwise the collection starts to feel a bit unrelenting. The author is both sharp and witty, and each installment seems to take as a given that a spoonful of sugar will help the medicine go down. The medicine is the message that the status quo must change -- that black citizens are due the same rights and respect as any other. And Mildred is rightfully frustrated to the point of anger that it just isn't so. The spoonful of sugar is the humor Childress employs throughout. Although she gets her point across cleverly, in doing so whites are often characterized as either mean or condescending, or merely tentative -- largely clueless about how to address or acknowledge a black domestic worker as a fellow human being. To her credit, Childress' vision is that everyone must be part of the solution (if you're quiet, you're part of the mob, whether you agree with it or not). The timelessness of this message is actually a sad reminder that we apparently still need to be told as much. How is it that we have not successfully learned this lesson and fixed the system by now? I think that were Childress still alive, she would be disappointed to learn that her vision is still just that, and not our current reality.
Show Less
LibraryThing member upstairsgirl
I had read some of these very short stories in anthologies in school, and although I don't love the particular style - they're all one-sided conversations with another person who seems to have a strong personality of her own but isn't really a participant - it is striking how relevant many of the
Show More
issues raised in this book from 1965 continue to be in 2017. Mildred could be dismissed as "just a housekeeper" and she presents her ideas as straightforward and simple, but they're actually deep and complex and they offer a window into a heartbreaking America that has not gone away, however much (or little) it has improved. I think this is an essential read for the modern age, even if it may not be the most enjoyable.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ansate
Perfect. and it makes me cry that it's still so perfect and relevant. Length is key, cause Mildred hands us out some hard truths, and the format lets us take a breath between them. Everything is rooted in a real love of peace and wanting everyone to be part of it - but without falling into the trap
Show More
of trying to be nice to everyone. She is the model of "I liked you enough to tell you the truth." It is glorious and heartbreaking and I want everyone to read it.
Show Less
LibraryThing member fields.steph
Like One of the Family is a collection of anecdotes or vignettes, depending on how you look at them. Mildred, the main character, tells her friend, Marge, about her life, about being a domestic worker, about friends visiting, about standing up for herself. Originally individually published in the
Show More
mid-twentieth century in the newspapers Freedom and the Baltimore Afro-American, each story shows Childress's background in performance and theater. Each story IS a performance. A performance of strength and wit in the face of mid-century society and racism. Each short tale is only a few pages long and read as if you were hearing just Mildred's side of a conversation. They could easily be monologues delivered on-stage.
Show Less
LibraryThing member sentimental13
A delightful reprint that didn't hold my attention as well as I had hoped, Like One of the Family takes a look at the lives of a woman who works as household help. I love the idea of brief vignettes although these tend toward monologues (not necessarily my favorite). Childress works to get to the
Show More
heart of the issues of her lifetime through the lens of an often-overlooked voice. The fact that Childress takes on such issues from the voice of a marginalized woman makes it worth the read. It will broaden your perspective, and that alone is a reason to pick up the book. If you are oriented towards social justice, it is not a title that should be missed, especially if you didn't read it the first time around.
Show Less
LibraryThing member BookDivasReads
I'm not sure if I just tried to read this at the wrong time or what, but I've tried several times now and simply couldn't get into this book. I enjoyed the forward and introduction a lot more than the actual body of the work. Perhaps my expectations were too high (or too low), I don't know, but
Show More
this book just didn't work for me at this time. I'll be setting it aside to try again in the future.
Show Less

Language

Original publication date

1956

Physical description

264 p.; 8.62 inches

ISBN

0807009032 / 9780807009031

Local notes

Fiction
Page: 1.5601 seconds