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"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)
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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.
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
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.
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.
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.