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U 3,357a
UWARY

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
BULLETIN OF THE WOMEN’S BUREAU, NO. 70

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY
IN 15 STATES




[Public—No. 259—66th Congress]
[H. R. 13229]

An Act To establish in the Department of Labor a bureau to be known as the
Women’s Bureau

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be
established in the Department of Labor a bureau to be known as the
Women’s Bureau.
Sec. 2. That the said bureau shall be in charge of a director, a
woman, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice
and consent of the Senate, who shall receive an annual compensation
of $5,000.. It shall be the duty of said bureau to formulate standards
and policies which shall promote the welfare of wage-earning women,
improve their working conditions, increase their efficiency, and
advance their opportunities for profitable employment. The said
bureau shall have authority to investigate and report to the said
department upon all matters pertaining to the welfare of women in
industry. The director of said bureau may from time to time pub­
lish the results of these investigations in such a manner and to such
extent as the Secretary of Labor may prescribe.
Sec. 3. That there shall be in said bureau an assistant director, to
be appointed by the Secretary of Labor, who shall receive an annual
compensation of $3,500 and shall perform such duties as shall be
prescribed by the director and approved by the Secretary of Labor.
Seo. 4. That there is hereby authorized to be employed by said
bureau a chief clerk and such special agents, assistants, clerks, and
other employees at such rates of compensation and in such numbers
as Congress may from time to time provide by appropriations.
Seo. 5. That the Secretary of Labor is hereby directed to furnish
sufficient quarters, office furniture, and equipment for the work of
this bureau.
Seo. 6. That this act shall take effect and be in force from and
after its passage.
Approved, June 5, 1920.




f

si i
-^^^■>- .—**Sg*- pRS- '

■ fy V

~~ sIS*®*1

S‘,r-' *•
NEGRO WOMEN WEIGHING COILS OP WIRE FOR BED SPRINGS




U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
JAMES J. DAVIS, Secretary

WOMEN’S BUREAU
MARY ANDERSON, Director

BULLETIN

OF THE

WOMEN’S

BUREAU, NO. 70

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY
IN 15 STATES




oL

UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1929




ADDITIONAL COPIES
OF THIS PUBLICATION MAT BE PROCURED FROM
THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS
U.S.GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON, D. C.
AT

15 CENTS PER COPY

CONTENTS
Page

Letter of transmittal________________________________________________
Chapter I. Introduction
Scope and method__ _
Summary of outstanding facts______________________
II. Occupational distribution
13
Tobacco and cigars
15
Food______________________________________________
Textiles
20
Wood products__________
Glass
25
Miscellaneous industries
26
Summary
28
.
III. Hours
31
Daily hours
31
Weekly hours
33
IV. Extent of timework and piecework
35
V. Earnings
39
Week’s earnings
39
Week’s earnings and weekly rates of pay_____________
Week’s earnings of timeworkers and of pieceworkers in
the same occupation
43
Year’s earnings
46
Summary
47
VI. The workers__________________________________ ________
Age_________________
Time in the trade
50
Marital status_______________
Summary
54
Appendixes:
A. List of occupations of negro women
57
B. General tables
62

v
1
2
4
18
24

42

49
49
52

TEXT TABLE
Table 1. Number of negro women reported by the census of 1920 and
proportion covered by Women’s Bureau surveys, by industry. _

3

APPENDIX TABLES
Table 1. Scheduled daily and weekly hours of the largest groups of negro
women in chief industries
62
2. Week’s earnings, weekly rates, and year’s earnings of negro
women in 11 States, by State and year of survey___________
3. Week’s earnings, by industry, occupation, and year of survey..
4. Week’s earnings and weekly rates in chief industries, by State and
year of survey
66
5. Week’s earnings of timeworkers and pieceworkers, in the same
occupation, by industry, occupation, and year of survey_____
6. Week’s earnings and year’s earnings in chief industries, by year
of survey
72

63
64

68

ILLUSTRATION
Negro women weighing coils of wire for bed springsFrontispiece.
CHARTS
Negro women gainfully employed, 1910 and 1920________________________
Industrial distribution of 12,284 negro women in 15 StatesI.
Median week’s earnings of 5,390 negro women in 10 States_____________
Time in the trade: 2,819 negro women in 12 States____________________




hi

vi
12
39
51




LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
United States Department of Labor,
Women’s Bureau,

Washington, January 10,1929.
I have the honor to transmit herewith the bulletin “ Negro
Women in Industry in 15 States.”
The material in this bulletin is from industrial surveys made by
the Women’s Bureau in 15 States in which negro women were in­
cluded in the survey.
The research work and the writing of the report have been done by
Miss Mary Elizabeth Pidgeon, assistant editor of the Women’s
Bureau.
Respectfully submitted.
Mary Anderson, Director.
Hon. James J. Davis,
Secretary of Labor.
Sir :




NEGRO WOMEN GAINFULLY EMPLOYED
(figures from U.S.Census of Occupations)

52.2%

1.051,137-612,261 67,937-104-,983 8,313-14,683 29,645-59,127
Aoricu Iture

Manufacturing

Trade

and

and

Mechanical

Transportation

*

u.s.Dept.of Labor

Womens Bureau

VI




Professional
.

3,132—8,501 853,387-790.651
Clerical

Domestic
an<*

Personal

__________________________ _________________

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES
CHAPTER I.—INTRODUCTION
At the end of 1920, two years after the close of the war, the
Women’s Bureau made a survey of negro women, covering 11,812
women in 150 manufacturing plants in nine States.1 Since the time
for investigation was short, an exhaustive study could not be made.
Instead, facts were gathered from selected places over a widely
extended territory. The chief object of this study was to outline
changes in industrial status occasioned by the war. An opening of
opportunity and a marked transition of negro women from domestic
service and other home pursuits to factory work was discovered.
Especial attention was given to the particular occupations in which
negro women were engaged.
Since the time of this earlier negro study, the figures of the Four­
teenth Census have become available. According to these, the number
of negro women gainfully employed in 1920 was 1,571,289,2 nearly
443,000 fewer than in 1910, though the number of employed women
of all races had increased by nearly 474,000. In 1920 the negro
women engaged in gainful occupations formed 38.9 per cent of all
negro women; they formed 18.4 per cent of all employed women.
These per cents show considerable decreases from 1910, when 54.7 per
cent of all negro women were gainfully occupied, forming 24.9 per
cent of all women so employed.
The decrease among negro women was largely in agriculture, in
which their number fell off by 438,876, a reduction that undoubtedly
was mainly due to the fact that the census of 1910 was taken in April
and that of 1920 was taken in January. The number of negro women
in domestic and personal service also declined in the 10 years to the
extent of 7.4 per cent, much less than the proportion of decrease for
all women so engaged, which was 13.6 per cent.
In all the occupational groups but the two described, negro women
gained in numbers; manufacturing employed 37,046 more in 1920
than in 1910. The proportion of the employed negro women who
were in the manufacturing and mechanical industries nearly doubled,
rising from 3.4 per cent of the total in 1910 to 6.7 per cent of the total
in 1920, when 104,983 are listed in manufacturing and mechanical
pursuits. This is in vivid contrast to the increase of only one-tenth of
1 per cent in all women so engaged, and shows a very striking change
in the status of negro women during the decade.
Dabor. Womens Bureau. Negro Women in Industry. Bui. 20,
1922. this bulletin ran through three editions, with a total of 21,000 copies. Although
how out Of print, it may be obtained in many libraries in all parts of the country.
Vr..,i Department of Labor. Women’s Bureau. Facts About Working Women. Bui.
4b, 1925, pp. 12-16.
(Data from U. S, Bureau of the Census and Women’s Bureau
surveys.)




1

2

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

In brief: At the earlier census, of every 20 negro women, between
10 and 11 were in agriculture, between 8 and 9 were in domestic and
personal service, and 1 was in other lines of work; 10 years later, of
every 20 negro women, between 7 and 8 were in agriculture, 10 were
in domestic and personal service, and between 2 and 3 were in
other work.
SCOPE AND METHOD

In addition to its study of negro women previously referred to, the
Women's Bureau has made industrial surveys of 15 States in which
negro women were found. Of these, 2 were made prior to the time
of the special negro study, 3 were carried on at about the same period,
and 10 were conducted at later dates. The States included, the years
of their surveys, and the numbers of negro women in manufacturing
and general mercantile establishments are as follows:
Alabama, 1922
1G7
Arkansas, 1922_______________
76
Georgia, 1920-21
931
Illinois, 19241,533
Indiana, 1918_________________
64
Iowa, 1920___________________
18
Kansas, 1920
176
Kentucky, 19211,127

Mississippi, 1925______________
246
Missouri, 19221,154
New Jersey, 1922_____________
121
Ohio, 1922
697
South Carolina, 1921-22_______
268
Tennessee, 1925______________
674
Virginia, 1919-205,032

These 15 State studies included 17,134 negro women in 682 estab­
lishments. Of this number 4,850 women in 370 plants have not been
tabulated for the present study, since the interest of this bulletin cen­
ters in the negro woman in the newer manufacturing pursuits and
those excluded were known to be engaged in occupations considered
customary for negro women, such as sweeping and cleaning, or were
in laundries, hotels, or restaurants. Of the number remaining, 12,123
were in 251 manufacturing plants, and 161 were in 61 general mercan­
tile establishments, the latter in 12 only of the 15 States. It is prob­
able that not quite all the women in the more traditional types of work
have been excluded, since some whose occupations were not reported
are likely to have been sweepers or cleaners, as may also have been
some whose departments were reported but whose exact occupations
were not specified; but if the duties of these wTere not especially un­
usual, at least the scene of their labors had been shifted into the
manufacturing world. Most of those in stores were maids, as were
also a very few in certain miscellaneous industries. The 12,123 in
manufacturing for whom reports were obtained form 11.5 per cent
of the 104,983 negro women whom the 1920 census records as in
manufacturing and mechanical industries; and, if exact occupations
could be analyzed, the census numbers undoubtedly would include
some of the sweepers and cleaners vTho have been omitted from the
present study.
The industries in which the largest numbers of negro women were
found vTere tobacco, food, textiles, and vrood. ihe proportions that
those included form of the total numbers of negro women reported
by the census in these industries and in glass making may be seen
from the table following:




3

INTRODUCTION
Table

1.—Number of negro women reported by the census of 1920 and pro­
portion covered by Women’s Bureau surveys, by indu'stry
Women’s Bureau, 1919-1925 2

United States Census of 1920 1
Number of negro
women

Industry

Semi­
Labor­ skilled
ers
opera­
tives

Industry
Total

8,383

13,446

21,829

280
960
1,051
'466

298
1,204
976
532

578
2,164
2,027
'998

3,122

944

4, 066

2,634
515
26
Textile mills not specified...
298

1,099
833
65
774

3,733
1,348
91
1,072

Food industries:
Fruit and vegetable canning.
Slaughter and packing house.
Glass factories.. ------- ---------Lumber and furniture indusTextile industries:

1 U. S. Bureau of the Census.

Negro women

Per
cent of
those
Num­
re­
ber ported
in 1920
census
6,411

Food:
Canning and preserving 3__.
Slaughtering and meat

29.4

164

28.4

880
Other food, including nuts. 1,049
298
Glass_________ __________ ____
978
Textiles:
319
Hosiery and yarn. _. ..........
350
95
Bags and waste__ ________
412

40. 7
51.8
29.9
24.1
8. 5
26.0
38.4

Fourteenth Census: 1920, vol. 4, Population, Occupations, pp. 342-359,

J ttuic o.
2

The numbers include also the following, studied late in 1918: In glass products, 54 women; in wood
products, 10 women.
3 Includes 17 women who were not in fruit and vegetable canneries.

The methods employed were the same in all the State studies.
Definite information as to numbers of employees and their hours and
earnings, together with facts concerning the conditions under which
they worked, was scheduled by investigators, who secured the data
from interviews with employers and managers, from time-book rec­
ords of the hours worked by employees and the sums paid to them,
and from personal inspection of the plants. To obtain exact informa­
tion the investigators copied direct from the written records of the
firm the data on actual time worked and amounts received. Records
ordinarily were obtained for a week in the same month in all estab­
lishments visited in a State, except where plants had been running
slack or where time records were not available, and in these cases an­
other week, selected by the firm, was taken. Every effort was made
to obtain records for a week in which there were no holidays or shut­
downs and no unusual situations affecting hours or earnings. Em­
ployees were asked to furnish information as to age, nativity, experi­
ence in the trade, and marital status. In some cases this material
was supplemented by facts obtained in home visits.
While the methods used were similar, the study in each State
formed an independent unit. The combined data in regard to negro
women in all the States included form a fairly representative pic­
ture in respect to hours of labor, to extent of timework and piecework,
and to personal facts such as age, time in the trade, and marital
status, little variation occurring in these during a period of several
years. In respect to earnings, however, since account would have to
be taken of the industrial fluctuations occurring during the length of
time over which the various State studies extended, the figures must




4

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

take account of the year, and the data taken in different States can
not in all cases be compared. In respect to exact occupations, since
the chief purpose in each State study was to discover the hours, the
earnings, and the conditions of work for women rather than to note
their particular occupations, such occupations can not always be
given, although in many cases this is possible. In addition, the in­
dustrial progress during the time from late 1918 to date naturally has
resulted in the introduction of changes in certain processes and in
their attending occupations. While some of the older and more
arduous methods have now been superseded, the description herein
given must necessarily conform to the occupations as actually found
at the time of the study. After a preliminary consideration of the
occupations in which negro women were engaged, the general plan
followed in setting forth the material under each of the different
headings will be to deal with totals, with States, with industries, and
finally, where possible, with occupations.
The data in regard to the 12,284 negro women have been arranged
by industry for the daily hours of 11,923 workers; for the weekly
hours of 11,921; for the marital status of 3,048; and for the time
during which 2,787 women had been in their trades. In addition, it
has been possible to arrange by occupational groups as well as by in­
dustry the data for the proportion of timeworkers and pieceworkers
among 6,428 women; for the age of 3,150; for the weekly rate of pay
of 1,689; for the actual week’s earnings of 5,558; and for the year’s
earnings of 326 workers.
Since the women studied in manufacturing form a good proportion
of all negro women recorded by the 1920 census as engaged in-manu­
facturing and mechanical pursuits, and in practically all the indus­
tries employing the largest numbers of negro women those reported
form a good proportion of the total census numbers in the same in­
dustries; since in each State establishments were selected as repre­
sentative of the chief industries employing women and of the various
localities within the State; and since, also, the different sections where
negroes are employed are well represented, it may be confidently
asserted that the conditions found present a fairly accurate cross
section of the prevailing status of negro women in manufacturing
during the first half of the present decade.
SUMMARY OF OUTSTANDING FACTS
Scope of survey:
Number of States studied
15
Number of establishments visited
682
Number of negro women employed_______________________ 17,134
Number of establishments in manufacturing and mercantile indus­
tries
312
Number of negro women employed in these, exclusive of women
known to be sweepers or cleaners_____________________ 12, 284
Number of women in manufacturing plants____ _________________ 12,123
Number of women in general mercantile establishments___________
161
Industries included:
Clothing—States, 6; establishments, 16; women__________________
Drugs and chemicals—States, 4; establishments, 8; women________
Food products—
Bakeries—States, 3; establishments, 7 ; women_______________
Candy—States, 6; establishments, 10; women________________




123
55
36
205

INTRODUCTION

5

Industries included—Continued.
Food products—Continued.
164
Canning and preserving—States, 4 ; establishments, 6; women..
Slaughtering and meat packing—States, 3; establishments, 9;
880
women
Nuts—States, 2; establishments, 6; women----------------------------- 1,017
84
Other food—States, 4; establishments, 7 ; women-------------------298
Glass—States, 5; establishments, 5; women------------------------- ,-------341
House furnishings—States, 2; establishments, 6; women---------------78
Metal products—States, 3; establishments, 4 ; women-------------------Paper and paper products—
74
Paper—States, 2; establishments, 2; women-------------------------19
Paper boxes—States, 2; establishments, 3 ; women------------------Textiles—
296
Bags—States, 4; establishments, 7 ; women---------------------------96
Cordage and twine—States, 3; establishments, 5 ; women-------288
Cotton yard goods—States, 6; establishments, 25; women------327
Hosiery and knit goods—States, 6; establishments, 7; women—
116
Waste—States, 2; establishments, 2; women------------------------23
Yarn—States, 2; establishments, 3; women----------------------------31
Other textiles—States, 2; establishments, 3 ; women---------------Tobacco and tobacco products—
616
Cigars—States, 6; establishments, 15; women----------------------Tobacco—States, 6; establishments, 49; women---------------------- 5, 795
Wood products—
Boxes and crates—States, 5; establishments, 12; women---------332
187
Furniture—States, 3 ; establishments, 5; women----------------------55
Lumber and veneer—States, 4; establishments, 6; women-------Other wood—States, 6; establishments, 9; women..---------------406
Miscellaneous manufacturing—
Electrical supplies—States, 1; establishments, 1; women---------50
13
Glue—States, 1; establishments, 1; women----------------------------Leather—States, 1; establishments, 1; women------------------------12
Millinery—States, 1; establishments, 2; women---------------------17
Printing and publishing—States, 1; establishments, 1; women—
10
Rags—States, 1; establishments, 1; women---------------------------2
Rubber—States, 1; establishments, 1; women-------------- ---------29
Scientific instruments—States, 1; establishments, 1; women—
53
Toilet goods—States, 1; establishments, 2; women------------------Other—States, 3 ; establishments, 3; women-------------------------K
General mercantile—States, 12; establishments, 61; women---------Hours:
1. Daily hours—
a. Per cent distribution of 11,923 women in 304 establish­
ments in 15 States:
8 hours or less
13. 6
Over 8 and under 9 hours
7. 3
9 and under 10 hours-------------------------------------------39. 4
10 and under 12 hours
36. 8
12 hours and over--------------------------------------------------3.1
b. Industries in which specified scheduled hours prevailed;
Less than 8
hours___ Glass and glass products—37.7 per cent of 215
women. (34.9 per cent had a schedule of 8
hours.)
Bakeries—57.1 per cent of 21 women.
8 hours___ Cigars—36.5 per cent of 613 women. (31.3 per
cent had a schedule of 9 hours.)
General mercantile—39.8 per cent of 161 women.
(37.9 per cent had a schedule of over 8 and
under 9 hours.)
Metal products—69.2 per cent of 78 women.
Slaughtering and meat packing—98.9 per cent of
880 women.




6

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

Hours—Continued.
1. Daily hours—Continued.
b. Industries in which specified scheduled hours prevailed—Contd.
Over 8 and
under 9
hours----- House furnishings—85.9 per cent of 341 women.
9 hours----- Canning and preserving—70.7 per cent of 147
women.
Clothing—54.5 per cent of 123 women.
Cordage and twine—92.6 per cent of 95 women.
Drugs and chemicals—36.4 per cent of 55 women.
(34.5 per cent had a schedule of over 8 and
under 9 hours.)
Nuts—59.1 per cent of 1,017 women.
Over 9 and
under 1 0
hours----- Bags—53.1 per cent of 288 women.
Candy—67.8 per cent of 180 women.
Hosiery and knit goods—32.4 per cent of 327
women. (31.8 per cent had a schedule of over
8 and under 9 hours.)
Paper and paper products—71 per cent of 93
women.
10 hours----Cotton yard goods:—68.2 per cent of 277 women.
Textiles—25 per cent of 1.157 women. (23.4 per
cent had a schedule of over 0 and under 10
hours.)
Tobacco and tobacco products—48.6 per cent of
6,229 women.
Tobacco—52.2 per cent of 5,616 women.
"Wood products (boxes and crates, furniture, lum­
ber and veneer)—76.2 per cent of 564 women.
Over 10 and
under 11
hours------Waste—81 per cent of 116 women.
11 hours— Yarn—91.3 per cent of 23 women.
2. Weekly hours—
a. Per cent distribution of 11,921 women in 303 establishments in 15
States:
48 hours or less jg 7
Over 48 and under 55 hours 44. 3
55 and under 60 hours 33’0
60 hours and over
g g
6. Industries in which specified scheduled hours prevailed:
Hess than
44 hours. Bakeries—57.1 per cent of 21 women.
Over 44 and
under 48
hours----- Cigars—30.7 per cent of 613 women. (2S.1 per
cent had a week of 50 hours.)
Glass—37.7 per cent of 215 women. (34.9 per
cent had a week of 48 hours.)
.
Metal products—67.9 per cent of 78 women.
48 hours— Slaughtering and meat packing—98.9 per cent of
880 women.
Over 48 and
under 50
hours----- General mercantile—24.8 per cent of 161 women.
House furnishings—86.8 per cent of 341 women.
50 hours----Canning and preserving—70.7 per cent of 147
women.
Clothing—29.3 per cent of 123 women. (25.2 per
cent had a week of over 52 and under 54
hours.)




7

INTRODUCTION

Hours—Continued.
2, Weekly hours—Continued.
5. Industris in which specified scheduled hours prevailed—Contd.
50 hours__ Cordage and twine—02.6 per cent of 95 women.
Drugs and chemicals—63.6 per cent of 55 women.
Nuts—59.1 per cent of 1,017 women. (20.9 per
cent had a week of over 44 and under 48
hours.)
Tobacco and tobacco products—26 per cent of
6,229 women. (22.1 per cent had a week of 55
hours.)
Tobacco—25.8 per cent of 5,616 women. (24.5
pen cent had a week of 55 hours.)
Over 50 and
under 52
hours----- Candy—38.9 per cent of 180 women.
Paper and paper products—71 per cent of 93
women.
52 hours
Bags—53.1 per cent of 288 women.
55 hours— Cotton yard goods—69.3 per cent of 277 women.
Hosiery and knit goods—47.7 per cent of 327
women.
Textiles—32.4 per cent of 1.157 women. (10.4
per cent had a week of 60 hours and over.)
Wood products (boxes and crates, furniture,
lumber and veneer)—61.3 per cent of 564
women.
60 hours
and over_. Waste—81 per cent of 116 women.
Yarn—91.3 per cent of 23 women.
Extent of timework and piecework:
Number for whom it could be ascertained whether they were timeworkers or pieceworkers6, 428
Per cent

Timeworkers 41. 7
Pieceworkers 56. 7
Workers on both time and piece

1.6

System prevailing in chief Industries

Timework—
General mercantile____________________________
Glass
Slaughtering and meat packing_________________
Drugs and chemicals__________________________
Cotton yard goods_____________________________
Wood products (boxes, furniture, and lumber
veneer)_____________________________________
Bags-------------------------------------------------------------Waste_____________________________,__________
Piecework—
Nuts__________________________________________
Paper and paper products______________________
House furnishings_____________________________
Metal products------------------------------------------------Candy________________________________________
Canning and preserving________________________
Hosiery and knit goods________________________
Clothing______________________________________
Tobacco_______________________________________
Cordage and twine____________________________
Cigars________________________________________




Number

of women
Per cent reported
. 100.0
161
. 99.3
152
. 94.5
696
. 83.3
54
68.4
136
.
.
-

65.8
59.7
54.3

491
288
116

_ 100.0
. 95.9
_ 91.0
_ 89.6
. 83.9
_ 74.8
_ 74.3
- 73.5
- 73.5
73.1
. 72.8

1,017
74
335
77
31
151
202
102
1,338
93
464

8

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

Earnings:
1. Week’s earnings—
a. Medians of the earnings of 5,558 women in 209 establishments in
11 States—
1920, summer—Kansas,312 establishments, 168 Women. $19. 50
1920, June-July, and 1921, February-April—Georgia,
26 establishments, 931 women
6.10
1921, October, November—Kentucky, 18 establish­
ments, 1,126 women
8.35
1921-22, November, December, January—South Caro­
lina, 12 establishments, 268 women
5.25
1922, February—Alabama, 26 establishments, 155
women-_________________________________________
6. 20
1922, February—Arkansas, 11 establishments, 76
women
5. 05
1922. April—Missouri, 17 establishments, 1,154 women.
5.10
1922, September—New Jersey, 13 establishments, 121
women-------------------------------------------------------------- 11. 30
1922, September—Ohio. 16 establishments, 652; women.
8.65
1925, January—Mississippi, 12 establishments, 243
women______________________________ __________
5. 70
1925, February—Tennessee, 46 establishments, 664
women
7, 55
6. Highest and lowest median, by industry—
1920—High : General mercantile—8 women in 7 estab­
lishments 20.50
Low: Slaughtering and meat packing—157
women in 4 establishments 19. 70
1920-21—High : Sugar—48 women in 1 establishment. 10.35
Low: Clothing—33 women in 1 establish­
ment ---------------------------------------------------3.85
1921—High: General mercantile—7 women in 2 estab­
lishments
9.25
Low: Tobacco—1,086 women in 10 establish­
ments ------------------------------------------------------8.30
1921-22—High : General mercantile—10 women in 2
establishments10. 25
Low: Cigars—192 women in 2 establish­
ments
4.80
1922—High : Scientific instruments—29 women in 1 es­
tablishment 13.65
Low: Lumber and veneer—20 women in 2 estab­
lishments ;
3. 00
1925—High : Paper box—8 women in 1 establishment. 10. 50
Low’: Boxes and crates—137 women in 3 estab­
lishments
5.55
Hosiery and knit goods—43 women in 1
establishment
5. 55
e. Highest and lowest median, by occupation—•
1920—High: Make and stuff sausage—6 women in 2;
establishments 22. 35
Low: Pick chickens—11 women in 2 establish­
ments
7.75
1920-21—High : Shuck oysters;—17 women in 1 estab­
lishment 11.50
Low: Clothing, operate machine—28 women
in 1 establishment
3. 80
* The unusually high median in Kansas is caused by the high payments in slaughtering
and meat packing, the industry employing 93.5 per cent of the negro women whose earn­
ings were reported in that State. These amounts followed the award of the United States
arbitrator for labor disputes in that industry. See U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of
Labor Statistics, Monthly Labor Review', July, 1920, pp. 101 ff, for an article based on
seven pamphlets issued by the United States administration for adjustment of labor ques­
tions arising in certain packing-house industries, Samuel Alschulcr, U. S. administrator.
Findings and awards, Feb. 15, 1919, to Apr. 26, 1920. (Chicago, 1919, 1920.)




INTRODUCTION

3

Earnings—Continued.
1. Week’s earnings—Continued.
c. Highest and lowest median, by occupation—Continued.
1921—High : Tobacco, feed—20 women in 3 establish­
ments$14. 00
.
Low: Tobacco', pick—7 women in 1 establish­
ment 7.30
1921-22—High: General mercantile, make altera­
tions—91 women in 1 establishment______ 10.15
Low: Tobacco', bunch—16 women in 1 estab­
lishment,______________________________
1- 85
1922—High : Tobacco', leaf shake—5 women iii 1 estab­
lishment 15.25
Low: Lumber and veneer, pull—5 women in 1
establishment----------------------------------------------1.60
1925—High : Tobacco, twist—48 women in 1 establish­
ment 12- 60
Low: Boxes and crates, staple girls.—5 women
in 1 establishment-------------------------------------3. 75
2. Week’s earnings and weekly rates—
a. Medians of the week’s earnings of 1,689 women in 154
establishments in 10 States fell below medians of the
weekly rates of the same women in each State by the
following proportions:
Per cent
Percent
_
12.0
Alabama
8.8 Missouri
New Jersey
-_
3.5
16.2
Georgia
13.5 Ohio
South Carolina
6.9
7.3
Mississippi
7.0 Tennessee
y. Industries in which the medians of earnings varied in
the greatest degree from the median for all women
reported in the State in which they were found—
Exceeding the median for all women reported in State—
General mercantile—of 8 women in 5 establishments,
75.4 per cent.
General mercantile—of 10 women in 2 establishments,
69.4 per cent.
Furniture—of 20 women in 1 establishment, 47.7 per cent.
Cotton yard goods—of 14 women in 5 establishments,
43.4 per cent,
“ Other textiles ”—of 27 women in 2 establishments,
43.4 per cent.
Lumber and veneer—of 6 women in 1 establishment,
39.3 per cent.
Falling- below the median for all women reported in State—
Canning and preserving—of 7 women in 1 establishment,
53.3 per cent.
General mercantile—of 8 women in 6 establishments,
45.2 per cent.
Waste—of 41 women in 1 establishment, 29.5 per cent.
Bags—of 101 women in 1 establishment, 24.6 per cent.
“ Other wood ”—of 30 women in 3 establishments, 22,9 per
cent.
Bags—of 44 women in 3 establishments, 21 per cent.
Furniture—of 58 women in 3 establishments, 20.3 per cent.
3. Week’s earnings of tlmeworkers and of pieceworkers in the same
occupation at the same time, including reports on 1,743 women
in 10 States—
a. Timeworkers’ highest earnings—
Tobacco—
Stemmers, 1922.—
8 timeworkersmedian__ $12. 50
137 pieceworkers------------------------------ do-----5. 30
Stemmers, 1921—
27 timeworkersdo----- 12.10
547 pieceworkers------------------------------ dO'-----6. 75




10

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

Earnings—Continued.
3. Week’s earnings of time-workers and of pieceworkers, etc.—Contd.
а. Timeworkers’ highest earnings—Continued.
Cigars, stemmers, 1922—
11 timeworkersmedian— $10. 20
22 pieceworkersdo___ 10. 35
Bags, turners, 1925—
6 timeworkersdo___
9.15
25 pieceworkersdo___
5.15
б. Pieceworkers’ highest earnings—
Furniture, assemblers, 1925—;
34 pieceworkersdo___ 11. 20
3 timeworkersrange— 1.15-6. 88
Bags, patchers, sewers, menders, 1922—
16 pieceworkersmedian_11.00
4 timeworkersrange_7. 00-10.10
Cigars, stemmers, 1922—
22 pieceworkersmedian_10. 85
11 timeworkers,_________________________ do___ 10. 20
Boxes and crates, machine operators, 1925—
5 pieceworkersdo___
9 .85
3 timeworkersrange_5.62-6.87
4. Year’s earnings—
u. Medians of the earnings of 326 women in 55 establishments
in 9 States—
1920—Kansas, 5 establishments, 108 women_________
860
1920 and 1921—Georgia, 11 establishments, 44 women,
414
1921—Kentucky, 6 establishments, 26 women________
500
1921-22—South Carolina, 3 establishments, 12 women.
303
1922—Alabama, 6 establishments, 18 women________
291
Missouri, 4 establishments, 14 women_________
541
Ohio, 6 establishments, 48 women____________
450
1925—Mississippi, 5 establishments, 24 women_______
288
Tennessee, 9 establishments, 32 women_______
450
6. Highest and lowest medians of the year’s earnings—
1920-21—High : “ Other wood,” 14 women in 1 estab­
lishment
425
Low: Boxes and crates, 5 women in 2 estab­
lishments,______________________________
310
1921—Tobacco,4 25 women in 5 establishments______
488
1921—Cigars,4 8 women in 1 establishment__________
344
1922—High : Bags, 6 women in 2 establishments_____
621
Low: Cotton yard goods, 12 women in 4 estab­
lishments___ _
291
1925—High : Furniture, 13 women in 3 establishments.
483
Low: Candy, 5 women in 1 establishment_____
232
c. Occupations with highest and lowest medians where ascer­
tainable or individual earnings—
1920—High: Slaughtering and meat packing, casing
and chitterling workers, 40 in 2 establish­
ments-------------------------------------------- median..
882
Low: General mercantile, 1 stock girl_________
421
1920-21—High: “ Other wood,” 1 sorter______________
702
Low : Boxes and crates, 1 puller__________
252
1921—High: Canning and preserving, 1 cook_________
659
Low: Tobacco, stemmers and strippers, 19 in
4 establishmentsmedian_
563
1921-22—High: General mercantile, 1 alteration
worker
608
Low: Cigars, 1 stemmer
231
1922—High : Bags, 1 patcher, sewer, mender__________
895
Low : Cotton yard goods, 1 roving hauler_______
186
1925—High: Tobacco, twisters, 5 in 1 establish­
ment _______________ ___________ median___
725
Low: Candy, wrappers, 5 in 1 establish­
ment median_______________________________
232
Only industry for which years’s earnings were reported during this period.




INTRODUCTION

11

The workers:
1. Age distribution of 3,150 women in 12 States, per cent—
Under 20 years 13.1
20 and under 30 years---------------------------------------------------------- 42.7
30 and under 40 years---------------------------------------------------------- 25.7
40 and under 50 years 12. 7
50 and under 60 years-------------------------------------------------------4.3
60 years and over
1. 5
2. Marital distribution of 3,048 women in 12 States, per cent—
Single 30. 2
Married 39. 9
Widowed, separated, or divorced 29. 8
3. Time in the trade—
а. Per cent distribution of 2,819 women in 143 establishments
in 12 States, per cent—
Under 1 year 22.1
1 and under 5 years 49. 0
5 and under 10 years----------------------------------------------- 17.6
10 years and over U. 4
б. in chief industries in which negro women were employed—
Under 1 yearNuts, 39.6 per cent of 444 women.
1 and under 5 years . Slaughtering and meat packing, 69 per
cent of 355 women.
Textile industries, 54.5 per cent of
224 women.
Wood products, 68.2 per cent of 370
women.
5 years and over_____Tobacco products, 50.7 per cent of 834
women.
34574°—29----- 2




to

2.8%

2.4%

1.0%
Tobacco
products




Textiles

Wood

Slaughter- Other

House

industry products ing and
food
furnish- products
meat products
inps
packing

■

Clothing

0.8%

0.6%

■■

Metal
PapeT
Miscel- General
and
products loneous mercantile
manufac­
paper
products
turing

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

INDUSTRIAL DISTRIBUTION
OF 12,284 NEGRO WOMEN IN IS STATES

52.2%

CHAPTER n.—OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION
The novelty of the entrance of a considerable number of negro
women into the manufacturing and mechanical industries is attested
by census figures. In 1890 reports for the entire United States in­
cluded only 26,817, who formed but 2.61 per cent1 of all women so
engaged and but 2.76 per cent12 of all negro women gainfully oc­
cupied. Of 975,530 colored women gainfully employed, a figure in­
cluding Indians3 and a few Chinese and Japanese, 38.74 per cent
were in agriculture, 30.83 per cent were “ servants ” (cooks, chamber­
maids, etc.), and 15.59 per cent were laundresses.
The industrial history of any highly organized community will
show that, as members of a new and inexperienced nationality, sex, or
race arrive at the doors of its industries, the occupations that open
to them ordinarily are those vacated by an earlier stratum of workers
who have moved on to more alluring places. The history of the
earlier processions of women workers in New England textile mills,
for instance, shows a picture typical of such occupational changes
as those that occur to-day and that may sometimes be less clearly seen
because complicated by the many social and economic factors incident
to the more intensively organized urban community of the present
age.
* * * the moving of the New England girls of the old stock out of the
mills into higher-grade occupations', and the tilling of the vacant posts by Irish
women, had become common enough in the latter half of the forties.
* * * Irish women who would have entered domestic service during the
first decade after Irish immigration began, gradually drifted into the mills
during the forties, and in the early fifties, * * *.4

After the war of 1861-1865 other places were open to women, and—
Not only the native-born, but the immigrant Irish operatives were seeking
higher-grade employments, and a new wave of immigration was beginning to fill
their places with less skilled and less efficient hands from the French-Canadian
provinces.5

The occupations for which the management is forced to look for
new and untried recruits are likely to be, for one reason or another,
those that are the more undesirable in the industry or in the com­
munity. For the foregoing reasons the negro woman, like all new
entrants into industry, usually has found open to her only those occu­
pations left by workers who have moved on into more agreeable
employment. The tasks in which she was first engaged generally
have been the more menial, the lower paid, the heavier, the more
hazardous—in short, for some reason the least agreeable—in the in­
dustry or in the community. This would have been true because of
1U. S. Bureau of the Census.

Eleventh Census: 1890.

Population Ft. II n exvii

2 Ibid., p. cxvi.

3 Ibid., p. exxi.
4 Abbott, Edith.
pp. 137 and 138.
5 Ibid., p. 143.

Women in Industry.




D. Appleton & Co., New York and London, 1924,
,

13

14

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

her race alone, since it was the case also with negro men. It has
been doubly true because, in many occupations, her sex had been
but recently admitted.
The situation in which negroes, and especially negro women, gen­
erally have found themselves in relation to industry has been well
summarized by two recent writers, each a sociologist of note. Jerome
Dowd, of the University of Oklahoma, says in a recent publication:
In the traditional skilled trades in the North, the Negro has found the field
preempted by the whites, but in recent years, skilled labor of a new and more
varied kind has been open to him in some of the large manufacturing plants,
although 90 per cent of the Negroes employed in these plants are as yet
unskilled workers.
In recent years, the restriction on foreign immigration has greatly increased
the demand for unskilled labor.

Speaking of the situation in the North, he continues:
It has been very difficult for Negroes to get employment in the skilled trades
except when and where there has been a shortage of white labor.

Of the South, Professor Dowd says—
Probably 90 per cent of the Negroes employed in manufacturing and mechan­
ical occupations and in trade and transportation, are doing unskilled work.68 97

The reason why many negroes are still found in the less skilled
occupations is clearly given by Edward B. Reuter, of the University
of Iowa, who says—
The employment of Negroes in industry has in nearly all cases been because
white laborers were not available. * * * Rightly or wrongly, there has
been a general belief that they are not fitted to' perform technical tasks of
other than a routine nature. * * * When individuals have been given a
trial at skilled labor the results have sometimes been surprising to employers
and superintendents.
A number of facts for which the Negroes themselves are in no way responsible
have operated severely to limit their occupational field and virtually to exclude
them from many occupations.7

The citation of conditions in certain important industrial com­
munities will serve to illustrate further the position of the negro
woman in industry. In the summary of a report issued in 1922 the
Chicago Commission on Race Relations spoke of the “ limited field
of employment within which negroes are restricted.”8 The same
publication stated that—
Before the war created openings in industry for Negro women, they were
even more definitely restricted in their choice of occupations than were Negro
men. Restricted opportunity is evident from the fact that, in 1910, almost
two-thirds of the gainfully occupied Negro women in Chicago were engaged in
two occupational groups, “ servants,” and “ laundresses not in laundries,” * * *.
Labor shortage was given as the reason for employing Negro women and girls
by all of the firms employing them in large numbers.
Many of the establishments in question had employed large numbers of
Negro women as an experiment and had found them satisfactory.”

In Detroit, as late as 1927, the Mayor’s Committee on Race Rela­
tions reported as follows:
6 Dowd, Jerome. The Negro in American Life. Century Co., Now York and London,
1926, pp. .20, 21, and 94.
7 Reuter, Edward Byron. The American Race Problem. Thomas Y. Crowell Co.. New
York, 1927, pp. 241 and 242.
8 Chicago Commission on Race Relations. The Negro in Chicago. University of Chi­
cago Press, Chicago, 1922, p. 647.
9 Ibid., pp. 378, 380, and 625.




OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION

15

Negro women are under special disadvantage in securing employment in this
city. There is comparatively little employment for women of any race in the
metal industries of the city, * * *.
* * * a widespread discrimination, either overt or covert, against Negroes
in many labor unions, which forces the Negroes to secure employment wherever
or however they can.10 11

It is now platitudinous to point out that opportunities in occupa­
tions entirely new to women opened to them during the Great War,
when man power in industry was diminished and the flow of immi­
grant labor was stopped. Negro women then stepped into new types
of work, often those left by white women or by negro men, who
went on to war work or to more desirable posts. In several of the
15 States studied by the Women's Bureau the surveys were made con­
siderably later than the war period of phenomenal industrial activity
and of labor shortage. Seven were studied in 1921 and 1922; two in
1925. Negro women in many of the occupations included, therefore,
were not merely temporary war employees, a fact that makes it of
special interest to note the types of work in which they were found.
The total numbers reported in the different industries, and in the
occupations as far as significant or as far as known, are listed in
Appendix A. In order to show the general character of the work
engaged in, the processes involved in the industries in which the larg­
est numbers of negro women were working must be outlined briefly.
Many of the occupations in which negro women were found re­
quire care, many require some skill, but as a whole they are the
simpler types of work and are not highly skilled. In any one in­
dustry there may, of course, be many variations in method from plant
to plant, and in some plants workers may be shifted from one occupa­
tion to another even during the same day. The following descrip­
tions can not delineate the exact order followed in all plants in an
industry, but they seek rather to indicate the general character of the
occupations and the numbers found who ordinarily were engaged in
them. The descriptions of processes are true of the time of study,
and it should go without saying that, while negro women often were
found in the more undesirable occupations, these are continually
being made less arduous by the introduction of newer methods.
TOBACCO AND CIGARS

As early as 1880 the tobacco industry employed 20,480 women 16
years of age and over, and its work, therefore, is not new to their sex.11
Since the institution of the factory method of rehandling, negro
women have held a monopoly of the heavy and dusty labor in the
preparation of tobacco for manufacturing. ' In 1910 tliere were more
than 10,000 of them in cigar and tobacco factories. It is not surpris­
ing, therefore, that more than one-half of all the negro women in­
cluded in the present study were engaged in this industry. Data
were obtained in 64 tobacco establishments in 9 States, and in these
there were 6.411 negro women, who formed 29.4 per cent of the 21,829
recorded12 by the 1920 census as laborers and semiskilled workers in
“ Detroit, Mich. Mayor's Committee on Race Relations. Report. Tublic Business,
vol. 4, No. 3, Mar. 10, 1927, p. 13. Detroit Bureau of Governmental Research.
11 U. S. Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census: 1900, vol. 7, Manufactures, Pt. I, p. 8,
Table I.

12 See table on p. 3.




16

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

cigar and tobacco factories. Fifteen of the plants studied made cigars
and employed 616 of the negro women; the other 5,795 women were in
49 plants engaged in the preparation of tobacco.
Idle processes involved are simple in character and lack variety,
but frequently they require a considerable degree of manual dexterity.
Skill in performance leads to no advance in type of work, however,
since the different occupations are entirely independent. While the
order of preparation may not be exactly the same in different estab­
lishments and while many workers may be shifted from one occupa­
tion to another, a summary of the chief occupations of negro women
in tobacco rehandling w7ill give some idea of the types of work in
which they w7ere engaged at the time of study.
When the hogsheads of tobacco come from the warehouse, the leaves
are taken out and, after each bunch is given a little shake to remove
dust, they may be placed in a pile or perhaps on a moving belt from
which workers pick out sticks and trash. Leaves are next taken up,
tied into bunches, and hung on racks ready to be fed into the steamer.
In some plants much irritating dust is likely to affect workers in these
occupations. The tobacco is fed into a revolving drum or screen
through which steam passes and from which the leaves, emerging
moist and softened for stemming, are taken off and put into trays.
In many steaming rooms wrorliers are likely to be subject to a high
degree of humidity and to the heavy odor of the tobacco, although
during a part of the time of this study, and since, efforts to minimize
the disagreeable features have given a large measure of relief in more
and more plants.
The bunches of tobacco are next separated and shaken out. The
workers sometimes dip one hand in a pan of oil and grease the leaves,
which are then spread out and sorted according to size, and different
varieties are blended in order to secure the desired quality of the
finished product. The poorer leaves are placed aside to be used for
the filler of cigars, and the better leaves, or more often those of a
special kind or grade of tobacco, are assigned for the wrappers, the
latter being further graded. In the foregoing processes, all of which
are preparatory to stemming, the following numbers of negro women
were found in the plants surveyed: 24 spreading leaves, 227 picking
or searching, 918 tying and hanging, 463 feeding, 57 classifying and
sorting, 45 in blending departments, and 2 leaf greasing.
The largest numbers of negro women found in any one occupation
were stemming or stripping, designations used interchangeably.
When this is done by hand it ordinarily consists of removing the
midvein from the moist leaf by folding the leaf along the center,
underside outermost, holding the tip in one band, grasping the mid­
rib between thumb and forefinger of the other hand, and with a
quick, deft turn of the wrrist tearing out the rib with as little damage
to the leaf as possible. If the tobacco is for filler in cigars, the
worker may lay the leaves together in pound packages or in large
boxes, weighing them. Leaves for binding the filler and for the final
outside wrapping of cigars must be stripped with great care to avoid
tearing and they are almost always stemmed by hand, especially in
the case of wrappers. When the stemming is done by machine, the
leaf must be placed in position Jo be carried under a knife that cuts




OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION

17

out the vein. The question of whether the hand or the machine
method shall predominate is largely one of policy, depending on
various factors, such as kind of tobacco and size of establishment.
Certain varieties of tobacco appear to lend themselves better to the
one or to the other of these methods, and, in addition, since the
machine can not work so carefully in saving tobacco as can the hand
stemmer, it is more likely to be found in the larger concerns where
spoiled leaves can be used. The great majority of the negro women
stripped by hand. Some were found at machine stemming, which,
while not a skilled occupation, represents the highest-paid work for
negro women in tobacco factories. In 12 cigar firms in 6 States 401
negro women were stemming or stripping, and in 27 other tobacco
establishments in 6 States 3,011 were engaged in the same process.
This represents more than one-half of all the negro women whose
occupations were reported in cigar and tobacco factories.
After stripping the treatment varies more widely according to the
final product, if it is to be prepared for cigars or for pipe use,
the tobacco may be cut, ground, or shredded, by hand or machinery.
In one firm 28 women were found at this work. Bunching or break­
ing for cigars is a semiskilled process requiring more or less judg­
ment. Provided with a supply of binders and a given weight of
tobacco shredded and ground into long and short filler from which to
make a specified number of cigars, the worker places the tobacco on
the binder, into which it is wrapped either by hand or by machine.
In 4 States 54 negro women were found bunching and in an estab­
lishment in 1 of these States 9 women wTere grinders.
If smoking or chewing tobacco is to be made, the next process is
casing or mixing with the desired flavoring. This requires care and
is usually performed by men. For some kinds of smoking tobacco
the leaf is dipped by hand and shaken out as taken from the liquid.
In 2 States a few negro women were shaking the leaves and in 1
of these 4 women were in cooking and casing departments and 2
were special leaf dippers.
If the tobacco is to be made into plugs, lump makers weigh out
the proper amount for a lump and feed it through a machine that
presses it into shape. Chewing tobacco is sometimes prepared in a
twist and this may be made by hand. In a. small firm in one State
negro women were in the casing department and some were making
lumps and twisting; in another State a larger number were twisters;
and in still another some were operating wringing machines for
extracting excess juice from the tobacco.
In addition to the women working with the tobacco, a considerable
number reported in the same plants were engaged in auxiliary proc­
esses connected with the making of boxes or containers for the to­
bacco, or with the final preparation for the market. In 1 firm a
woman was putting the paper bands on cigars, an occupation not
usually performed by negro women. Others in the finishing or aux­
iliary processes were as follows: 15 packing cigars, 57 pasting and
folding boxes, 4 sewing sacks for pipe tobacco, 117 wrapping, pack­
ing, boxing, and labeling tobacco. Special note should be taken of
one significant instance, that of a negro woman reported as a time­
keeper in a tobacco factory.




18

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

FOOD

Negro women were reported in five food industries: Bakeries,
candy, the canning and preserving of fruits and vegetables, slaugh­
tering and meat packing, and nuts. The census figures do not take
separate account of the last-named, but indicate that the other four
are comparatively new to negro women. Few were employed in
them in 1910, and in the case of each the increase by 1920 was con­
siderable.13
Slaughtering and meat packing.
The 1910 census records only 173 negro women in slaughtering
and meat-packing establishments, but by 1920 there were 2.164 re­
ported—960 as laborers and 1,204 as semiskilled operatives. Studies
made by the Women’s Bureau in 9 establishments in 3 States include
880 negro women, a number that forms 40.7 per cent of those reported
in 1920. This industry, in which many of the occupations necessarily
are disagreeable in the extreme, forms a good example of the placing
of newcomers in the most undesirable of its tasks, since in many cases
it was in the most unpleasant of these that negro women, a group
recently come into the industry, were engaged. For 60 per cent of
all the women included, occupations were reported. About one-third
worked with casings and chitterlings. The latter are the intestines
of hogs; the former, coverings for sausage, prepared from intestines
and other internal membranes of cattle, sheep, and hogs. The earlier
processes of removing the contents, turning wrong side out, scraping,
brushing, and trimming are often done in rooms with cement or
brick floors that sometimes are covered with so much standing or
running water that the workers find it necessary to wear rubber
boots. While work in these surroundings usually is performed by
men, some negro women were found in casing and offal departments
and on the killing floor. They turned, cleaned, scraped, and washed
casings; washed fat; pulled fat from casings; and trimmed fat. A
few singed off hair, and additional occupations in this department
were cleaning racks, splitting weasands, braining heads, taking out
hogs’ eyes, ripping guts, measuring bladders, shaving ears, plucking
lungs, and skinning sheep tongues. Casings are again handled in
the sausage department, where it is more usual to find negro women
than in the earlier processes. In the making of wet (fresh) sausage
they were washing casings, pulling fat from chitterlings, tying and
linking sausage, and one was a scaler (weigher). In the preparing
of dry sausage they were turning, brushing, scraping, salting, trim­
ming, cutting, matching, and sewing casings.
In 7 establishments in 3 States 110 women were reported as cut­
ting meat and trimming, which is done with a knife by hand and
requires skill or dexterity, and often strength. Some of these were
meat trimmers in the canning department. At least 26 were reported
as pork trimmers, which is often thought “ too heavy ” for American
white women, although this and sausage linking are considered the
most skilled of women’s jobs. Others worked in hog-killing depart­
13 Census figures in this chapter, except where otherwise specified, are from the follow
ing : U. S. Bureau of the Census. Thirteenth Census: 1910, vol. 4, Population, Occupa­
tions, Table 6, Manufacturing and mechanical industries, pp. 312-411; and ibid., Four­
teenth Census: 1920, vol. 4, Population, Occupations, Table 5, pp. 342-350.




OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION

19

ments and trimmed livers, giblets, and paunches, took out glands and
tongues, split hearts, and trimmed off fat.
In 3 plants 60 negro women found in various departments were
engaged in the miscellaneous occupations of wrapping, packing,
stamping, labeling, or inspecting, including some who packed fresh
sausage, tongue, ham, or fancy meat, topped cans, or “scaled” the
full cans. From later visits made by agents of the Women’s Bureau
to some of the same plants it is reported that negro women are now
found in these jobs to only a very small extent.
In 2 States 38 women were reported in canning and packing depart­
ments, chiefly as general workers or can washers and as meat trim­
mers. Additional occupations in which a few negro women were
found are the following: Making gut strings, sewing burlap, picking
chickens, weaving, and opening ropes in the handling of curled hair.
Candy.
In candy making the 1910 census reported only 126 negro women;
in the 1920 census 803 were recorded. The number studied by the
Women’s Bureau forms 25.5 per cent of the 1920 census number and
includes 205 in 10 establishments in 6 States. For nearly two-thirds
of these the occupations were reported. More than four-fifths of
these were wrapping the pieces of candy, occasionally by machinery;
packing them in boxes; labeling, sometimes by machine; and inspect­
ing. Some put the candy on trays, .after cutting, or removed it from
the trays. The more expert processes of mixing the materials and
cooking were done by men. Most of the occupations engaged in by
negro women involved simple operations or movements repeated
indefinitely and were connected with preparing the cheaper grades of
candy. In one establishment 4 women were found picking out the
bad peanuts from those carried by on a moving belt; in another, 2
operated cutting machines; and in the same State women in 1 firm
were at enrobing machines, which coat the candy centers with choco­
late. Usually 4 girls are found at an enrober, 2 placing the creams
on the wire conveyor to be dipped in chocolate and 2 at the other
end separating the chocolates with a wire to prevent them from run­
ning together and taking them off.
Canning and preserving.
In the canning of fruits and vegetables the 1910 census reported
124 negro women, the 1920 census 578. Of the latter figure the negro
women studied by the Women’s Bureau form 25.4 per cent, and in­
clude 147 negro women in 5 canneries in 4 States. Of these, 70.7
per cent were pitting fruit or peeling. A number were helpers or
1 aborers; some were washing cans and bottles; some sorting, bottling,
or labeling. In addition to those canning fruits and vegetables, 17
women in 1 firm were shucking oysters, which is rough, dirty work,
usually done in damp, insanitary surroundings. In a firm making
preserves, jams, and jellies, 10 women were cooking.
In a small pickle factory, 2 negro women were foreladies—1 in
charge of bottling, the. other in charge of all women. The work of
the latter involved the engaging and the entire management of
women employees. Her position/although in a small establishment,
was one of the most significant found.




20

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

Bakeries.
In 7 bakeries in 3 States there were 34 negro women, about onethird of whom wrapped bread, while some washed dishes and some
packed bread. A few were engaged in the somewhat more skilled
occupations noted below, occupations which, although they remained
traditional in that they were connected with cooking, were notable in
that they represented the carrying of the older processes into the
newer industrial organization. It is of interest to note also that in
this food industry negro women found place in larger numbers
earlier than in the other food industries considered. The 1910 census
reported 274 in bakeries, which was more than twice as many as those
at that time in candy., and over 100 more than those in slaughtering
and meat packing. By 1920, however, although the number had
increased it was smaller than that in any one of the three other indus­
tries under consideration. Seven of the women studied by the
Women’s Bureau made pies, 2 prepared fillings, 2 iced cakes, and 1
topped pies. All those employed upon these more skilled duties were
found in a southern State in firms in which negro women worked
also as dishwashers.
Nuts.
Except for tobacco and the combined textile industries, the nut
establishments studied employed a larger number of negro women
than did any other industry. “This included 1,017 women in 6 estab­
lishments in 2 States. Despite the number, the occupations were not
significant, all but 5 women of those reported being engaged in
picking out and sorting nut meats. One stenciled bags, 1 sorted bags,
and 1 was listed as a cook. A negro forelady was found in charge
of 19 women in the sorting department of one firm.
Other food products.
In the preparation of other food products, such as sugar, oil and
lard, coffee and spices, macaroni, or molasses, the work done by negro
women required little training of any kind and included such occu­
pations as washing, picking nuts for peanut butter, packing and
labeling, and picking over material in a chewing-gum firm.
TEXTILES

.The census of 1910 listed 1,157 negro women in cotton and knitting
mills. Of those in cotton factories with occupations reported, more
than 60 per cent were laborers, scrubbers, sweepers, sorters, and
pickers of waste matter from raw cotton; and about 22 per cent were
listed as spinners, weavers, speeders and rovers, winders, reelers and
spoolers, machine hands, and carders, combers, and lappers. Of the
274 with occupations specified in knitting mills, only 30 were labor­
ers, and 111 were knitters, loopers and toppers, inspectors, and sewers
and sewing-machine operators. In these two branches of the textile
industry, the 1920 census listed 5,081 negro women, of whom 3,149
were laborers, the remainder being reported as semiskilled operatives.
The laborers formed 70.6 per cent of those in cotton mills and only
38.3 per cent of those in knitting mills.
TV omen s Bureau studies in 7 States included 615 negro women in
32 plants making cotton yard goods or hosiery and knit goods. This




OCCUPATIONAL, DISTRIBUTION

21

number of women forms 12.1 per cent of those reported in 1920 in
cotton and knitting mills. In 20 additional textile plants that can be
less clearly compared to the census classifications, the Women’s
Bureau studies include 561 negro women, of whom 296 were in bag
making, 95 in the manufacture of cordage and twine, 23 in yarn
plants, 116 in waste factories, and 31 in other textile mills, one of
which made fine yard goods, 1 silk thread, and 1 woolen cloth and
cotton goods.
As a rule, the occupations of negro women in textiles, except those
in hosiery and knit goods, were concerned chiefly with cleaning, with
the simpler performances, with the traditional hand occupations, or
with the heavier or dirtier parts of the work. In hag making the
largest numbers were engaged in sewing or in the heavier work of
turning; a few were riveting, which requires some skill. For the few
in cordage and twine factories, spinning and machine operations
formed the chief occupations; some skill and experience are necessary
for spinners, even though the work in twine mills is with relatively
coarse material. In firms manufacturing yarn nearly one-half of
the few involved were in the drawing departments. In establish­
ments making cotton yard goods, many cleaned or handled waste,
while the largest group was formed by battery hands who filled with
yarn the frames and looms of the machines. Very few were actually
operating machines. In waste factories nearly one-half were prepar­
ing waste for wiping machinery.
Hosiery and knit goods.
Only in the making of hosiery and knit goods did fairly large
numbers of negro women appear to be engaged upon parts of the
work that bore a considerable degree of importance in the manufac­
turing process, and that required some skill. In this branch of the
industry 327 women were reported in 7 factories in 6 States, 5 of the
States included being in the South. If 23 in 3 yarn factories be
added, the number forms 26 per cent of those reported in knitting
mills in the 1920 census. In addition, in a plant more recently
visited and not) tabulated, 100 negro women were employed, some of
them as loopers, as seamers, or as boarders. Two-thirds of the 327
in hosiery and knit wear carried on parts of the work contributing
to the manufacture and preparation of the product as distinguished
from finishing. The operations involved in hosiery malting are
chiefly in connection with machines. They are light and rather mo­
notonous and usually are not considered highly skilled, although they
are as skilled as much power-machine sewing and require dexterity
and exactness. Frequently they involve long standing and subject
workers to great strain from speed and sometimes to eyestrain.
Nearly one-third of the negro women in hosiery were seamers or
inspected seams; 70 were boarders; there were a number of winders,
of knitters, of loopers, of inspectors, menders, and turners, and there
were 9 spinners ; a few were pairers, folders, stampers, and ticketers,
and the remaining occupations included a doffer, a bobbin cleaner, a
teacher, and a woman in a drawing department. A brief description
of the processes followed in making hosiery and knit goods will
indicate the types of work done by these women.
In the spinning room, the roving, composed of evenly laid fibers
not yet formed into thread, is twisted for strengthening and wound




22

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

on a bobbin or cop. Women operate the frame spinner, an occupa­
tion that, while it requires a knack somewhat difficult to attain at
first, needs very little knowledge of the machine. The chief duty
is that of placing full bobbins of roving on the creel (or frame) of
the machine, where they are set close together but become empty at
different times as the yarn is transferred to the small spinning bobbin.
This is known as “ setting in roving.” The worker must walk up and
down the aisle between her frames to see when bobbins run out, and
she must piece up ends of broken threads. Three or four times a day
she cleans the frame by picking out lint and lap from its rollers.
The wrorkers who remove full bobbins from the spinning frame are
known as doffers, a term applied to those who take off work from any
of the machines but especially signifying the spinning frames. Doff­
ing is considered rather difficult work; the frames must be carefully
watched in order that full bobbins may be removed quickly. While
doffers occasionally have free time, they sometimes must move very
rapidly to keep up with the work, and are likely to be almost con­
stantly on their feet, walking back and forth by the frames.
After the yarn is spun, it is transferred from the spinners’ bobbins
to cones that are evenly wound. The winders place the cones in posi­
tion, carefully examine the yarn to see that it is of smooth texture
and winds evenly, tie broken ends, replace empty bobbins, and remove
cones when filled. The knitters put the cones on the knitting ma­
chines, watch the yarn closely to see that it runs properly and that
there are no defects in the fabric, and remove the completed material.
In one firm 24 winders were found, while in this and in an establish­
ment in another State there wTere 49 knitters. The toes, and some­
times the heels, of stockings are at first left open. The work of
closing these is known as looping. In factories making hose that are
full-fashioned (shaped to the leg and having a seam down the back),
these may be seamed at the time the toes are joined. The women who
loop and seam carry bundles of hose frequently weighing 35 to 50
pounds. Then, stitch by stitch, they place together, on a series of fine
needles or quills, the corresponding opposite loops of the open edges
of a stocking, so that the looping machine can catch each stitch and
complete a perfect seam. While these machines are not dangerous,
the work is likely to strain the eyes and it produces a considerable
nervous tension when done at high speed. After the hose are made
they must be turned, which may be done by hand by the seated
inspectors, who carefully examine the fabric for defects and also
mend dropped stitches. Turning is sometimes done by drawing the
hose quickly over a metal bar fastened upright to a table and taking
them from the bar right side out. This must be done standing, and
the same workers change off to inspecting and mending, for which
they are seated.
While still damp from the dyeing room the hose come to the
boarders, who pull them onto wooden or metal forms shaped to the
leg and foot, place them in drying kilns, and later strip or take them
from the forms. This task of stretching the hose evenly usually has
been performed by men. It is a somewhat difficult, one and is made
rather disagreeable by the fact that the dye is still wet.
Finally stockings must be mated or paired, stamped with the name
of the firm, and folded for placing in boxes. This may be done by




OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION

23

“ general workers ” who can fill in wherever needed as_ well as by
those permanently assigned to certain processes. Stamping is often
done by hand and requires deftness and care in making the impres­
sion clear, even, and neat. In one firm fouT negro women were
pairers, folders, stampers, and ticketers, and in an establishment in
another State four were general workers. In one hosiery mill there
was a negro woman as teacher, but she did not work full time and
her earnings were very low.
Bags.
In bag making, 296 negro women weTe studied in seven establish­
ments in four States. These, with the women in waste factories,
form 38.4 per cent of the number reported in unspecified textile mills
in 1920. More than one-tenth of those found by the Women’s Bu­
reau were turning bags in a manner similar to that described in
hosiery, except that it was done over two upright rods adjusted to
the width of the bag instead of over one as for hose. This is a
strenuous operation and is now often done by an improved machine
method. Three negro women in one plant were riveting bags, which
is also fairly heavy work and requires some degree of skill, and three
were sewing-machine operators.
Cotton yard goods.
In 25 cotton-yard-goods factories in 6 States there were 288 negro
women. In this branch of the industry were found most of the night
workers, 11 of 19, the remainder being in bag plants. Negro wojnen
in cotton mills were not, as were those in hosiery, found in the more
skilled occupations. Of those whose occupations were reported, 73
per cent were fillers of frames and batteries; cleaners of hoppers,
quills (the fine needles), or machines; and breakers, waste hands, or
pickers; or they were in drawing departments, where they were
chiefly engaged in filling frames. There were 15 who hauled roving.
Perhaps those who may be considered the most skilled were seven
twisters, a creeler, a butt winder, and a sewer in the gray room—that
is, where the cloth is handled before dyeing. Less well paid were
four rope-forming tenders. Some idea of the actual work done by
these women may be obtained from a brief survey of the processes
in which they were engaged.
The raw cotton is fed into a bale breaker, a hopper fitted with
spikes that tear the matted sheets into small bunches, after which it is
“ picked ”■
—beaten as it runs through a machine—to remove dust
and foreign matter. It is then sent through carding machines,
which comb it, lay the fibers even, and finally deliver it in soft strands
called roving. Carding machines must be cleaned, or stripped, two
or three times a day—a very dirty job. The negro women reported
as cleaners, or as miscellaneous workers in carding rooms, usually
were room cleaners and only rarely did stripping. In the drawing
department the roving is run through several sets of machines to
draw it to the fineness desired foT yarn or thread. The work is done
by drawing frames, or on a series of fly (or roving) frames, including
a slubber and several speeders. Spinning, as described in hosiery
and knit wear (see pp. 21-22), next takes place, after which the yarn
is twisted into two, three, or four ply strands, and that from several
spools is wound upon one bobbin to the type to fit in the shuttle.




24

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

Twisters and spoolers must stand at their work, but if the machines
run smoothly there may be some opportunities to sit. The material
may next be dressed or brushed for smoothness, and sizing put in
for strength.
r
Unless the yarn is to; be dyed at this stage the threads that are to
form the warp, or lengthwise threading of the cloth, are wound on a
broad beam. In order to do this, spools are placed on a creel or
frame so that they will unwind without tangling. The occupation
of changing the empty spools for full ones and tying the last end of
mu '<l ( hi,the first end of the new is known as creeling or tying over.
Ihis requires little skill and allows some free time to the worker but
since the rack is about 6 feet high and extends almost to the floor it
necessitates much reaching and bending. Negro women were not
reported as warpers on weaving machines, and in the remaining proc­
esses they were doing only sweeping and cleaning of various types.
At present quills ordinarily are cleaned by machine with an extra
woman picking out the thread remaining, but at the time of survey
negro women were found cleaning quills by an older method involv­
ing very heavy work and great strain on the muscles of the back and
arms, which was thus described by the investigator:
J hey stand on a low table on which bobbins, taken from the looms, are cleaned
or, rather, short lengths of yarn removed from the quills, * * *, Quills are
dumped on table and several women get up on the table and lift bunches * * *.
They pull and pull and the quills unwind until ail are clear of thread.
WOOD PRODUCTS

While in 1910 a considerable number of negro women_1 452 in
all were reported in box and furniture factories, sawmills, and
other wood plants, 64.6 per cent of them were laborers; and if the
repairers of furniture, the caners and seaters of chairs, and the basket
makers be added the proportion is 81.9 per cent. Only eight were re­
ported as machine hands. In 1920 nearly three times as many
(4,066) were listed as laborers and semiskilled operatives in lumber
ai)d furniture plants. The Women’s Bureau studies include 980,
which is 24.1 per cent of the 1920 figure. Of these, 59 were assisting
at saws, more than one-half of their number catching and off-bearing’
work requiring care but usually of a type not skilled. In addition’
31 w,ere operating, tending, or feeding machines such as cleatino-,
coupling, boring, or nail.
.
the number studied (332) about one-third were in plants mak­
ing wooden boxes, vegetable crates, and egg cases; 18T were in furni­
ture factories, and 55 in lumber and veneer mills; 406 were in estab­
lishments each of which produced some one or more of a variety of
miscellaneous articles such as matches, brooms, gunstocks, railroadtie plugs, ice-cream freezers, machine shafts, or screen doors.
In the making of boxes and crates more than one-half of those with
occupations reported were stacking lumber, baskets, or hampers, or
iveie grading and sorting. A number were saw girls, a few were
on-bearers, taking the wood from the machinery, and 10 operated
machines. In addition, a few were cleating boards with wire or
feeding the cleat machine, bundling, laying boards, matching parts,
oi serving as end holders. In furniture factories the largest group
were finishing with varnish or sandpaper, and a number were assem­




OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION

25

bling parts, serving as off-bearers, or packing. Negro women were
in furniture machine shops in 2 firms in 1 State. In lumber and.
veneer mills the chief occupations were stacking lumber, assembling
parts, off-bearing, grading, or tying bundles. In 1 plant 5 were saw
girls. The occupations of 70 per cent of those in other establish­
ments making wood products were not reported. Some of the re­
maining number were assembling parts or piling wood in the yard.
A few in one plant were packing ice-cream freezers. In another,
several were dipping gunstocks in tar, a heavy and dirty occupation.
In a match factory some were nesting boxes, sorting wood scrap, or
sorting “skillets”' (the match sticks before the ends are finished).
In a firm manufacturing brooms and in one making railroad-tie
plugs negro women were assorting the products, and in the latter 3
women were tending machines. Establishments making screen doors
in 2 States employed negro women in assembling and off-bearing,
and in addition a few in each of a variety of occupations, such as
operating boring machines or nail machines, driving spindles, gluing
doors, and stringing the wire on doors.
GLASS

The census of 1910 recorded 77 negro women in glass factories,
most of whom were laborers or helpers. One was a blower, 3 were
snappers-up, 2 were pressers and molders, and 2 were carriers. In
1920 there were recorded 2 glass blowers, 466 laborers, and 532 semi­
skilled operatives in glass factories—a total of 1,000. Three-tenths
of this number are covered by the Women’s Bureau studies, which
include 298 negro women in' 5 establishments making blown and
pressed glassware in 5 different States. For over 40 per cent of these
occupations were reported.
.
The glass industry is a very ancient one and has tended to be con­
servative, its first really revolutionary change being in the use of the
Siemens regenerative furnace, invented in 1861, and in the replace­
ment of open or closed pots by the continuous melting tank invented
in 1872.14 Although the side-lever press dates back to 1827, the
really revolutionary change in the making of pressed glassware came
with the “ feed and flow ” devices in 1917;15 that in bottle making
with the successful introduction of the Owens automatic machine in
1904.14 For some time after the introduction of machinery systems
and devices of the past were found side by side with newer methods,
not infrequently in the same factory. One of the largest plants
visited, where good working conditions prevailed and modern ma­
chinery was used, still employed also, for the making of small orders
of unusual sizes, the older hand method, with its characteristic
organization into a small unit or “ shop,” composed of two skilled
workers and from five to seven unskilled helpers.
As is often their case in other industries, many of the negro women
in glass factories were employed in the less-skilled tasks and, in some
cases, as their list of occupations shows, in the older processes where
these still survived at the time of study. More than one-half of those
«U. S. Department of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
the Glass Industry, 1927, Bui. 441, pp. 3 to 0.
Ibid., p. 92,




Productivity of Labor in

26

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

whose occupations were reported (78 in contrast to the 2 of the 1910
census) were carriers-in and takers-off. The former took the glass
from the very hot furnace rooms to the leer, the oven where reheating
is done, handling the articles on small long-handled metal trays and
constantly walking with new loads over floors of cement or sometimes
of uneven brick for a distance of some 15 to 50 feet. The takers-off
operated at the cooler end of the leer.
There were a number of negro women in one other occupation, that
of cracking-off. These were, on the whole, the best paid in glass.
Their work sometimes was interchangeable with that of the snappersup. The cracker-off quickly removes the bottle or other article from
the mold; the snapper-up takes it in a pair of pincers, inserts it in a
“ snap,” a sort of vice made to fit the object, and, after rapidly rolling
it back and forth on a piece of sheet iron or on a flat stone to remove
excess glass, places it at once in the “ glory hole,” or reheating furnace,
so that it will be fire-polished and pliable for the finisher. This may
be a very hot task, since the furnace is hot enough to melt the glass.
In the making of finer glass, such as tableware, the iron mold used
is lined with a thin coating of paste, that must be kept moist so that
the glass does not stick to the iron and may be shifted within the
mold to prevent the formation of seams in the glass where the mold
is joined. Glass thus made has a better texture, may be thinner, and
is supposed to be more durable. Two negro women were paste-mold
assistants, whose duties were to open and close the mold and to keep
the paste moist with water after each using.
One additional occupation should be especially noted—that of a
timekeeper found in a glass factory. Her work, while not necessarily
incident to the glass industry, may be considered of a responsible and
exacting type, although she had lost several weeks’ time and her rate
of pay did not exceed the middle ranges.
MISCELLANEOUS INDUSTRIES

In addition to the negro women studied in the four types of
industry employing the largest groups, and in glass, some were found
in each of several other manufacturing industries and a comparatively
small number in stores.
There were 161 women in 61 stores in 12 States. Of these, 121 were
maids and 11 in 3 States were in alteration departments, usually as
seamstresses. Ten stock girls were found in 4 States, one of these in
the warehouse of the establishment. Eight women were pressers, 1
was custodian of a sample room, 1 worked in a cloak room, and 1 was
a bootblack. Negro women were not selling in department stores,
and four listed as “ sales ” girls were soda-fountain attendants in a
store in a Southern State.
In 2 States, 341 negro women were found in 6 establishments
making such house furnishings as mattresses, cushions, and springs.
Three-fourths of those whose work was reported were sewing-machine
operators. Many of these, although not the majority, were on power
machines. Some were assemblers, some checkers, some hand sewers
putting tickets on mattresses or cushions or making samples, and some
sewers of the rolled edges of mattresses by hand, a task that required
strength and involved much standing and walking. A few who set




OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION

27

springs had a fairly skilled job requiring attention and judgment.
This consisted of attaching the springs to frames and tying them in
exactly the proper place with heavy waxed cords. In one plant 3
were instructing, 2 inspecting, and 1 cutting, instructing, and super­
vising. In the same establishment, a position of especial importance
was held by a negro woman supervisor.
Of 123 negro women found in 16 clothing plants in 6 States nearly
three-fifths were pressers, and in 3 establishments jn 2 States 40
operated sewing machines. A few pulled bastings, fastened on tickets,
folded, and cleaned, or buttoned men’s shirts ready for final packing.
In an additional clothing factory more recently reported no negro
women were on machines but more than 100 were engaged in hand
needlework and in drawing basting threads, wThile 1 was in a super­
visory position, doing all the hiring of negro women, distributing
work to them, and examining their work when completed.
In paper products 93 negro women were found in 5 establishments
in 3 States. Of these, 74 in paper mills in 2 States were reported as
sorters. The remaining women were in three paper-box plants in
two States and were gluing, staying, stripping, covering boxes, or
making trays.
The Women’s Bureau studies include 78 negro women in metal
work in 3 States in 4 establishments making vehicle parts, iron
castings for agricultural implements, toys and novelties, and sewing
machines. In the metal industries that would include these plants—■
the manufacture of automobiles, wagons and carriages, agricultural
implements, and* “ other ” iron and steel—there were 124 negro
women reported in 1910, of whom 43 were laborers. There were 3
inspectors, 7 machine hands, 1 bench hand, and 1 press operator. In
1920 the number reported in the same industries was 879, of whom
360 were laborers and 519 were semiskilled operatives. The Women’s
Bureau studies include a plant producing hardware for vehicles and
iron and steel forgings, and of the negro women employed in this
establishment 32 operated machines, 19 others were at presses, 3
were inspecting the product rapidly turned out from the presses by
pieceworkers, and 1 worked in the japanning room, where women
strung the articles on wires or wire rods ready for dipping in black
enamel, an occupation in which workers are subjected to odors that
are disagreeable and sometimes sickening. In a toy and novelty
factory a number of negro women did bench work, a general term
that ordinarily includes a number of light and sometimes rather
monotonous operations such as sorting, putting together parts, and
soldering. In 2 States 5 negro women were found making cores,
and 1 of these reported having been 5 years in the trade. Core mak­
ing requires a considerable degree of skill, very high skill for the
more complex cores. The worker usually sits at a table and uses a
core box, a mold made in halves. The mold is tightly clamped to­
gether, “ green ” (wet) sand mixed with some adhesive is placed
in it, and nails and wire are rammed in with a mallet until the sand
is of the proper density. Then the box is opened and the core is
turned out onto a metal tray ready to be taken to the oven. Turning
out the core is a delicate operation, because breaking the angles or
otherwise spoiling the core must be avoided.
34574°—29---- 3




28

NEGRO WOMEN' IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

In 4 States 55 negro women were in 8 establishments manufactur­
ing drugs and chemicals, and in another State 53 were in 2 plants
making toilet articles. Most of those with occupations reported in
drugs and chemicals and a few of those in the toilet-goods plants
were labeling, inspecting, sorting, wrapping, or packing. In the toi­
let-goods plants a few were putting glassine disks or mirrors into
rouge compacts, stitchiflg boxes, gluing, spreading soap, or slipping
dye into envelopes.
In a plant- making heavy insulated wire and cable for use in the
electrical industry 50 negro women were reported. Nearly two-fifths
of these were machine operators, and, in addition, 4 were cotton
girls, 3 were end holders, and 1 was in the nail department. In
another State in which a study was made more recently, and for
which figures are not included in the totals here tabulated, a firm
manufacturing small motors and radio sets and appliances had solved
the problem created by the labor shortage in 1919 by starting a sepa­
rate shop in which they engaged only negro women. About 120 were
employed, but when industrial stability was restored in the main
plant this additional shop was closed.
In an establishment making optical goods 24 negro women were
doing varnishing and a few others were inspectors. Of 13 women
employed in a glue plant those with occupations reported were mak­
ing or were cutting glue. In a leather-trunk factory one negro
woman was a seamstress who sewed linings.
One of the most significant cases in the whole range of the estab­
lishments studied was that of a printing and publishing company,
where there were IT negro women. They were in high-grade occupa­
tions at which comparatively few women work. The firm was that
of a negro religious paper in a Southern State, and 7 women were
in the bindery, 3 were in the composing room, 3 were monotype
operators, 1 was a press operator, and 3 read proof.
SUMMARY

The types of work in which negro women were found may safely
be said to represent, for them, distinct if somewhat slow industrial
progress. Large numbers were still engaged in sweeping and in
cleaning of various kinds and many of these have been omitted from
the present study. Others worked at tasks that would properly be
classified under general labor. Still others were in employments
that, while scarcely unusual in themselves, were notable because they
represented the carrying over of the older traditional occupations,
sometimes with changes in method, into- the newer industrial system.
A considerable number operated machines of different kinds, many
of which involved only simple operations or movements repeated
indefinitely, but some of which required dexterity or a degree of skill.
A few were found in supervisory posts or in positions involving more
or less responsibility. Two of these were in a pickle factory and
seven were in a plant making house furnishings. In each of these
cases one of the women had entire charge of engaging and super­
vising all negro women in the establishment, while the others super­
vised departments, instructed, or inspected. In a shirt factory more
recently visited and not included in the general tabulations tlie duty




OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION

29

of engaging and supervising negro women devolved upon a negro
woman. In a nut plant 1 negro woman was in charge of 19 in the
sorting department. Two timekeepers were found—one in a tobacco
and one in a glass factory. Occupations that required the greatest
skill were those of the spinners in textile plants and of the loopers
and seamers in hosiery mills, of the operators of power sewing ma­
chines and of metal presses, of the riveters in bag factories, of the
core makers in metal plants, of a few of those working in woodenbox making, and of those found in one printing and publishing
house in which negro women were carrying on all parts of the work,
however skilled, including monotype operating, composing, and
proof reading.
The main characteristics of the occupations of negro women in
each of the chief manufacturing industries in which they were found
in considerable numbers may be indicated as follows:
1. Tobacco (total 6,411).
Occupations are simple, but some require manual dexterity and
workers often must be subjected to heavy dust and to the strong odor
of the tobacco. More than one-half of those studied were stemmers
or strippers, and of these the few on machines had the most highly
paid work accorded negro women in this industry.
2. Food products: Bakeries, candy, canning and preserving, nuts,
and slaughtering and meat packing (total 2,302).
Of the 1,017 women working on nuts, four-fifths were picking out
kernels and there were no unusual occupations if exception be made
of the forelady mentioned. The 880 in slaughtering and meat
packing were engaged in the dirtiest, roughest, or most disagreeable
operations in which any women were employed in this industry,
where practically all the processes except the final packing may be
considered dirty, rough, or disagreeable. One-third of those re­
ported worked with casings and chitterlings. In one plant a few
were engaged on the killing floor. More than 100 were occupied with
hand-knife processes that require dexterity, skill, and sometimes a
good deal of strength. Of the 205 in candy factories most of those
whose occupations were reported were wrapping, packing, labeling,
and inspecting. Of the 164 in canneries nearly two-thirds were pit­
ting fruit or peeling, a number were helpers or laborers, and some
washed cans and bottles, sorted, bottled, or labeled. Of the 36 in
bakeries, one-third wrapped bread, some washed dishes or packed
bread, 7 made pies, 2 prepared fillings, 2 iced cakes, and 1 topped
pies.
3. Textiles (total 1,176).
In most branches of the industry the majority of those with occu­
pations reported were engaged in general labor or were helping the
operators of the machines by such work as filling frames. The work
requiring most skill was that in hosiery, where, of the 327 included,
more than two-fifths were looping and seaming, a few were spin­
ning, and 70 were boarding.
4. Wood products (total 980).
The occupations found in the wood industries were the rather
heavy or dirty ones of stacking wood, off-bearing, sandpapering,




30

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTBY IN 15 STATES

gluing, or varnishing. A few negro women were assembling parts
and a number were assisting at saws.
The occupations of negro women may be summarized in a more
general way as follows:
1. General labor.
This would include most of the work done in tobacco rehandling,
in slaughtering and meat packing, in textiles with the exception of
hosiery, and in glass; the washing of cans or dishes in bakeries, can­
neries, and food establishments; peeling or pitting fruit; cleaning
and pressing clothing, which was done by negro women in stores and
by well over one-half of those reported in clothing establishments;
sorting rags in rag and in paper factories; and picking out nut
meats.
2. Sewing.
A few made alterations to clothing in stores, and one was a seam­
stress sewing linings in a trunk factory. In hosiery and yard-goods
factories some mended or caught broken stitches by hand. In cloth­
ing plants a number ran sewing machines and some pulled bastings
or buttoned shirts for packing.
3. Light operations connected with final preparation for market.
More than 400 of those studied were labeling, stamping, ticketing,
inspecting, checking, counting, sorting, grading, weighing, wrapping,
or packing. These were in plants preparing clothing; drugs and toilet
goods; food products, such as bread, candy, canned goods, meat, or
other food; metal products; textiles, bags; tobacco; and wood
products.
4. Machine operations.
Negro women were operating various types of machines, some very
simple, others more complex. Nearly two-thirds of those in metal
work were machine or press operators; most of the latter were on die
presses, a few being on drill or punch presses. About a third of
those in clothing factories used sewing machines, but it was not pos­
sible to tell in how many cases these were power machines. Some of
the women in tobacco factories ran stemming machines, but the num­
ber of stemmers using machines could not be ascertained. In textiles,
except hosiery, negro women were for the most part merely helpers
at the machines, not operators. The most skilled of the machine
processes were those in hosiery mills, the operating of power sewing
machines or presses, riveting in bag factories, and some of the work
in wooden-box making. A few women were found on candy enrobers,
which involve very simple movements but frequently require close
attention; others were on candy-cutting machines.
5. Other occupations.
Timekeepers, instructors, supervisors; inspectors, core makers, and
the women in printing and publishing constitute, even if taken to­
gether, only a very small number, but they were engaged in occupa­
tions of some importance that can not properly be placed under any
of the foregoing heads.




CHAPTER III.—HOURS
The need of a working day or week of a length reasonably conform­
ing to the human needs of rest and recreation has been explained fre­
quently, but little attention has been given to this matter in respect
to negro women, to whom it is of as great importance as to any
other group.
While a presentation of the definite schedules of hours kept by the
plants studied does not take into account the overtime and lost time
of employees, it does indicate the length of the day or the week regu­
larly expected of the workers.
DAILY HOURS

Scheduled daily hours were reported for 11,923 of the negro day
workers studied. Of these the largest group had a schedule of 10
hours, and the group next in size a schedule of 9 hours. A few women
in Illinois, Kansas, and Tennessee, 1 per cent of the total, had a
schedule of less than 8 hours.
All those with a day of 12 hours or over, 365, were in a tobacco
factory in Virginia, and all had a schedule of exactly 13 hours. They
formed 3.1 per cent of the total number of women and 7.6 per cent
of all those reported in the State.
The distribution by daily hours of the 11,923 women reported is as
follows:
Number
Percent
Under 8 hours
121
8 hours_,1, 496
Over 8 and under 9 hours
867
9 hours
3, 040
Over 9 and under 10 hours------------------------------ 1, 640
10 hours
3, 954
Over 10 and under 11 hours
272
11 hours
108
Over 11 and under 12 hours___________________
48
13 hours 365

1.0
12.5
7.3
25.5
13.8
33.2
2.3
.9
.4
3.1

Scheduled hours of the largest groups in the various States.
The scheduled hours of the largest group of women studied in each
State were as follows:
8 hours—

Illinois
783
Kansas
166
New Jersey
39
South Carolina
178
Over 8 and under 9 hours—
Indiana
54
Iowa
10
9 hours—
Arkansas
48
Georgia
300
Kentucky
646
Missouri_________________________
Ohio
425




Number Per cent

52.4
94.3
32. 2
66.4
84. 4
55.6
70.6
32.8
57.3
75.2
65. 2

868

31

32

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

10 hours—
Mississippi
Tennessee
Virginia.
11 hours—
Alabama

_

._
.
___ .

___

.-

_
_

__
_______
_ _
_

__

Number Per cent
110
45. 1
298
44. 8
3. 068
63.9
69

44.5

Scheduled hours of the largest groups in the various industries.
Hour differences between States may be influenced by many factors
connected with their individual industrial history, not the least of
which are those relating to the types of industry to be found at a
given time within a State. The variations in standards between dif­
ferent industries, therefore, are of even greater significance than are
those between the States, since the standards in the chief industries
have a marked influence in setting those of the State as a whole.
In the glass industry 81 women, 37.7 per cent of the 215 reported,
had a schedule of less than 8 hours and 75 women, or 34.9 per cent,
had a schedule of 8 hours a day. Fifty-nine women had a day of over
8 and under 9 hours. None had a day as long as 9 hours. In each
of the following the largest group hacf a day of 8 hours:
Slaughtering and meat packing, for 870, or 98.9 per cent of the 880 reported.1
Cigars, for 224, or 36.5 per cent of the 613 reported (31.3 had a day of 9
hours).
Metal products, for 54, or 69.2 per cent of the 78 reported.
General mercantile, for 64, or 39.8 per cent of the 161 reported (37.9 had a
day of over 8 and under 9 hours).

In house furnishings 293, or 85.9 per cent of the 341 reported, had
a schedule of more than 8 hours but less than 9. In several indus­
tries the largest group had a 9-hour day. In cordage and twine,
92.6 per cent of the 95 women reporting; in canning and preserving,
70.7 per cent of the 147 reporting; in nuts, 59.1 per cent of the 1,017
reporting; in clothing, 54.5 per cent of the 123 reporting; and in
drugs and chemicals, 36.4 per cent of the 55 reporting, had a day of
this length. A day of 9 but less than 10 hours was worked by from
two-thirds to three-fourths of the women in candy and paper and
paper products, by a little over one-half of the women in textile bags,
and by nearly one-third of the women in hosiery and knit goods. In
hosiery and knit goods another large group, 31.8 per cent, had a day
of over 8 and under 9 hours.
The 10-hour industries were cotton yard goods, tobacco, and the
major wood products. In textiles as a whole one-fourth of the 1,157
included had a day of 10 hours and 23.4 per cent had a day of over 9
and under 10 hours. In cotton yard, goods, 189 women, or 68.2 per
cent of the 277 reported, had a day of 10 hours, and 74 women, or
26.7 per cent, a day of 11 hours. Ten of the 11 night workers in
cotton yard goods were on 11-hour shifts. Most of the women in
waste factories had a schedule of over 10 and under 11 hours, and
nearly all the 23 in yarn mills a schedule of 11 hours.
Of the 564 women in the major wood industries, 430, or 76.2 per
cent, had a 10-hour day. The 265 women in one match factory,
excluded from major wood products, had a 9-hour day. No woman
in any wood-products group had a day of less than 9 hours and only
about one-eighth of those in the major branches had a day of less
than 10 hours.
1 See footnote 3 in Summary of Pacts, p. 8.




33

HOURS

In tobacco more than half (52.2 per cent) of the 5,616 women
reported had a 10-hour day and 40.5 per cent had a day of less than
10 hours; 6.5 per cent had a 13-hour day. It has already been indi­
cated that in the cigar industry more than two-thirds of the women
(67.9 per cent) had a scheduled day of 8 or 9 hours, and 84.3 per cent
of the 613 women reported had a day of under 10 hours.
WEEKLY HOURS

The scheduled weekly hours were reported for 11,921 negro day
workers. A few, mostly in Illinois, had a schedule of less than 44
hours, and a few, mostly in New Jersey, Missouri, and Mississippi,
had one of 44. Of the f 10, or 6 per cent, having a week of 60 hours
and over, slightly more than one-half were in Virginia, about 30
per cent were in Georgia, and the remainder were in Alabama and
Mississippi. The distribution by weekly hours of the 11,921 women
reported is as follows:
Number Percent

44 hours and under---------------------------------------------117
Over 44 and under 48 hours
713
48 hours--------------------------------------------------------------- 1,161
Over 48 and under 50 hours---------------------------------547
50 hours 2,967
Over 50 and under 52 hours---------------------------------261
52 hours
264
Over 52 and under 54 hours----------------------------------- 1, 046
54 and under 55 hours
201
55 hours2,151
Over 55 and under 58 hours---------------------------------- 1, 380
58 and under 60hours------------------------------------------403
60 hoursand over
710

1. 0
6. 0
9- 7
4. 6
24. 9
2. 2
2.2
8.8
1. 7
18. 0
11. 6
3.4
6. 0

From the foregoing it is evident that the largest number in any
hour group, practically one-fourth of the whole, had a 50-hour week,
while 18 per cent had a 55-hour week and those having a schedule of
over 55 hours formed 21 per cent.
Scheduled hours of the largest groups in the various States.
The largest numbers and proportions of those found at any one
hour range in each State were as follows:
44 hours—
New Jersey_____________
48 hours—
Illinois_________________
Kansas-------------------------South Carolina..------------50 hours—
Georgia_________________
Indiana_________________
Kentucky----------------------Missouri________________
Ohio___________________
Over 50 and under 52 hours—
Iowa___________________
54 hours—
Arkansas----------------------55 hours—
Mississippi--------------------Tennessee_______________
Virginia________________
60 hours—
Alabama------------------------




Number Per cent
37
30.6
764
165
177

51.1
93.8
66.0

298
54
828
849
259

32. 6
84.4
73.5
73. 7
39.7

12

66. 7

48

70.6

77
248
1, 403

31. 6
37.3
29.2

71

45.8

34

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

Scheduled hours of the largest groups in the various industries.
The day scheduled for the largest groups in glass, that of less than
eight hours, and for the largest group in slaughtering and meat
packing, that of eight hours, was, for the largest group in each case,
in conjunction with a scheduled week shorter than that of the largest
groups in other industries. In the glass industry slightly more
worked for less than 48 hours than for 48, and these two groups
combined formed 72.6 per cent of the 215 women who worked during
the day. Furthermore, all night workers in the glass industry had a
week of 48 hours or less. Of the small number of women in metal
products, 53, or 67.9 per cent, worked over 44 and under 48 hours.
The large proportion of workers in slaughtering and meat packing
who had an 8-hour day (98.9 percent) had a 48-hour week, equivalent
to the 8-hour day for six days in the week.
In house furnishings the women who had a week of over 48 and
under 50 hours were slightly more numerous than those who had a
day of over 8 and under 9 hours. In nut factories the same number
having a 9-hour day had a 50-hour week, the result of a shorter shift
on one day than on the other five days in the week.
Cigar making presented, on the whole, shorter weekly as well as
shorter daily hours than did tobacco. The 36.5 per cent who had
an 8-liour day in cigar firms had also a week of 44 and under 48
hours, while almost as many, 217, or 35.4 per cent, had a week of more
than 50 hours. In tobacco factories 198 women, or only 3.5 per cent,
had a schedule of less than 50 hours, and 64.2 per cent had a week of
over 52 and under 60 hours. Both in cigars and in tobacco about onefourth had a week of 50 hours, but none in cigar making had a week
as long as 58 hours though 6.5 per cent of those in tobacco had one of
60 hours or more. One establishment employed 179 negro women
as night workers, and these had a 10-hour shift with a 50-hour week.
In paper mills, while 66 women—71 per cent of all reported—had
a day of over 9 and under 10 hours, the same women, all of whom
were in this establishment, had a week of over 50 and under 52 hours,
which provided for a half day’s work on Saturday.
In the major wood industries, while a day of 10 hours was sched­
uled for 76.2 per cent of the women, 61.3 per cent had a week of 55
hours, indicative of a short Saturday, and 12.8 per cent had a shorter
week.
A 10-hour day was scheduled for one-fourth of the women reported
in the textile industries, and 225, or 19.4 per cent, had a week of 60
hours or over and about one-third had a week of exactly 55 hours; in
all, 55.9 per cent of the women in textiles had a scheduled week of 55
hours and over. Nearly all of the few in yarn mills and 81 per cent
of the 116 in waste factories worked 60 hours and over. In cotton
yard goods 192, or 69.3 per cent, and in hosiery and knit goods 156,
or 47.7 per cent, had a 55-hour week, but in the latter nearly onethird had a 48-hour week.
The daily and weekly hours of the largest group of women in each
of the chief industries included may be seen from Table 1 in the
appendix.




CHAPTER IV—EXTENT OF TIMEWORK AND PIECEWORK
There are two prevailing systems of payment for labor. Under
the first, or timework basis, earnings depend on the time worked,
with a rate for the hour, the day, the week, or a longer period.
Under the second, or piecework basis, earnings are regulated entirely
by the amount the worker produces. Women who are shifted from
one occupation to others during any one day or week may be paid
according to a combination of timework and piecework.
.The data at hand give indication of the extent of timework and
piecework in the different industries in which negro women were
employed and of the kinds of occupations for which each method of
payment was used. While comparison of the earnings of some
timeworkers with those of some pieceworkers is left to the chapter on
wages, it may be stated that in general pieceworkers must be highly
skilled to earn more than timeworkers do in the same occupation.
Reports on the extent of timework and piecework were made for
11 of the 15 States, and included 6,428 negro women. In addition
to these there were 106 night workers, all of whom were on a time
basis. The night workers were in the bread, glass, bag, cotton-yardgoods, and lumber industries. Of those on day shifts 3,643, or 56.7
per cent, were pieceworkers, and 2,683, or 41.7 per cent, were timeworkers.
States in which more of the workers reported were on a time than
on a piece basis are the following:
On timework

Illinois__________________
Georgia
Tennessee_____ ____________

Number

Per cent

948
545
316

64.4
58.5
48.3

On timework
Number Per cent
Mississippi.. ___________ _

120

55.3

49

64.5

More pieceworkers than timeworkers were reported from the fol­
lowing States:
On piecework

Missouri__________ _________
Ohio............................... ...........

Number

Per cent

958
575
505

84.6
75.8
78.4

On piecework
Number Per cent
175
77

65.3
63.6

Differences in the method of payment, like those in the number of
daily or weekly hours worked, depend in a large degree upon the
types of industry prevailing in a State. Frequent variations occur
also among the different occupations within any one industry.




35

36

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

In the industries employing the largest numbers of negro women
timework was the system for the majority of women in slaughtering
and meat packing, in the major wood products, in glass, in textiles,
and in general mercantile establishments. In ipbacco and cigars, in
nuts, and in house furnishings the majority were pieceworkers.
In slaughtering and meat packing 658, or 94.5 per cent, were timeworkers, and these were in nearly all the occupations reported. The
few pieceworkers found were chiefly trimmers or canners and
packers.
In the making of the major wood products 323 women, or 65.8 per
cent, were timeworkers, but the proportions of these in the different
branches of the industry varied considerably. Of the timeworkers,
92 formed 49.2 per cent of the women in furniture factories, lf9
formed 71.3 per cent of those in box and crate making, and 52 repre­
sented all but one of the women reporting in lumber and veneer firms.
All helpers and operators working at various kinds of saws, all
bundlers, the graders and sorters reported in box and crate factories,
the off-bearers in furniture plants, and the graders and stackers in
lumber mills were timeworkers, as were most of the operators of
different kinds of machines and the majority of those finishing furni­
ture. Eight of the nine women catching and off-bearing in box and
crate plants and more than one-half of those stacking lumber and
baskets were pieceworkers. In furniture factories, where nearly as
many were on a piece as on a time basis, the majority of those as­
sembling and packing and a fourth of those finishing were piece­
workers.
.
.
In stores, in bakeries, and in glass factories the time system was
universally used, as it was also in the few miscellaneous plants, in­
cluding one establishment in each of the following industries: Print­
ing and publishing, the making of glue, and the manufacture of
toilet goods. The seamstress found in one trunk factory was a timeworker. In drug and chemical establishments 45 women,, or 83.3 per
cent, were timeworkers, and of the 9 pieceworkers 1 was a packer and
1 washed bottles.
.
In textiles slightly over one-half of the women reported were timeworkers, but the proportions varied greatly in the different branches
of the industry. Those in which timeworkers formed the majority
were as follows:
On timework
Number

Per cent

172
93

59.7
68.4

On timework
Number Per cent
63
22

54.3
95.7

In bag making all those handling irons and inspecting, one-lialf
of the sorters, and one truck distributor were timeworkers, while
most of the turners and of the sewers and menders were pieceworkers.
In cotton mills the bale breakers, the waste hands, and those in draw­
ing departments were timeworkers, as were the majority of the clean­
ers of hoppers, quills, and machines and the few stitchers, sewers,




37

EXTENT OP TIMEWORK AND PIECEWORK

creelers, and winders. Most of the women filling frames and bat­
teries, most of the roving haulers, and a few of the cleaners were
pieceworkers. In waste factories all those sewing and cutting bags
were on a time basis, while nearly all cop winders and the majority
of the sorters were on piecework.
Twine and hosiery mills are the two branches of the textile in­
dustry that employed the majority of their workers by piece, and in
each case the proportion was nearly three-fourths. In hosiery and
knit goods all the boarders and the pairers, folders, stampers, and
ticketers, most of the loopers and seamers and of the winders, and
about three-fourths of the inspectors* and of the knitters were piece­
workers ; all the spinners, the one teacher, and a few of the winders
and of the loopers and seamers were timeworkers. In cordage and
twine factories all labelers, most of the preparers and spinners, and
more than half the machine operators were pieceworkers, while the
few women who were waste hands and some of the machine operators
worked on a time basis.
In the cigar and tobacco industries the proportions were similar,
nearly three-fourths of the women in each being pieceworkers. In
tobacco 894, or 94.8 per cent, and in cigars 269, or 79.4 per cent, of the
stemmers and strippers worked by the piece. Additional employees
who were on a piece basis were, in tobacco, three-fourths of the tiers
and hangers and of the twisters, the majority of the wrappers and
packers and a few wringers; in cigars, the one bander and the ma­
jority of those who were bunching and pasting and folding. In
cigar making some stemmers and strippers were timeworkers, as were
a few of those bunching and pasting and folding. In tobacco fac­
tories, all those classifying and sorting, searching, picking, shaking,
and spreading the leaf, and a majority of the wringers, were timeworkers, while a few stemmers and strippers were on a combined
basis of time and piece.
All the 794 women reported in nut establishments, and 305, or 91
per cent, of those in house furnishings were pieceworkers. In the
latter were included all the inspectors, most of the machine oper­
ators and other sewers, a cushion maker, and a checker, while one
setting springs and a few machine operators were paid by time.
Of those in the one electrical firm reporting all were pieceworkers,
and the prevalence of this system in several additional industries is
shown by the following:
On piecework

Paper.................. .........................

Number

Per cent

113
75
71

74.8
73.5
95.9

On piecework
Number Per cent
69
26

89.6
83.9

In canneries the small proportion of timeworkers was made up of
all the 10 cooks and all the 5 can washers reported and a very few
of the women peeling and pitting. In clothing, all machine operators,
the majority of pressers, one buttoner, and one ticketer were on a




38

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

piece basis, while the timeworkers reported consisted of a few pressers, a folder and a cleaner, and a basting puller. In paper mills the
two strippers and one of the four gluers reported worked on time,
while all sorters worked by the piece. In metal firms the bench
workers reporting, one chain maker, and those operating presses
and machines were on piecework, while core makers were either on
piece or a combination of time and piece, indicating additional occu­
pations for the individual woman. Two of the three press inspectors
were timeworkers.




CHAPTER V.—EARNINGS
WEEK’S EARNINGS

For 5,558 women in 11 States, a week’s earnings were reported, and
from these the median has been computed for each State. The median
means that one-half of the women reporting in the State earned more,

MEDIAN WEEK'S EARNINGS
OF 5,390 NEGRO WOMEN IN 10 STATES
Year
State
of survey
1920-21 Georgia

Dollars

Women Median

15

931

1 921

Kentucky

1921-22

S.Carolina

268

1922

Alabama

1 55

1922

Arkansas

1922

Missouri

1922

1,1 26

76

5.0 5

1,1 54

5.1 0

New Jersey

1 21

11.50

1922

Ohio

652

8.65

1925

Mississippi

2 43

5.7 0

1925

Tennessee

664

7.55

Note,- See rates and earnings in tables 2 and

4 of

Appendix B.

U.S.0«pt. of Lob of
Women’s Bureau

one-half earned less, than the figure given. Throughout the follow­
ing discussion, except in a few specified cases where individual earn­
ings are given, the figures quoted for States, for industries, or for
occupations are the medians. On the accompanying chart the
medians of week’s earnings for women in 10 States are shown.




39

40

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

It must be borne constantly in mind that the States in which earn­
ings were taken were surveyed in different years, and especially for
this reason, since business fluctuations have a considerable influence
on wages, the medians for the different States can not properly be
compared one with another. Earnings of women were ascertained
in Kansas in 1920 and in Georgia in 1920 and 1921—in both States
during the postwar period of abnormally high prices except for a
few of the establishments in Georgia that were beginning to feel the
depression; in Kentucky in the autumn of 1921, and in South Caro­
lina at the end of 1921 and in early 1922—both States during the
heavy depression; in the five States of Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri,
New Jersey, and Ohio in 1922, during the first part of which depres­
sion still prevailed and in the latter part of which industrial recovery
had become assured; and in Mississippi and Tennessee early in 1925,
a period of good business conditions. The wage standards of the
types of industry that prevail in a State and the great differences in
economic and industrial history of different States are additional
factors that make it impossible to give any accurate comparison of the
earnings in one State with those in others. The earnings figures,
therefore, are given only for what they are worth separately. For
each State the year of study, the number of women included, and the
median of the earnings may be seen from Table 2 in Appendix B.
The exact occupation of every woman for whom earnings were re­
ported could not be ascertained. For those occupations that were of
some importance in themselves and for those that employed consider­
able numbers in relation to the industry, earnings are given in Table 3
in Appendix B. More than 3,000 women are included, and for these
it is possible to compare earnings in any one occupation with those
in others in the same industry in the same year.
More than 1,800 of these women were in cigar and tobacco factories.
The lowest median for all the cigar makers in any State was that of
$4.80 for 192 women in a State surveyed at the end of 1921 and early
in 1922, during the depressed period, and the median of 148 tobacco
workers in a State studied in the last quarter of 1922 was $8.85, the
highest in tobacco for any State. The State having the largest num­
ber of negro women in tobacco factories, 1,086, was surveyed at the
close of 1921, while depression still prevailed, and the median for
these women was $8.30.
^ In cigar making the highest median was $10.20 for 47 women in a
State in which earnings were taken in 1922, while in the same year
the median for 261 tobacco workers in another State was $7.50, the
lowest found in tobacco. The majority of the workers in cigars and
tobacco were stemmers. In two States the stemmers in cigars re­
ceived a median above that for the industry as a whole, while in
tobacco the median of the stemmers was in each State below that for
this branch of the industry. In tobacco products, as a. whole, both
the lowest and the highest medians for stemmers were in cigar estab­
lishments; these were, respectively, $2.65 for 114 women in a State
studied in 1921—22 and $10.40 for 33 women in another State in 1922.
The median for stemmers in cigar factories was in every case above
that of bunchers and grinders in the same State and below that of
pasters and folders. In tobacco plants stemmers had the smallest
medians, except for that received by a few pickers in one State, and




EARNIN' GS

41

these low payments in the occupation engaged in by the largest num­
bers lowered the median for all and made the amounts received in
certain other occupations stand out as much superior. Five leaf
shakers in a State studied in 1922 had a median of $15.25, the high­
est earnings in the industry. Twenty feeders in a State studied in
1921 had a median of $14, and 6 others, whose earnings were taken in
1922, a median of $13.50. In 1922, 18 wringers, 15 pickers, and 20
leaf spreaders, and in 1925, 48 twisters, had medians ranging from
$12.50 to $12.65.
In the five branches of textiles taken together earnings were re­
ported for more than 600 women. In some cases striking differences
appear in earnings in the same branch of textiles surveyed in differ­
ent years. In bag making, in three States studied in different years,
the median for 153 women in 1921 was $4.80, for 66 in 1922 it was
$8.95, and for 53 in 1925 it was $5.80. In hosiery mills 106 women
studied in 1920 had a median of $6.25 and 30 in 1921-22 a median
of $4.90. The highest median in any branch of textiles was the $8.95
just cited in bag making; the median next to the highest was $1.75
of 21 women making yarn in 1920. The lowest was that of 94 women
handling waste in 1921—$4.25. The highest medians in any occupa­
tion were received by 7 haulers in yarn plants in 1920 and by 7
women sorting bags in 1922, and were, respectively, $10.25 and $10.15.
One bag sorter in 1925 received $10.69 and an inspector in 1922 re­
ceived $13.13. A median above that of the industry in the same
State was received by the sorters mentioned in bags and by 65 sorters
in waste factories in 1921, by 12 roving haulers in 1922, and by
inspectors in whatever State or branch of the industry found.
In most of the other cases in which the same occupation was found
in textiles in different States its median bore no consistent relation to
the median for the industry. This was the case even with loopers
and seamers in hosiery mills whose work is somewhat skilled. In a
State studied in 1920, 13 loopers and seamers had a median of $7.15,
above the median in the industry ; in 1921-22 a median of $4.05, an
amount below the median in the industry in that State, was earned
by 15 women in this occupation. In yard-goods plants in 1922
cleaners of hoppers, quills, and machines had the highest median,
while the lowest was for those in drawing departments, the group
having the lowest median reported in yarn mills in another State in
1920. The lowest median received in any branch of textiles at any
time was that of 10 cop winders and of 10 bag cutters all in the same
waste factory in 1921; it was $4 for each of these groups.
In three branches of the manufacture of wood products, earnings
■were reported for 405 women. This included, in 1925, box making in
one State, furniture in two, lumber and veneer in one. Of these lum­
ber and veneer had the highest median, computed for 17 women as
$8.75. The furniture median for 138 women in one State was $7.85,
and for 20 in another State, $7.90; box making had the lowest, the
median for 137 women being $5.55. In the same year 53 in bag mak­
ing had a median of $5.80, and 186 in tobacco $7.55. The highest
median in the wood-manufacturing establishments was that of $11.20
computed for 38 furniture assemblers. Finishers received amounts
below the median for the industry in the same State but above the
median for the industry in another State. In other occupations the




42

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN. 15 STATES

relation of the median to the median for the industry was not regular,
but was as follows: For stackers and for off-bearers, above in one State
each, below in two1 States each; for machine operators, above in one,
below in one.
In the glass factories, studied in 1922, the medians for night workers
were above those of day workers in the same occupations and were
above the median for the industry. Crackers-off had the highest
median earnings.
The earnings of 10 cooks in canneries1 in 1921 were above those for
the industry, while medians for 8 can washers and for 8 peelers and
pitters were below.
In slaughtering and meat packing, in a State studied in 1920, the
median of the earnings was considerably higher than in any other
industry. This may be quite specifically accounted for by the opinions
that had just been handed down in the packing-house cases by the
arbitrator for the President’s Mediation Commission.1 In certain
occupations the women canning and packing, making sausage, trim­
ming meat, and shaving and singeing had a median above that of the
industry; those working in casings and the few picking chickens, a
median below that of the industry.
WEEK’S EARNINGS AND WEEKLY RATES OF PAY

While the medians considered up to this point are of great value in
that they show the amounts upon which the workers engaged in
various occupations actually had to live at the time surveyed, they do
not take account of time lost. Women who work for shorter periods
earn less than those who work full time, and the inclusion of their
earnings lowers the median for all, while the inclusion of overtime
workers raises the median.
For timeworkers it is possible to ascertain both the actual week’s
earnings and the rates of pay bargained for, or the amounts that would
have been earned had no undertime nor overtime been worked. Such
data for 1,689 women in 154 establishments (in 19 industries in; 10
States) appear in Table 4 in Appendix B. They enable the determina­
tion of whether the actual week’s earnings within a State or an indus­
try exceeded or fell below the weekly rate of pay offered to the women
working full time in such State or industry. From this the extent
to which actual earnings fell below the best earnings possible within
a State or an industry may be indicated, as may also the comparative
degrees of time lost. Since earnings and rates within one industry
in one place, or those within one State, are the subject of consideration,
and since the difference between earnings and rates presents no direct
variation with the degree of industrial stability of the period of study,
the discussion may for the present disregard the time factor.
The greatest proportion by which median earnings in any State
fell below rates was 16.2 per cent for the 130 women in Ohio. Earn­
ings fell below rates by nearly 10 per cent in Kentucky and by more
than 10 per cent in Georgia (from which the largest number of
women were reported), in Missouri, and in Arkansas (from which
fewer than 50 were included). The smallest degree in which earn­
ings fell below rates was 3.5 per cent in New Jersey, the next 6.9 per
1 The State is Kansas. See note on Alschuler award, p. 8.




EARNINGS

43

cent in South Carolina. In these States the data are based upon re­
ports from 20 and 89 women, respectively.
In tobacco and cigars, in every case, earnings were below rates.
In the two States having the largest numbers in tobacco, 146 and 107,
earnings fell respectively 17.2 per cent and 16.8 per cent below rates,
which was in each case in a degree greater than that by which the
earnings of all the women reported in the State fell below their rates.
A similar statement may be made for1 the largest group in cigars.
The median of the earnings was below the median of the rates
offered in the industry in every branch of textiles in every State,
except those of 44 women in bag making in one State and a few in
the manufacture of finer materials, tabulated as “ other textiles,” in
one State. In the entire range of all the industries reporting the
two cases last mentioned were the only ones in which median earn­
ings rose above median rates.
In the wood products, median earnings were in every case below
median rates in the industry, except that rates and earnings were the
same for 30 women making miscellaneous wood products in one State.
Median rates and earnings of the women in general mercantile
establishments were reported from seven States. Their situation
differed from that of women in manufacturing plants in that median
earnings almost consistently equaled median rates, falling below only
for a few women in each of two States.
The differences in the medians of earnings and of rates noted in
the foregoing discussion give a fairly accurate indication of the
relative extent of both time and money lost in various industries and
in different States. If the earnings of women reporting both rates
and earnings should, in addition, be compared with those of all
women reported in a State or in an industry, the total ordinarily
would be found to present a figure still lower. This indicates a still
greater amount of time lost by the total number, or, since median
rates can not be ascertained for pieceworkers, a lower scale of median
earnings for piecework,
WEEK’S EARNINGS OF TIMEWORKERS AND OF PIECEWORKERS
IN THE SAME OCCUPATION

A comparison of the earnings of timeworkers with those of
pieceworkers is difficult, since the occupations are likely to differ.
The basis for such a comparison in the present study exists in the
earnings reported for 1,743 women in 10 States. Of these, 275
were timeworkers and 1,468 were pieceworkers in the same occupa­
tions and usually, although not always, in the same establishments.
Nearly three-fourths of the total number were tobacco stemmers,
and the remaining women represented occupations in four branches
of textiles and in four of wood products. The numbers, medians
of earnings, and ranges of actual earnings of timeworkers and of
pieceworkers in the same occupations may be seen from Table 5
in Appendix B.
Of the stemmers reported in tobacco factories, only 35 were
timeworkers and 887 were pieceworkers; in cigar factories, 70 stem­
mers were on a, time basis, 269 on a piece basis. In tobacco in any
one State and in any one year, stemmers on piecework had a lower
34574°—29----- 4




44

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

median than had timeworkers, and the highest piecework median
at any time was below the lowest in timework. Timeworkers in
tobacco earned considerably more than did those taken in the same
year in cigar making, but there was no such regular relation of the
earnings of pieceworkers, whose receipts showed marked fluctua­
tions. The highest earnings in timework were in 1922, the median
for 8 women in tobacco being $12.50, for 11 in cigars $10.20. In
the same year and in the same States, respectively, 137 pieceworkers
in tobacco had a median of only $5.30, less than one-half as much as
that of timeworkers, while 22 pieceworkers in cigars had a median
oi $10.35, a figure slightly more than that of the timeworkers and
the best at any time for pieceworkers in this occupation. The very
low median of $1.80 for pieceworkers in one State in 1921-22 indi­
cates the irregularity of work. In this case, more than two-thirds
ot the timeworkers in contrast to one-seventh of the pieceworkers
worked full time.
Of the 256 in textile mills reported, 76 were timeworkers, 180
pieceworkers. The largest group of the former was formed by the
sorters in waste factories, while more than one-third of the latter
were in hosiery mills. The highest median earnings computed for
pieceworkers were those for 16 hand sewers in bag factories in 1922.
lliese had a median of $11, while each of 4 timeworkers in the same
year had less, their earnings ranging from $7 to $10.10. Six ba°turners in 1925 had the highest median for timeworkers, that of
$9.16, while at the same time 25 pieceworkers in the same occupation
had a median of only $5.15. This was the largest group of piece­
workers in an occupation in bag making, and the timeworker earn­
ing the smallest amount had more than the median for all piece­
workers. In the other cases in textiles, pieceworkers had a median
above timeworkers in the same States as sewers in bags in 1921, as
knitters in hosiery mills in 1925, and as roving haulers in 1922;
timeworkers had the higher median as fillers of frames and as waste
sorters, in 1921.
Of 175 .in the wood industries, 72 were on a time basis, 103 on a
piece basis. More than one-half of all reported were stackers in
the box and crate or the lumber and veneer industry. Of these
22 timeworkers in 1921 had a median below that of 5 pieceworkers
in the same year; in 1925, 41 pieceworkers had a median above that
of 17, and below that of 6, timeworkers. The highest paid piece­
workers were 34 furniture assemblers, who had a median of $11.20
and 5 machine operators in box and crate factories, with a median
of $9.85. In.each case this was considerably above the earnings of
timeworkers in the same occupation at the same time, and it” was
also above the highest earnings of any timeworker in any occupa­
tion in the wood industries at any time. The highest timework
median was that of $8.25 for 6 lumber stackers in 1925. In another
State studied in the same year, 17 stackers in box and crate factories
had a median of only $5.20 while the median for 41 on piecework
was $6.90. The highest amount reported for any individual timeworker m wood products was $9 paid each of 2 off-bearers in a
furniture factory in 1925, and in another State in the same year
another woman in the same occupation earned $8.55, the next
highest payment to an individual wood worker.




EARNINGS

45

Up to this point the data have included all the women for whom
the bases of payment were reported, and they have generally shown
the highest medians in textiles and in tobacco to be received by timeworkers, the highest in cigars and in wood products to be received
by pieceworkers. This gives a fairly accurate indication of the
actual situation in relation to all women, but takes no account of the
variations in earnings that may have been caused by the inclusion of
undertime workers. An additional comparison may be made for full­
time workers only, that is, of the earnings of timeworkers who had
worked the full scheduled hours of the firm with those of piecework­
ers in the same occupations at the same time who worked for 5t/2
days or over during the week. Of these, there were 146 timeworkers
and 556 pieceworkers. Of course the range of occupations is less
complete than that in which all workers are included.
Except in tobacco, the medians for full-time workers, where re­
ported, were nearly the same as those for all workers in the same
occupations, whether time or piece was the basis of pavment. In
tobacco and cigar factories, the women on full time include 71, or
nearly one-half, of the timeworkers, and 457, or more than fourfifths, of the pieceworkers reported. For these the medians for
women on full time ordinarily were above those for all women in
the same occupation at the same time, but with a much greater
variation for pieceworkers than for timeworkers. Ordinarily, for
full-time workers the lowest earnings received by any individual timeworker were above the lowest in piecework in the same occupation at
the same time, but the variations were not so wide as if the lowest
individual earnings among those of all timeworkers be compared with
the lowest among all pieceworkers in the same occupation. This
again emphasizes the great fluctuation in the earnings of piece­
workers.
The medians of full-time timeworkers were above those of piece­
workers in the following cases:
Tobacco, stemmers, 17 timeworkers, with a median of $12.35; 198 piecework­
ers, with a median of $8.15.
Bags, turners, 5 timeworkers, with a median of $9.16; 17 pieceworkers;, with
a median of $5.40.

The medians of full-time pieceworkers were above those of timeworkers in the fob o wing cases:
Cigars, bunchers, 5 timeworkers, with a median of $5.50; 14 pieceworkers,
with a median of $8.
Cigars, stemmers, 16 timeworkers, with a median of $6; 13 pieceworkers,
with a median of $6.75.
Hosiery, knitters, 4 timeworkers, with a median of $5.80; 7 pieceworkers with
a median of $6.31.
Boxes, stackers, 8 timeworkers, with a median of $5.20; 31 pieceworkers,
with a median of $7.35.
“Other wood,” assemblers, 7 timeworkers, with a median of $5.50; 7 piece­
workers, with a median of $6.50.

The earnings of pieceworkers presented much greater fluctuations
than did those of timeworkers, and in many occupations some piece­
workers had earnings far below those of any timeworker in the same
occupation. The industries in which timework prevailed provided
the worker with an income more certain and uniform than piecework
earnings but at a figure somewhat lower than that possible to a few
individuals under the piecework system.



46

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

YEAR’S EARNINGS

The discussion of earnings thus far has been confined to the
amounts received during a representative week. Owing to holidays,
slack work, illness, and various other plant or personal causes, the
earnings of individual workers are likely to suffer considerable varia­
tion from week to week. It is the all-year-round income that is of
real importance to the worker, since it is upon this that her stand­
ard of living finally depends.
In the chief industries suryeyed in 9 States, the actual year’s earn­
ings were ascertained in 33 establishments for 285 women who had
worked for at least 44 weeks prior to the time when week’s earnings
were taken. In addition, year’s earnings are available for a few in
each of several occupations scattered among other industries, mak­
ing a total of 326 women in 55 establishments. Those for whom
year’s earnings were reported may be considered fairly representa­
tive of the most continuous and capable workers to be found. Their
earnings indicate the amounts that the steady worker ordinarily
had to live upon in a given industry at the time studied.
By reference to Table 6 in Appendix B it will be seen that the
highest year’s earnings in any industry were those of 105 women in
the meat-packing industry in 1920,2 the lowest those of 5 candy
workers in a State studied in 1925. Other high figures were in bags
and in glass in 1922, while low amounts were earned in box plants in
1925, and in cotton yard goods and in tobacco in 1922.
It is of interest to ascertain what the year’s receipts indicate as to
the average amount per week that a steady worker could count upon
for running expenses during the 52 weeks of the year and to compare
this with the week’s earnings of all reported. The women for whom
year’s earnings were reported form 66.9 per cent of those for whom
week’s earnings were taken in meat packing; 25 per cent of those in
furniture in one State; more than 15 per cent of those in candy in
two States; and 14 per cent of those in cotton yard goods in one
State; more than 10 per cent of those in glass and in cigars in one
State; and more than 9 per cent of those in bags and in furniture in
one State each. In the other cases the proportion for whom year’s
earnings were reported was extremely small, although the general
policy of the Women’s Bureau has been to ascertain year’s earnings
for from 10 to 20 per cent of the number for whom week’s earnings
were taken. That year’s earnings are available for so small a pro­
portion of negro women tends to show that in most of the industries
there existed a rather high degree of instability, a situation that
might be attributed to heavy labor turnover within the year or to
great irregularity of attendance.
Where the average weekly earnings of those for whom year’s
earnings were given exceeded the median week’s earnings of all re­
ported, relatively more time was lost by all those working during a
representative week than by the steadier workers who remained
throughout the year. Where the differences were greatest, the pro­
portions for whom year’s earnings were reported ordinarily were
comparatively small, which gives further indication of a somewhat
2 The high median in meat packing was influenced hy the Alschuler awards.
pn p. 8.




See note

EARNINGS

47

higher degree of instability of the workers in those industries at
the time studied than in the other industries included. Differences
existed in the greatest degrees in waste factories and in bag making;
in a large degree in furniture, in cigar plants, in “ other wood,” and
in tobacco, in one State each; and in a less degree in glass and in
cigars in other States.
In industries in which the average weekly earnings of those for
whom year’s earnings wTere given fell below the median week’s
earnings of all reported, the steadier workers lost relatively more
time during the year than did the workers studied in a representa­
tive week. These industries therefore appear to present a character
somewhat more fluctuating that that of the other industries. Where
the greatest difference occurred, year’s earnings were reported for a
relatively large proportion, which gives further indication that the
loss of earnings was not referable chiefly to instability of the workers
but must have been caused by conditions within the industry at the
time studied. The difference was greatest in slaughtering and meat
packing, next in tobacco and candy, in two States; the difference
was less in furniture, in tobacco, and in the making of cotton yard
goods in one State each, and in box factories in two States.
Naturally, in any one industry women engaged in some occupa­
tions received more than those in others. The largest amount earned
in a year in a specific occupation was $1,139 received by a meat
trimmer in 1920; a twister in a tobacco plant in 1925 received
$916; a hand sewer in bag making in 1922 received $895, and in
the same year a machine operator in a metal plant earned $747.
While all occupations in slaughtering and meat packing were well
paid, workers with casings and chitterlings, and shavers, cleaners,
scrapers, and singers earned the largest amounts, while trimmers
and cutters, sausage makers and stuffers, and canners and packers
had medians less than that for the industry as a whole.
The lowest median found for any occupation was that of $232 for
5 candy makers in 1925, and $172 and $186, respectively, were earned
by 2 roving haulers in cotton yard goods in 1922. Median year’s
earnings of $290 were received by 10 stackers in box and crate plants
in 1925. In addition, the following women received less than $300
for their year’s work: One clothing presser and 1 puller in a box
factory in 1920; 1 paster and folder and 2 stammers in cigar fac­
tories, and 1 inspector and mender, 1 looper and seamer, and 1
boarder of hosiery in 1921 and 2 boarders in 1925; 2 tobacco stemmers, 2 searchers, and 1 picker in 1922; in cotton-yard-goods mills,
2 fillers of frames and batteries, 2 bale breakers, and 1 waste hand
in 1922; in “ other wood ” an assembler in 1925.
SUMMARY

Week’s earnings were ascertained for 5,558 women in 209 estab­
lishments in 11 States, year’s earnings for 330 women in 55 estab­
lishments in 9 States. Differences in time of survey, in type of
industry, and in locality narrow the scope of the accurate com­
parisons that are possible from the data secured. In 4 States the
median of the week’s earnings of all women reported was $5.70
or less, in 2 States it was $11.30 or more; earnings in the other
5 States ranged from $6.10 to $8.65. The highest of all the medians



48

NEGRO WOMEN 1ST INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

of a week’s earnings in any industry were those of women in gen­
eral mercantile establishments and in slaughtering and meat pack­
ing in a State surveyed in 1920;3 the lowest were those of women
in a lumber and veneer mill in 1922 and of women in a clothinoplant in 1920.
b
In every State for which rates were reported the median of the
week’s earnings fell below the median of the rates of pay bargained
for; and the same was true in every separate manufacturing indus­
try, with the exception of two cases in textiles involving together
only 71 women.
In tobacco and in hosiery, median earnings ordinarily exceeded
the medians for the States in which the industry was found, as
did medians in glass and in yarn, each of which was found in only
one State; in bag making, in waste factories, and in cotton yard
goods medians for the largest groups fell below those for the State.
Median earnings in cigar making and in the various branches of
wood products bore no regular relation to the medians of the respec­
tive States in which they were found, being sometimes below, some­
times above. Median earnings of women in general mercantile
establishments rose above the State median in six of the seven
States in which these were reported.
The earnings of pieceworkers showed much greater fluctuations
than did those of timeworkers and in many occupations some piece­
workers had earnings far below those of any timeworker in the same
occupation.
The highest year’s earnings were $1,139 received by a meat trim­
mer in 1920. In 1922 a hand sewer in a bag factory received $895,
and in the same year a machine operator in a metal plant received
$747. A twister in a tobacco factory in 1925 earned $916. The lowest
year’s earnings were those of a roving hauler in cotton yard goods
in 1922. Other low amounts were received by another roving hauler,
by a frame filler, and by a tobacco picker in 1922, and by a candy
wrapper in 1925. The average weekly amounts received by those
reporting year’s earnings rose above the week’s earnings of all those
reporting in the bag, the cigar, the cotton yard goods, the glass,
and the waste industries, and in one State each in furniture and
tobacco; they fell below in the greatest degree in slaughtering and
meat packing and in tobacco and in candy in two States; they fell
below in a lesser degree in furniture, in tobacco, and in cotton yard
goods in one State each and in box factories in two States.
See footnote, p. 8.




CHAPTER VL—THE WORKERS

*

B

In addition to a knowledge of the location of negro women in
industry, of their working hours, of their earnings, and of the ex­
tent to which a time or piece basis prevailed in payment for their
labor, it is of interest and importance to know some of the personal
facts about the workers themselves. What, for example, were the
ages of most of the negro women studied, and did the occupations in
which the very young or very old were found differ materially from
those in which others were chiefly engaged? Had the women re­
porting, both from industries that had long been open to them and
from those that were but newly giving them opportunity, been in
their trades for a length of time sufficient to justify a claim for the
stability of negro women workers ? What proportion of the workers
were single, married, and widowed, separated, or divorced? Did
single women stand better opportunity for employment in some in­
dustries or occupations, married women in others?
AGE

The ages of 3,150 women in 12 States were reported. In each of
these States those between 20 and 30 formed the largest group;
1,344, or 42.7 per cent of the total number, were within this age range;
and 810, or 25.7 per cent, were between 30 and 40.
In each of 9 States women under 20 formed at least 10 per cent
of the negro women included; in three of these they constituted more
than 25 per cent. The largest numbers of those at this age range
were in wood products, tobacco products, nuts, house furnishings,
and bags. Few were found in textiles, and a very few of these were
in the more skilled machine processes that were open to them, chiefly
in hosiery and knit goods. In the industries employing the largest
groups of girls under 20, the total number of negro women and the
numbers and chief occupations of those under 20 were as follows:

*

*

Of 883 in tobacco, (IT, of whom 51 were stemmers.
Of 466 in nuts, 53, of whom 51 were pickers.
Of 161 in house furnishings, 38, of whom 25 operated machines, 1 inspected,
and a few sewed by hand.
Of 99 in bags, 33, of whom 11 patched, sewed, or mended, 10 turned, 3 in­
spected, 1 riveted, and 1 was a machine operator.
Of 51 in cigars. 23, of whom 19 were stemmers and 2 were bunchers.
Of 101 in furniture, 24, of whom 10 were finishers, 8 packers, 4 assemblers,
and 1 was a machine operator.
Of 98 in boxes, 29, of whom 8 stacked, 5 operated or fed machines, and 4 as­
sisted at saws.

As a general rule, the occupation in which the largest number of
the younger girls in an industry were found were the same as those
employing the largest numbers of the women of other ages. In
slaughtering and meat packing this was not true, since only two girls
under 20 were reported in the casing and chitterling departments




49

50

NEGRO WOMBS' IN' INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

where nearly one-third of the older women worked. Of the 398 in
this industry who reported age, only 16 were less than 20, and of
these 6 worked with hair; 1 picked chickens; 2 tied, hung, and linked
sausage; and 1 trimmed meat.
Additional occupations in each of which a few girls under 20 were
found were looping and seaming hosiery, hauling in a yarn mill,
sorting waste, machine sewing jn clothing, wrapping candy, peeling
and pitting fruit, acting as maid or as stock girl in a store, carryingin and cracking-off in glass, and working in the bindery of a printing
plant.
A few Avomen of 60 or over were found in each of 9 States. To­
gether they formed a very small group, only 48, or 1.5 per cent of
the whole number reporting age. Nearly one-half of these were
tobacco stemmers; none were found in cigar firms. A few were han­
dling casings and chitterlings in meat-packing establishments or
\ATere at the. following types of work: Sorting in waste and in paper
factories, picking and sorting nuts, peeling and pitting fruit, picking
chickens, turning bags, assembling furniture, and acting as maid in
a department store.
TIME IN THE TRADE

By the length of the time during which workers had remained in
their trades some indication may be obtained in regard to two im­
portant matters: The relative periods at which opportunities for
employment in different industries became aA'ailable to negro women
and the stability of these women in their work.
Reports of time in the trade wTere given for 2,819 negro women in
12 States. More than three-fifths of these had been at their work
for at least 2 years. The largest group, 17.6 per cent, had been in the
industry 5 and under 10 years, and the group next in size, 16.2 per
cent, 1 and under 2 years. A small proportion had worked in the
same trade for 10 and under 15 years, and a few more for 15 years
or longer—a total of 11.4 per cent at least 10 years in one trade. The
numbers and the proportions of those who had remained for specified
lengths of time are as follows:
Under 6 months__________
6 months and under 1 year
1 and under 2 years______
2 and under 3 years______
3 and under 4 years______
4 and under 5 years______
5 and under 10 years_____
10 and under 15 years____
15 years or over__________

Number
354
268
456
403
287
235
496
133
187

Per cent
12.6
9.5
16.2
14.3
10.2
8.3
17. 6
4.7
6.6

In each of seven States, time in the trade was reported by tvell
over 100 women; in three of them more than 400 women reported.
The period reported as spent in the trade by one-half or more of the
Avomen is as follotvs, with the group specified that had a larger
number than any other group in the State:
One year or longer.—Illinois: Largest group 133, or 30.7 per cent, 1 and under
2 years.
Two years or longer.—Georgia : Largest group 87, or 34.9 per cent, 1 and under
2 years. Missouri: Largest group 144, or 24.8 per cent, less than 6 months.




THE WORKERS

51

Three years or longer.—Kansas: Largest group 42, or 24.1 per cent, 3 and
under 4 years. Ohio : Largest group 54, or 20 per cent less than 6 months.
Tennessee: Largest group 91, or 27.6 per1 cent, 5 and under 10 years.
Five years or longer.—Kentucky: Largest group 123, or 24.7 per cent, 5 and
under 10 years, with 18.1 per cent 15 years or longer.

Between different industries marked variations occurred in relation
to the time during which most of the women had been in the trade.
The types of industry prevailing in a State tended to indicate the

TIME IN THE TRADE
2,819 NEGRO WOMEN IN 12 STATES
Per cent
of women

20

Under Q months
6 months and
Under 1 year
1 ond under
2 years
2 and under
3 years
3 and under
4 years
A and under
5 years
5 and under
I0 years
10 years and
*

over
U.S.oepr. of Labor
Women's Bureau

extent of the industrial opportunity and of the stability likely to be
found there. For example, reports on time in the trade came from
tobacco factories in five widely separated States, and in four of these
at least one-half of the women had remained for 5 years or longer.
In slaughtering and meat packing in two States 45.9 and 78.3 per
cent, respectively, had remained for 2 years or more; in furniture
plants in each of two States practically three-fourths had been in
the work for at least a year, though scarcely any for as long as 10




52

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

years; and in cigar making in each of two States the majority had
worked for 3 years or over.
Of the 187 women who had been in their trades for 15 years or
longer, 129 were in tobacco; 26 were in food industries, chiefly in
slaughtering and meat packing and in nuts; and 20 were in textiles,
mostly in waste factories. All but two of the women who had been in
the trade 10 and under 15 years were in tobacco, food, or textiles.
The stability of negro women in these industries is indicated.
Industries in which none of those reporting had worked for as
long as 10 years are the following: Clothing, where only one had
worked for as long as 5 years, drugs and chemicals, glass, metal
products, paper and paper products, hosiery and knit goods, yarn,
and wood products other than boxes and furniture. In most cases
these represent the industries more recently opened to negro women.
More than one-half of the women in cigar making had been at’their
trade for 3 years or longer; none were reported as having remained
less than 6 months. In tobacco, as stated, the period was longer, over
one-half having remained for 5 years or more; the largest single
group had been in the trade for 5 and under 10 years and the group
second in size, for 15 years or more. Negro women have long been
employed in the preparation of tobacco, and a considerable degree of
stability on the part of the workers is apparent.
In food products more than one-lialf had worked for less than 3
years. The majority in slaughtering and meat packing had been
employed for only this length of time, although 11 had been in the
industry 15 years or longer. In glass, nearly seven-tenths had been
less than 3 years in the trade, almost a third having experience of
less than 6 months. One woman in 9 had been 5 and under 10 years
in the trade.
The majority of all in hosiery and knit goods had been in their
trade for 3 years or over, but none reporting had worked as long as
10 years. The development of opportunity in this industry is rela­
tively recent, the types of occupation are fairly skilled, and the sta­
bility is comparatively good. The largest number reporting in a
single branch of textiles was in bag making, where the majority had
worked for 2 years or longer; in the branch next in number report­
ing, waste, more than one-half had worked 10 years or longer.
More than one-half of those reported in each of the wood-products
groups except “ other ” had been in their trade for 2 years or over.
In four additional industries time in the trade was reported for a
very few, from 33 to 45. At least one-half of the women reporting
had been in their trades for the following periods: In metal products,
for more than 6 months; in clothing, for 1 year or over; in glass,
for 2 years or more; and in paper and paper products, for 3 years or
over, with none so long as 10 years.
MARITAL STATUS

Among the 3,048 women reporting marital status, workers who were
married formed the largest group—1,217, or 39.9 per cent. Those
who were single and those widowed, separated, or divorced formed
groups similar in size, and comprised, respectively, 30.2 per cent
and 29.8 per cent of the whole. In each of seven States more than




THE WORKERS

♦

53

100 women reported, and in these nearly one-third in Georgia and
Kansas and a little more than one-third in Kentucky and Tennessee
were married, as were almost one-half of those in Illinois and in
Missouri and 44.4 per cent in Ohio. Kansas had much the largest
proportion of widowed, divorced, or separated women—more than
40 per cent. In Georgia and in New Jersey more than 45 per cent
of the negro women reporting were single.
Most women in industry, whether single or married, have responsi­
bilities at home in addition to their work. The working woman who
is widowed, separated, or divorced is almost certain to have to bear
a large share, if not the whole, of the support of her children. While
a knowledge of marital status gives no conclusive indication of the
extent to which working women have home duties, it is of interest to
know whether certain industries tend to offer opportunity of employ­
ment to single or to married women in the greater numbers.
Of those reporting on marital status, the largest group in a single
industry were in tobacco, 860, or 28.2 per cent of the total. The
combined food industries presented a larger group, 965, or 31.7 per
cent. Married women prevailed in both these cases, though very
slightly in tobacco, where 312 married women formed 36.3 per cent
of the total number reporting, and 306 women widowed, separated,
or divorced formed 35.6 per cent; and in food, where 460 married
women formed 47.7 per cent of the total. In tobacco, single women
formed but 28.1 per cent; in food, only 23.1 per cent were single.
In each of the separate food industries except candy, where only a
small number reported, married women formed the largest group.
In nuts, slightly over one-half of the 448 included, and in slaughter­
ing and meat packing 167, or 43.2 per cent, were married.
Single women prevailed in wood products and in textiles. Of the
396 women reporting in the former, 161, or 40.7 per cent, were single
and of 288 in the latter, 114, or 39.6 per cent, were single, while nearly
as large a group were married—103, or 35.8 per cent. Of the 90
reporting in bag making, 49, or 54.4 per cent, were single. Of the
36 reporting in hosiery and knit goods, 16 were single; of the 70
reporting in cordage and twine, 33 were married; and of the 46
reporting in waste factories, 23 were widowed, separated, or divorced.
In the occupations pursued within any one industry, the differences
could not be said to be referable to marital status. In slaughtering
and meat packing, in which 43.2 per cent of the women were married,
only one of those picking chickens and one canning and packing
were single; the majority of those wrapping and packing, weaving
hair, trimming and cutting meat, of those working in casings and
chitterlings, and of those tying, hanging, and linking sausage were
married; the largest group of the shavers and cleaners were widowed,
separated, or divorced; and most of those making and stuffing sau­
sage and opening hair ropes were or had been married. In bag mak­
ing, where 54.4 per cent were single, these included one-half of the
turners, more than one-hajf of those who did hand sewing, and most
of the inspectors and machine operators. In hosiery and knit goods,
9 of 11 loopers and seamers reporting were single. In waste facto­
ries, where 50 per cent of the women were widowed, separated, or
divorced, more than one-half of the sorters were in this group. In
wood products, in which 40.7 per cent were single, these included a




54

kEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

majority of those packing furniture and nearly one-half of those
stacking wood and boxes in box factories and of those assembling
the furniture. The women forming the largest group of those finish­
ing furniture were married. Of the 35 tobacco stemmers in cigar
factories, more than one-half were single, while in tobacco plants 7
of every 10 of the 653 stemmers were or had been married.
SUMMARY

In regard to age, it may be said in summary that 42.7 per cent of
the women reporting were between 20 and 30, slightly more than onefourth were from 30 to 40, more than 10 per cent were under 20, and
a very few were 60 or over. Nearly one-half of the oldest group were
tobacco stemmers. Of the youngest women, some were found in most
of the occupations pursued by the oldest, few were on the more
dexterous machine processes in hosiery and knit goods, very few worked
with casings in slaughtering and meat packing, a number in house
furnishings and a few in clothing were on sewing machines, and the
largest groups in most industries did the same kinds of work done
by the largest groups of those at other ages. Except in the case of
women over 60, there was little variation in occupation that could be
attributed chiefly to age.
Time in the trade was reported for 2,819 in 12 States, or 39.3 per
cent of all the women studied in those States. Of these, 1,741, or 61.8
per cent, had remained in their trades for 2 years or over, and 28.9
per cent, almost three-tenths, for 5 years or more. Even if the
whole number studied in these States be taken, it will be found that
24.3 per cent we re known to have been in their work for 2 years or
more, 11.4 per cent for 5 years or over. Undoubtedly many others
of the 60.7 per cent unreported also had remained for as long or for
a longer time. Some claim for the industrial stability of a good pro­
portion of negro women therefore seems justified. Industries in
which the greatest stability existed were tobacco and waste. A con­
siderable degree of stability was indicated also in hosiery and knit
goods, paper and paper products, glass, and wood products.
The marital status of 3,048 women was reported. Of these, 39.9
per cent were married, 30.2 per cent were single, and 29.8 per cent
were widowed, separated, or divorced. In tobacco and in the food
industries women who were or had been married were greatly in the
majority, and in tobacco nearly as many as those married were
widowed, separated, or divorced. In the textile industries taken
together and in wood products, on the contrary, the single women
formed the largest groups. Variations in the occupations within any
one industry could not be said to be due to differences in marital
status.




APPENDIXES
APPENDIX A—LIST OF OCCUPATIONS OF NEGRO WOMEN
APPENDIX B—GENERAL TABLES




!




*

APPENDIX A.—LIST OF OCCUPATIONS OF NEGRO WOMEN

*

_
*

1

*

Clothing (States, 6; establishments, 16; women, 123) :
Press operate
12
Machine operate
40
Other (including 1 button, 1 ticket, 1 basting pull)1------------------------Drugs and chemicals (States, 4; establishments, 8; women, 55) :
Label
20
Pack and sort-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Other (including 1 bottle wash)1--------------------------------------------------Food:
Bakeries (States, 3; establishments, 7; women, 36)—■
Wrap bread-------------------------------------------------------------------------Wash dishes and shine boxes------------------------------------------------Make and top pies---------Prepare fillings and ice cakes------------------------------------------------Candy (States, 6; establishments, 10; women, 205) —
Wrap, pack, label, and inspect----------------------------------------- .-----Enrober________________________________________________ ____
Machine operate
Floor woman
Other1
Canning and preserving (States, 4 ; establishments, 6; women, 164—
Peel and pit
104
Shuck oysters
17
Cook
lb
Sort, bottle, and label------------------------------------------------------------Wash cans and bottles
Forelady------------------------------------------------------------------------------Other1
Slaughtering and meat packing (States, 3; establishments, 9; women,
880) —
Casings and chitterlings
176
Trim and cut meat---------------------------------------------------------------Wrap', pack, stamp, label, Inspect--------------------------------------------Can and pack
38
Tie, hang, and link sausage
35
Open hair ropes--------------------------------------------------------------------Shave, clean, scrape, singe; remove galls, guts, brains, etc---------Weave hair
13
Make and stuff sausage---------------------------------------------------------Chicken pick
11
Grade---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Other1
Nutsi (States, 2; establishments, 6; women, 1,017)—
Pick
8101
Sort!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Cook
Forelady
Other1
Other food (States, 4; establishments, 7; women, 84) —
Pack-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Other11---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11
20
15
14
10
8
4
108
8
5
1
83

8
8
2
15

110
60
26
24
12
8
367
19-3
1
1
3
14
10

’ “Other’’ Is composed chiefly of women whoso occupations were not reported, but it
includes some who were in occupations of little importance to women or to the industry
or who were helpers or learners.




57

58

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

Glass (States, 5; establishments, 5; women, 208) :
Carry-in and take-off------------------------------------------------------------------78
Crack-off________________________________
86
Snap up------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5
Hold gob and mold
4
Sit up
1
Timekeeper
1
Other1
173
House furnishings (States, 2; establishments, 6; women, 341) :
Sewing-machine operate
121
Hand sew
30
Cut and inspect-------- ------------------------------------------------------------------3
Instruct'_____________________________________________ __________
3
Supervise
1
Other1---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------183
Metal products (States, 3; establishments, 4; women, 78) :
Machine operate
32
Press__________________________________________ ____ ___________
19
Core make
5
Press inspect_____________________________________ ______________
3
Japan
1
Other1
18
Taper and paper products:
Paper (States, 2; establishments, 2; women, 74) —
Sort
74
Paper boxes (States, 2; establishments, 3; women, 19) —
Strip
6
Glue
4
Cover_______________________________________________________
4
Stay---------------------3
Tray make
2
Textiles:
Bags (States, 4; establishments, 7; women, 296) —
Turn_____________________________________________
40
Patch, sew, mend
39
Inspect, check,count
11
Sort
8
Spread or cleanbags or handle in yard________________________
5
Clip threads orrip
4
Rivet-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------3
Machine operate
3
Measure
3
Handle iron
1
Blowerl
Truck distribute___________________________________________
l
Other1
177
Cordage and twine (States, 3; establishments, 5; women, 95) —
Spiu-----------------------------------------------19
Prepare
14
Babel
3
Waste
3
Other1----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1_____
56
Cotton yard goods (States, 6; establishments, 25; women, 288) —
Fill frames andbatteries
92
Clean hoppers,quills, machines
30
Waste
21
Draw_______________________________________________________
21
Roving haul
15
Dress
9
Twist
7
Ship------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6
Bale break__________________________________________________
4
1 “ Other ” is composed chiefly of women whose occupations were not reported, hut it
includes some who were in occupations of little importance to women or to the industry
or who were helpers or learners.




APPENDIX A.-LIST OP OCCUPATIONS OF NEGRO WOMEN

Textiles—Continued.
Cotton yard goods—Continued.
Stitch
4
Rope forming tender
Finish______________________________________ _______________
Sew (in gray room)
Creel
Butt wind
Design
Other1_______________
Hosiery and knit goods (States, 6; establishments, 7; women, 327) —
Seam-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Board---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Knit
49
Loop-----------------------------------Wind-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Inspect, mend,turn
14
Spin------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Pair, fold, stamp, ticket
4
Yarn layer_______________________________________
Teach
Doff
1
Hand warp
Bobbin clean________________________________
Draw
Other 1
Waste (States, 2; establishments, 2; women, 116) —
Sort
74
Cut bags-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Cop wind
10
Sew
8
Fleece______________________________ _______________________
Machine operate
2
Slubber
2
Shredding room
Yarn (States, 2; establishments, 3; women, 23) —
Draw---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Haul:_______________________________________________________
Waste pick
3
Sort
2
Creel
Other textiles (States, 2; establishments, 3; women, 31) —
Work on shoddy
Clean hoppers,quills, machines
Dye house---------------------------------------------------------------------------Slat filler
Card room
Pick
Feed batteries-------- -------------------------------------------------------------Other1
Tobacco products:
Cigars (States, 6; establishments, 15; women, 616) —
Stem or strip 401
Paste and foldboxes
57
Bunch
54
Pick---------------------------------------------Pack,_______________________________________________________
Grind----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Spread
4
Machine operate___________________ ________________________
Band___________________________________________
Other1__

59

4
4
4
1
1
1
64
105
70
31
24
7
4
1
1
1
1
14
13
6
1
10
7
1
9
6
4
4.
3
1
1
3

35
15
9
3
1
37

1 ‘ Other is composed chiefly of women whose occupations were not reported, but it
includes some who were in occupations of little importance to women or to tile industry
or who were helpers or learners.

34574°—29----- 5




60

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

Tobacco products—Continued.
Tobacco (States, 6; establishments, 49; women, 5,795) —
Stem or strip3, oil
Tie and hang
918
Feed-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Wrap, pack, box, label
117
Pick-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Search
92
Classify and sort:___________________________________________
Twist
49
Blend
45
Cut
28
Dropper_______________________________________
Deaf spread
20
Wring
18
Lump make
12
Shake leaf
11
Sew sacks,
Cook and case
Leaf grease
Special leaf dip_______________________
Timekeeper
1
Other1
Wood products:
Boxes and crates (States, 5; establishments, 12; women, 332)—
Stack lumber, baskets, hampers
85
Grade and sort
22
Cull saw and saw
17
Lay cleat, feed cleat, and cleat wire boards----------------------------Catch and off-bear
9
Machine operate
9
Staple
5
Bundle-----------------------------------Coupling machine
Other1
Furniture (States, 3; establishments, 5; women, 187) —
Finish
83
Assemble
38
Pack
23
Machine shop,
Off-bear
10
Rip saw
Veneer
Other1
Lumber and veneer (States, 4; establishments, 6; women, 55) —
Grade---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Off-bear
Stack
0
Saw
5
Pull
5
Feed dyer or help at clipper
4
Tie or tie bundle
Assemble
3
Other 1
Other wood (States, 6; establishments, 9; women, 406) —
Stack________________________
Sort
22
Assemble-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Machines, including cut-off saw, nail, boring----------------------------Pack
10
Nest match boxes----------------------------------------------------------------Wire, press, or glue doors or string wire-------------------------------Off-bear
4
Cut
4

463
100
57

21

4
4
2
2
820

10

3
1
171

12
1
1
19
13
7

3
0
27
18
11
7
7

1 “ Other ” is composed chiefly of women whose occupations were not reported, hut it
includes some who were in occupations of little importance to women or to the industry
or who were helpers or learners.




«

4

APPENDIX A.---- LIST OF OCCUPATIONS OF NEGRO WOMEN

Wood products—Continued.
Other wood—Continued.
Lay slats
Lay mold
Drive spindle
Other1
Miscellaneous manufacturing (States, 7; establishments, 14: women,
182) :
Electrical products
50
Machine operate
19
Cotton
End holder
Other1
Glue----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Leather—seamstress
Millinery—maid
Printing and publishing
17
Bindery
Proof read
In composing room
Monotype
Press operate _
Rags-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sort
Bagger-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rubber—pack
Scientific instruments
29
Varnish
24
Inspect
Toilet goods
53
Wrap, pack, and box
Put disk and mirror in rouge compacts_______________________
Spread soap
Smooth rouge
Other1
Other miscellaneous
General mercantile (States, 12; establishments, 61; women, 161) :
Maid_______________
Alteration
11
Stock
10
Press:
Sales (at soda fountain)
Other1__________________________________________

61
3
2
1
290

4
3
24
13
1
2
7
3
3
3
1
io
8
2
2
5
4
3
3
2
41
5
121
8
4
7

1 “ Other ” is composed chiefly of women whose occupations were not reported, but it
includes some who were in occupations of little importance to women or to the industry
or who were helpers or learners.




APPENDIX B.—GENERAL TABLES
Table 1.- Scheduled, daily and weekly hours of the largest groups of negro women in chief industries
oa
bo
Number and per cent in chief group

Industry

Total
number
of
women

Daily schedule

Weekly schedule
Women

Hours
Number Per cent

Clothing.................................... ............
Drugs and chemicals__________
Food:
Bakeries ................. .......................
Candy______ _____
Canning and preserving____
Nuts________ _____ __________
Slaughtering and meat packing..
Glass and glass products___________
House furnishings________________
Metal products__________________ "
Paper and paper products........ ..
Textiles.................... .......................
Bags-------------------------------- III"
Cordage and twine.___________
Cotton yard goods________ ____
Hosiery and knit goods...............
Waste..___________ __________
Yarn...______ __________
I
Tobacco and tobacco products........ .
Cigars._____ _______ _________
Tobacco.....................
I
Major wood industries....................... II
General mercantile_______________

123
55
21

180
147
1,017
880
215
341
78
93
1,157
288
95
277
327
116
23
i, 229
613
1,616
564
161

9 hours...
9 hours 2_.

67

2 20

Less than 8 hours............ .......
Over 9 and under 10 hours. _
9 hours......................... ........
------ do.......................................
8 hours.______ ____________
Less than 8 hours 4____ ____
Over 8 and under 9 hours...
8 hours_______ ___________
Over 9 and under 10 hours..
10 hours 5......................... .........
Over 9 and under 10 hours..
9 hours_____________ _____ _
10 hours___________________
Over 9 and under 10 hours
Over 10 and under 11 hours..
11 hours........................ ..............
10 hours.________________
8 hours 8__________ _____
10 hours________ 1_________
___ do...__________________
8 hours 10_______________

12
122

104
601
870
4 81
293
54
66

5 289
153
88

189
6 106
94
21

3,026
8 224
2,930
430
10 64

54.5 50 hours 1.
2 36. 2 ----- do........
57.1 Less than 44 hours...... ............
67.8 Over 50 and under 52 hours. _
70.7 50 hours................... ....................
59.1 ___ do.3....... ...........................
98.9 48 hours....................................
4 37.7 Over 44 and under 48 hours 4.
85.9 Over 48 and under 50 hours. _
69.2 Over 44 and under 48 hours. _
71.0 Over 50 and under 52 hours..
5 25.0 55 hours 5__________________
53.1 52 hours_____ _____________
92.6 50 hours________ ___________
68.2 55 hours_________________
8 32.4 ----- do............................................
81.0 60 hours and over .............
91.3 ___ do................ .....................__I^
48.6 50 hours 7______ ____________
8 36.5 Over 44 and under 48 hours 8_.
52.2 50 hours 9..................... ................
76.2 55 hours...................... ...........H"
i° 39. 8 Over 48 and under 50 hours'. "

Another large group, 25. 2 per cent, had a week of over 52 and under 54 hours
I Another large group, 19 women, had a day of over 8 and under 9 hours
! The group second in size, 20.9 per cent, had a week of under 48 hours.
. Another large group, 34.9 per cent, had a day of 8 hours and a week of 48 hours.

;

l

10 hours and 19-4 per 06111 had a weok of 60 hours

large SnmP* 22.1 per cent, had a week of 55 hours.
. VLlJJL.1 number of women, 31.3 per cent had a day of 9 hours and 28.1 per cent had a week of 50 hours
,1 £notber large group, 24.5 per cent, had a week of 55 hours.
s‘
10 Another large group, 61 women, had a day of over 8 and under 9 hours.




Women
Hours
Number Per cent
136

35
12

70
104
3 601
870
4 81
296
53
66

4 375
153
88

192
156
94
21

7 1,619
8 188
9 1,447
346
40

129.3
63.6
57.1
38.9
70.7
3 59.1
98.9
4 37.7
86.8

67.9
71.0
4 32. 4
53. 1
92.6
69.3
47.7
81.0
91.3
7 26. 0
8 30. 7
9 25.8
61.3
24.8

Table 2.-—Week’s earnings, weekly rates, and year’s earnings of negro women in 11 States, by State and year of survey
Week's earnings reported

Week’s earnings and rates reported

Year’s earnings reported

Number of—
Number of—
Per
cent by
Median
Median
which
Median
Median of the
of the
of the
earn­
of the
Estab­
ings
Estab­
earn­ Estab­
earn­
earn­
lish­ Women rates
ings
fell
lish­ Women ings
lish­ Women ings
below ments
ments
ments
rates
Number of—

Year of survey

State

Time of selected pay roll f

1925..... .........................
Tennessee

February ___________________ _________

12
26
18
12
26
11
17
13
16
12
46

> The period for which pay rolls were taken in most of the plants studied.
* This high median is due to the Alschuler award issued shortly before the study in Kansas.




168 2 $19. 50
931
6.10
1,126
268
5 25

23
14
10

542
176
89

76
1,154
’ 121
652
243
664

10
13
2
14
11
36

41
161
20
130
120
316

5 05
5.10
11. 30
8. 65
5. 70
7.55

See note on p. 8.

$7. 05
9.90
6. 50
6. 80
6. 55
12. 45
10. 00
12. 65
5. 75
8.25

$6.10
9.00
6.05
6. 20
5.70
10. 95
9.65
10. 60
5. 35
7.65

13.5
9.1
6.9
8. 8
13.0
12.0
3.5
16.2
7.0
7.3

5
11
6
3
6

108
44
26
12
18

2 $860
414
500
303
291

4

14

541

6
5
9

48
24
32

450
288
450

APPENDIX B.--- GENERAL TABLES

1920
1920-21______ ______
1921_ ...........................
1921-22_______
1922...............................

05
CO

64

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

Table 3.—Week’s earnings, by industry, occupation, and, year of survey1
Median
Year of Num­
of the
ber of
survey
earn­
women ings
1

Occupation

CANNING AND
SERVING

PRE­

1921

Cook_______
Peel and pit..
Wash cans...

$9.00
10
8

9.25
8.50

8

8.00

157

19. 70

SLAUGHTERING AND MEAT
PACKING

All occupations___

1920

Can and pack___
Casings________
Chicken pick___
Make sausage___
Shave, singe, etc.
Trim meat______

20.20

19. 15
7. 75
22. 35
22. 25
22.15

GLASS

All occupations
(day)----------------

1922

73

Carry-in, day...
Carry-in, night..
Crack-off, day...
Crack-off, night.
Snap up_______
Timekeeper____

5.40
7. 15
9. 25
5.25
1921-22

6. 15
6. 00

4. 05

All occupations.

1921

Cop wind.
Cut bags..
Sew...........
Sort.........

4.80

Handle iron..
Inspect_____
Patch, sew...
Rivet.......... .

*4. 50
2 5. 50
4.75

0

All occupations.

8.95

Inspect.
Patch, s€
Sort____
Turn__

0

4. 25

65

4. 00
4. 00
4. 25
4. 35

YARN

All occupations__
Draw.
Haul..

7.00
10.25
CIGARS

All occupations__
1921

4. 90

TEXTILE WASTE

2 10. 45

TEXTILE BAGS

6.25

Board_________
Inspect, mend..
Loop and seam..

10. 80
10.45
11. 75
11.40
13.90
10.60

1920

Knit__________
Loop and seam..
Spin__________
Wind...................
All occupations..

All occupations___

66

Bunch.
Stem...

6.55
5.75
7.30

All occupations.
Bunch........ .......
Paste and fold..
Stem...................

192

4.80

16
57
114

1. 85
7. 35
2.65

10.00

10.15
2 8.59

All occupations__

5.80

Inspect..
Sort____
Turn___

2

010. 69

All occupations___

10.20

Bunch.
Grind..
Pack...
Stem...

0

9.15
*7. 35
10. 40

5. 45

COTTON YARD GOODS

All occupations___

Median
Year of Num­
ber of of the
survey
earn­
women ings
i

HOSIERY AND KNIT GOODS

All occupations___

All occupations___

Occupation

All occupations___
1922

86

1921

8. 30

Classify............
8
11. 45
Feed............ .
20
14. 00
Clean hoppers, etc.
6.15
Pick..................
7
7. 30
Draw____________
5.15 Search..............
20
8.50
Fill frames..............
5.80 Stem________
943
8.15
Roving haul______
5.50 Tie and hang.
11.00
14
Waste hand..............
5. 50 Wrap, pack...
13
9.80
Medians have been computed for five or more women. Earnings for a'few occupations having smaller
numbers are the actual figures. In each of the manufacturing industries only the more important occupaitself are Usted’ elther bemuse of the number so employed or because of the Importance of the occupation
1 Actual.
8 Two at $5.50, one at $7.61.
4 $8, $9, and $13.13.
* $6.75 and $8.75.
• $12.25, $14.05, and $14.10.




5.35

APPENDIX B.---- GENERAL TABLES

65

Table 3.—Week's earnings, fit/ industry, occupation, and year of survey—Con.

Occupation

Num­
Year of ber of
survey women

Median
of the
earn­
ings

All occupations___

1922

1925

261

$7.50

6
20
15
11
5
155
18

13.50
12.65
12.50
6. 90
15. 25
5. 60
12. 50

186

7. 55

22
63
6
48
13

10.60
6.00
7.35
12.60
6.90

7
8
58

$7. 50
7.00
6.00

20

7.90

15
5

7.95
7.75

73

6. 25

27
22

5.25
6.40
5. 55

FURNITURE

All occupations___

1925

1925

Finish__________________
Machine operate________

138

7.85

38
57
12
5
23

11.20
6.70
6.75
6.90
7. 90

20

3.00

11

4.90

17

8.75

6

8.25

LUMBER AND VENEER

All occupations___ 1920-21
1921
1921




Median
of the
earn­
ings

Stack....................................

All occupations____

WOODEN BOXES

All occupations___

Num­
Year of ber.of
survey women

WOODEN BOXES—contd.

tobacco—continued

All occupations___

Occupation

1925

137
8
10

7. 50
5. 00

All occupations-----

All occupations___

1922

1925

66

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

Table 4.

Week's earnings and weekly rates in chief industries, by State and
year of survey
Number of—

State

Date of
survey

Alabama..

Arkansas..

Georgia.

1922

1920-21

Industry 1

Me­
dian
of the
Estat - TTT
lish- Wom­ weekl y
en 1
rate
ment

All industries

21

94

$6.80

$6. 20

-8.8

Textiles: Cotton yard
goods.
General mercantile

8

58

6.50

5. 75

-11.5

-7.3

9

25

7. 50

7.15

-4.7

+16. 3

All industries.

10

41

6.55

5.70

-13.0

Wood:
Lumber and veneer..
Other__________
General mercantile__

1
1
5

12
17
8

5.00
6.65
10.00

4.95
5. 80
10. 00

-1.0
-12.8

All industries.

23

542

7.05

6.10

-13.5 |..............-

1

7

7.50

2. 85

-62.0

-53. 3

1
5

101
14
35

4.80
9. 40
7. 85

4.60
8. 75
6.90

-4.2
-6.9
-12.1

-24.6
+43.4
+13.1

1

41
19
27
39

4.50
10.80
7. 90
7.95

4. 30
7. 25
8.75
7.05

-4.4
-32.9
+10.8
-11.3

-29. 5
+18.9
+43. 4
+15.6

2
1

64
140

6.60
7. 45

6.20
6.50

-6.1
-12.8

+1.6
+6.8

14

176

9.90

9.00

-9.1

2

19

9.50

9.10

-4.2

+1.1

7

146
7

11.05
9.25

9.15
9.25

-17.2

+1. 7
+2.8

11

120

5.75

5.35

-7.0

1

10

5.80

5.75

-.9

+7.5

5
1

74
20
6
8

5. 40
8.35
8.10
6.60

4.95
7. 90
7. 45
5.60

-8.3
-5.4
-8.0
-15.2

-7.5
+47.7
+39.3
+4.7

All industries .

13

161

12.45

10.95

-12.0

Textiles: Bags_____
Tobacco: Tobacco..
General mercantile..

3

44
107
8

8.00
15.20
8.50

8. 65
12. 65
6.00

+8.1
-16.8
-29.4

Food: Canning and pre­
serving.
Textiles:
Bags.
Cotton yard goods...
Hosiery and knit
goods.
Waste.........................
Yarn_______ ______
Other~
Tobacco: Cigars_____
Wood:
Boxes
Other___________
Kentucky..

All industries.
Food: Canning and pre­
serving.
^Tobacco: Tobacco.........
General mercantile_____

Mississippi..

1925

All industries.
Textiles: Hosiery and
knit goods.
Wood:
Boxes..........................
Furniture”
Lumber and veneer. _
Other........ .............

Missouri.

Per cent
Per cen by which
by whic h median
median earnings
Me­ earning of indusdian fell belo w try ex­
of th
(-) or
ceeded
week s exceedec
(+) or
earn­ (+) me fell below
ings dian rat
(—) me­
in indus dian earn­
try spe­ ings of all
cified
women
in State

New Jersey___

1922

All industries—To­
bacco: Cigars.

2

20

10.00

9.65

—3.5

Ohio...................

1922

All industries..........

14

130

12.65

10.60

-16.2 -

1

8

9. 35

Food: Canning and pre­
serving.
Glass..... .................. ..........
Textiles: Waste
General mercantile...........

1
1
9 1

9.35 .

-13.2
+1.8
+75. 4

-21.0
+15.5
-45.2

-11.8

72 13.25 L0. 80
-18.5
+1.9
22
9. 65
8. 65
-10.4
—18. 4
25 1 12.25
2.25 .
+15.6
for whom both rates and earnings were
reported, but details are given for only those industries women
having numbers sufficient for the computation
of medians.




APPENDIX B.---- GENERAL TABLES

67

Table 4.—Week’s- earnings and weekly rates in chief industries, t>y State) and
year of survey—Continued
Number of—

State

Date of
survey

South Carolina.

1921-22

All industries.

10

89

$6.50

$6.05

5

15

6. 50

6.10

-6.2

+.8

2
2

60
10

6.00
10.25

5.25
10.25

-12.5

-13.2
+69.4

All industries.

36

316

8.25

7.65

-7.3

Clothing.......... ....................
Drugs and chemicals
House furnishings
Printing and publishing..
Textiles:
Bags
Cotton yard goods...
Tobacco: Tobacco
Wood:
Furniture
Lumber and veneer..
Other...........................
General mercantile

2
4
2
1

13
42
8
17

7.50
8.45
8.00
9. 40

7.40
8.20
7.00
9.10

-1.3
-3.0
-12.5
-3.2

-3.3
+7.2
-8.5
+19.0

2
3
3

20
5
69

9.45
9.50
8. 30

7.65
9.15
7. 75

-19.0
-3.7
-6.6

+19.6
+1.3

3
2
3
9

58
17
30
31

6.60
8. 80
5.90
8.00

6.10
8. 75
5.90
8.00

-7.6
-.6

Textiles: Cotton yard
goods.
Tobacco: Cigars
General mercantile

*
Tennessee.

%

Industry

Per cent
Per cent by which
by which median
median earnings
Me­ earnings of indus­
Me­
dian
fell
below try ex­
dian of the
(-) or
ceeded
of the week’s
Estab­ Wom­ weekly
exoeeded
(+) or
lish­
(+)
me­
fell
below
rate earn­
ments en
ings dian rate (—) me­
in indus­ dian earn­
try spe­ ings of all
cified
women
in State

1925

tf




-6.9

-20.3
+14.4
-22.9
+4.6

68

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

Table 5.—Week's earnings of timeworkers and pieceworkers, and
industry, occupation,
Median and range of earnings of—
All workers

Textiles:
Bags—
Patch, sew, mend (States, 2; establishments, 4; women,
39)—
1920 and 1921________________________ ____ _______
1922________ ____
Turn (States, 2; establishments, 3; women, 32)—
1922____________ ____ _________ ____ ______
1925_____ ________ _________ ______________________
Cotton yard goods—
Fill frames (States, 4; establishments, 6; women, 20)—
1920 and 1921_________ _____ ______________ ______
1922 ............................................................. ................ .........
1925 _ ....................................................................................
Roving hauler (States, 2; establishments, 3; women, 13)—
1922.........................................................................................
1925.................... ......................................................................
Hosiery and knit goods—
Knit (States, 2; establishments, 2; women, 47)—
1920 and 1921_____ _____________ ______ __________
1925
Loop and seam (States, 3; establishments, 3; women, 34)—
1920 and 1921____________________________________
1921-22 ___________ _____________ _____ __________
1925................................. ........................................................
WasteSort (States, 2; establishments, 2; women, 71)—
1920 and 1921................ ..................... ................ ..................
1922 .......... ....................................... ..................................
ToLacco products:
Cigars—
Bunch (States, 3; establishments, 3; women, 51)—
1920 and 1921____________________________ ______
1921-22.................... ...............................................................
1922___________________________________ ____ ____
Stem (States, 5; establishments, 7; women, 339)—
1920 and 1921__________________________ __________
1921-22. _____________________ _________
1922. .............................................................................. .........
1922_________ ___________________________________
1925 ___________________ _____ ________ ____ _____
Tobacco—
Stem (States, 4; establishments, 11; women, 922)—
1921.
1922. .......................................................................................
1922.......... ................................................ ................. ............
1925.................................................................................. .........
1 Not reported whether pieceworkers worked full time.
2 Rate only $4.
2 Those earning highest amounts did not report time worked.




Number
of—

to

Median of the

earnings

8
is

Women

Industry, occupation, and year of survey

Establishments

Timeworkers

Range or actual
earnings

1
2

5
4

$4.95 $4.05 to $4.95___
$7 to $10.10

1
2

1
6

$8.59
9.15 $5.50 to $9.16___

1
]
2

2
3
2

$6.16 to $7.92---$5 to $6
$7.02 to $7.10___

2
1

5
1

4.50 $4.05 to $8.10___
$3.88

1
1

4
7

$0.64 to $11.25__
5.80 $2.15 to $5.80___

1

3

$4.75 to $5.80___

1
1

24
9

4. 45 $2 to $4.50
6.30 $6.30

1
1

6
16

5. 50 $3.25 to $13
21.85 $1.33 to $4

1
2
2

33
23
11

7.30 $2.25 to $10
6. 55 $2.75 to $10
10.20 $9 to $15

1

3

2
1

27
8

$8 to $10
12.10
12.50 $11.504 to $17.556

69

APPENDIX B.---- GENERAL. TABLES

of all -workers and full-time workers, in the same occupation hy
and year of survey
Median and range of earnings of—Continued
Full-time workers

Women

earnings

|

Range or actual
earnings

Establishments

Women

earnings

Number
of—

earnings

Range or actual !

Median of the week's

Number
of—

Pieceworkers

Range or actual
earnings

[

Women

Establishments

Number
of—

Timeworkers

Establishments

Median of the week ’s
earnings

Pieceworkers

Median of the week ’s

All workers —Continued

1
2

14 $6.00 $2.30 to $8.90.........
16 ii. oo $4.58 to $15.96____

1
2

4
4

1

25

5.15 $1.45 to $6.35

1
2

1
$8.59.......... ...........
5 $9.15 $5.50 to $9.16___

1
1

8
5

1

1

$7.02 --

5.10 $4.10 to $8.40

1

4

$4.50 to $8.10___

$7.84 to $10.50--.
5.80 $5.80.......... .

6.00 $2.81 to $7.92..
5.00

$4.95............ .
$7 to $10.10___

..

2

7

1
1

27
9

4.90 $0.65 to $11.25____
6.30 $1.22 to $6.66..........

1
1

2
4

1
1
1

13
15
3

7.15 $5 to $10.75--........
4. 05 $2 to $6.19..............
$2.10 to $6.12..........

1

1

1

38

4.10 $0.95 to $7.15

1

20

1

26

5.75 $1.10 to $11.60____

1

3

$12.25 to $14.10___

1
1

5
4

$5.80

1
1

10 $6.00
7 11.00 $9.42 to $15.30.

1

17

5.40 $4.20 to $6.35.

1

3
«

$6.53 to $7.92.

1

(i)
'7

1
1

11
1

4.15 $2 to $6.19.
$6.12.

1

14

8.00 $5 to 11.60.

1

2

6. 30 $6.63 to $6.66.

4.50 $4.50__..................

i

?
2
1
1

91 1.80 $0.72 to $13.50___
22 10.35 $3.76 to $14.57____
152 8.00 $0.91 to $18.10____
$5.30 to $6.55.........
4

7
2
1
1

547
137
140
63

6. 75
5.3(
8.75
6.00

$0.35 to $17.75____
$0.20 to $19.15____
$0.40 to $24______
$1.17 to $9.60..........

< Undertime.
• Overtime.




1
2
2
1
2

5. 50 $5.50 to $13
$4

21 7. 50
16 6.00 $5 to $10
6 11.00 $9 to $15.......... .
2

$10...................

17 12. 35 $11 to $12.50____

2
1

$14.05 to $14.10

13 6. 75 $5.28 to $13.50.
(i)
99 10.40 $4 to $18.10.

3 3198 8.15 $2.10 to $14.75.
] 41 8. 95 $3.50 to $19.15.
1 42 12.20
1 4C 5.80 1 $4.41 to $9.60.

70

NEGBO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

Table 5.—Week’s earnings of timeworkers and pieceworkers, and
industry, occupation, and
Median and range of earnings of—
All workers
Timeworkers

Wood products:
Boxes—
Catch and off-bear (States, 2; establishments, 3; women,
9)
1922..........................
1925____________
Machine operate (States, 1; establishments, 2; women,
8)—
1925________________
Stack (States, 1; establishments, 4; women. 85)—
1920 and 1921_________
1925_............ .............
Furniture—
Assemble (States, 1; establishments, 1: women, 37)—
1925___________
Off-bear (States, 2; establishments. 2; women, 10)—
1925_______ _____
1925______ ______
Burn her and veneer—
Stack (States, 1; establishments, 1; women, 6)—
1925...............................
Other wood—
Assemble (States, 1; establishments, 1; women, 16)—
Off-bear (States, 2; establishments, 2; women, 4)—
1922________

1

Median of the

m

Number
of—

Establishments

earnings

£

Women

Industry, occupation, and year of survey

Range or actual
earnings

1

$5.62 to $6.87___
1

22
17

5.00
5.20

3
1

$1.15 to $6.88___
7. 50
8. 25

1
1

1
2

$5________
$2.25 * to $6.88 5__

1 Not reported whether pieceworkers worked full time.
4 Undertime.




l

71

APPENDIX B.----GENEBAL TABLES

of all workers and full-time workers, in the same occupation, bp
pear of survey—Continued
Median and range of earnings of—Continued
All workers—Continued

Full-time workers

2
03
H

2

8 $7.50 $4.72 to $13.84____

1

5

1

1

Range or actual
earnings

a
©
a

o

is

»1

3

9. 85 $4.89 to $10.31

2

2

5 ' 6.85 $1.10 to $11.30____
41 6. 90 $2.45 to $11.40____

1
2

4
$6.32....................
8 $5.20 $5.20 to $6__

1

1

34 11.20 $1.14 to $17.43____

1

2

$6.88________

1

2

1
1

2
3

$6.85...
$7.50 to $9

1

7

5.50 $5.50 to $6.88___

1

7

9

1

1

6.50 $3.75 to $8.15.........
$5«........................

s Overtime.
61 firm did not report time.




Range or actual
earnings

$8.10.

1
1

1

earnings

43

Median of the week ’s

to
d

<o
a

Establishments

Range or actual
earnings

Pieceworkers
Number
of—

earnings

Number
of—

Median of the week ’s

Timeworkers

Women

Women

Establishments

Number
of—

earnings

Median of the week ’s

Pieceworkers

$6 to $6.87

$9.86 to $13.84.

(i)
C1)
31 $7.35
$7.06 to $10.19.

6. 50 $6.40 to $8.15.

72

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

Table 6.—Week's earnings and year's earnings in chief industries, by year

of survey
Week’s earnings
reported
Industry and year

Food:
Candy—
1922. ______ ______
1925______________
Slaughtering and meat packing-1920___
Glass—1922.._______
Textiles:
Bags—1922 ___ ...
Cotton yard goods—1922........
Waste—1921.................. .
Tobacco:
Cigars—
1920________
1921.............................
1922..........................
Tobacco—
1921___________
1922. ..................... .
1922_____________
1925_________
Wood products:
Boxes—
1920-21______
1925. ...............
Furniture—
1925________
1925____
Other—1920_____




Number of—

Number of—
Medi­
an of
the
Estab­ Wom­
earn­
lish­
ings
en
ments

Estab■ lishments

Wom­
en

4

26
27
157
73

$7.00
5.65
19.70
10.80

3
8

66
94

8.95
5. 35
4.25

66
192
158

6.55
4.80
8.05

1,086
261
148
186

8.30
7.50
8.85
7. 55

10

Year’s earnings reported

2

Medithe
year’s
earn­
ings

105

863

12

291

1

5. 55

138
20
265

7.85
7.90
6.85

$5.92
4.46
16.60
11.94
7. 46

5
1

7.94
6.61
8.29

8
7

488
350

9.38
5.65
7. 46
6.73

310
288

5.96
5.54

0
73
137

age for
52
weeks

1

0

9.29
7. 21
8.17

%

PUBLICATIONS OF THE WOMEN’S BUREAU
[Any of these bulletins still available will be sent free of charge upon request]

No. 1. Proposed Employment of Women During the War in the Industries of
Niagara Falls, N. Y. 16 pp. 1918.
No. 2. Labor Laws for Women in Industry in Indiana. 29 pp. 1919.
No. 3. Standards for the Employment of Women in Industry. 8 pp. Third ed.,
1921.
No. 4. Wages of Candy Makers in Philadelphia in 1919. 46 pp. 1919.
*No. 5. The Eight-Hour Day in Federal and State Legislation. 19 pp. 1919.
No. 6. The Employment of Women in Hazardous Industries in the United
States. 8 pp. 1921.
No. 7. Night-Work Laws in the United States. (1919.) 4 pp. 1920.
*No. 8. Women in the Government Service. 37 pp. 1920.
*No. 9. Home Work in Bridgeport, Conn. 35 pp. 1920.
*No. 10. Hours and Conditions of Work for Women in Industry in Virginia.
32 pp. 1920.
No. 11. Women Street Car Conductors and Ticket. Agents. 90 pp. 1921.
*No. 12. The New Position of Women in American Industry. 158 pp. 1920.
No. 13. Industrial Opportunities and Training for Women and Girls. 48 pp.
1921.
*No. 14. A Physiological Basis for the Shorter Working Day for Women. 20 pp.
1921.
No. 15. Some Effects of Legislation Limiting Hours of Work for Women.
26 pp. 1921.
No. 16. (See Bulletin 63.)
No. 17. Women’s Wages in Kansas. 104 pp. 1921.
No. 18. Health Problems of Women in Industry. 11 pp. 1921.
No. 19. Iowa Women in Industry. 73 pp. 1922.
*No. 20. Negro Women in Industry. 65 pp. 1922.
No. 21. Women in Rhode Island Industries. 73 pp. 1922.
*No. 22. Women in Georgia Industries. 89 pp. 1922.
No. 23. The Family Status of Breadwinning Women. 43 pp. 1922.
No. 24. Women in Maryland Industries. 96 pp. 1922.
No. 25. Women in the Candy Industry in Chicago and St. Louis. 72 pp. 1923.
No. 26. Women in Arkansas Industries. 86 pp. 1923.
No. 27. The Occupational Progress of Women. 37 pp. 1922.
No. 28. Women’s Contributions in the Field of Invention. 51 pp. 1923.
No. 29. Women in Kentucky Industries. 114 pp. 1923.
No. 30. The Share of Wage-Earning Women in Family Support. 170 pp. 1923.
No. 31. What Industry Means to Women Workers. 10 pp. 1923.
No. 32. Women in South Carolina Industries. 128 pp. 1923.
No. 33. Proceedings of the Women’s Industrial Conference. 190 pp. 1923.
No. 34. Women in Alabama Industries. 86 pp. 1924.
No. 35. Women in Missouri Industries. 127 pp. 1924.
No. 36. Radio Talks on Women in Industry. 34 pp. 1924.
No. 37. Women in New Jersey Industries. 99 pp. 1924.
No. 38. Married Women in Industry. 8 pp. 1924.
No. 39. Domestic Workers and their Employment Relations. 87 pp. 1924.
No.40. (See Bulletin 63.)
No. 41. Family Status of Breadwinning Women in Four Selected Cities. 145
pp. 1925.
No. 42. List of References on Minimum Wage for Women in the United States
and Canada. 42 pp. 1925.
No. 43. Standard and Scheduled Hours of Work for Women in Industry. 68
pp. 1925.
Supply exhausted.




73

74

NEGRO WOMEN IN INDUSTRY IN 15 STATES

No. 44. Women in Ohio Industries. 137 pp. 1925.
No. 45. Home Environment and Employment Opportunities of Women in Coal­
Mine Workers’ Families. 61 pp. 1925.
No. 46. Facts about Working Women—A Graphic Presentation Based on Census
statistics. o4 pp. 1925.
No. 47. Women in the Fruit-Growing and Canning Industries in the State of
Washington. 223 pp. 1926.
♦No. 48. Women in Oklahoma Industries. 118 pp. 1926.
No. 49. Women Workers and Family Support. 10' pp. 1925.
No. 50. Effects of Applied Research upon the Employment Opportunities of
American Women. 54 pp. 1926.
♦No. 51. Women in Illinois Industries. 108 pp. 1926.
No. 52. Lost Time and Labor Turnover in Cotton Mills. 203 pp. 1926.
No. 53. The Status of Women in the Government Service in 1925 103 no 1926
No. 54. Changing Jobs. 12 pp. 1926.
No. 55. Women in Mississippi Industries. 89 pp. 1926.
No. 56. Women in Tennessee Industries. 120 pp. 1927.
No. 57. Women Workers and Industrial Poisons. 5 pp. 1926.
No. 58. Women in Delaware Industries. 156 pp. 1927.
No. 59. Short Talks About Working Women. 24 pp. 1927.
No. 60. Industrial Accidents to Women in New Jersey, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

oJ-t) PP1. 192T.

No. 61. Tlie Development of Minimum-Wage Laws in the United States, 1912
to 1927. 635 pp. 1928. Price 90 cents.
No. 62. W-S Employment in Vegetable Canneries in Delaware. 47 pp.
No. 63. State Laws Affecting Working Women. 51 pp. 1927
(Revision of
Bulletins 16 and 40.)
No. 64. The Employment of Women at Night. 86 pp. 1928.
No. 65. The Effects of Labor Legislation on the Employment Opportunities of
Women. 498 pp. 1928. Price 75 cents.
No. 66. History of Labor Legislation for Women in Three States; Chronological
Development of Labor Legislation for Women in the United States
(In press.)
'
No. 67. Women Workers in Flint, Mich. 80 pp. 1928.
No. 68. Summary: The Effects of Labor Legislation on the Employment Opporinoo^leS 0f Women- (Reprint of Chapter II of Bulletin 65.) 22 pp.
1928.
No. 69. Causes of Absences for Men and for Women in Four Cotton Mills
24 pp. 1929.
No. 70. Negro Women in Industry in 15 States. 74 pp. 1929.
No. 71. Selected References on the Health of Women in Industry. 8 pp 1929
No. 72. Conditions of Work in Spin Rooms. (In press.)
Annual Reports of the Director, 1919*, 1920*, 1921*, 1922 1993 1924*
1925, 1926, 1927*, 1928.
‘Supply exhausted.




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