White Women Displace Black Domestic Workers During Depression

The Great Depression produced a documented displacement of Black domestic workers as economically desperate white women took jobs previously performed exclusively by Black women. In Chicago, the percentage of white women in domestic service rose from 14% to 23% between 1930 and 1935 while Black domestic workers lost positions at twice the rate of white women. Black workers who retained employment saw wages fall by 50–70%. The Domestic Workers Union organized in New York, Chicago, and other cities to fight exploitation, but domestic workers were excluded from all New Deal labor protections.