She Was a Member of the Family Ethel Phillips, Domestic Labor, and Employer Perceptions

• Published in: Women's studies quarterly Vol. 45; no. 3/4; pp. 160 - 173
• Main Author: Jackson, Kellie Carter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Feminist Press at the City University of New York 01-10-2017; The Feminist Press; Feminist Press
• Subjects: African American Children; African Americans; Children & youth; Domestic service; Employers; Families & family life; Family (Sociological Unit); Grade 8; Grandparents; Hierarchies; Housework; Interviews; Labor Conditions; Laborers; Local History; Mothers; Opportunities; PART III. FAMILY ECONOMIES/ECONOMIC FAMILIES; Psychological Needs; Race; Racial discrimination; Special Needs Students; Suburbs; Wages & salaries; Women; Workers; Florida; United States > US; Michigan
• ISSN: 0732-1562; 1934-1520; 1934-1520
• DOI: 10.1353/wsq.2017.0053

My maternal grandmother, Ethel Phillips, labored for over fifty-nine years as a domestic servant. She worked in her longest capacity as a housekeeper for three generations of the Clark family in Dearborn, Michigan from 1955 to 1998. By conducting interviews with Ethel’s daughters, family members, and past employers, I track the complicated relationships around what it means to live and love within the racial and social hierarchy of domestic service. I argue that the language used to describe affection for domestic servants by their employers obscures the labor conditions that accompany their work and worth in a world of unprotected labor.