How the underground economy helped African American women rise
above
During the early
twentieth century, a diverse group of African American women carved
out unique niches for themselves within New York City's expansive
informal economy. LaShawn Harris illuminates the labor patterns and
economic activity of three perennials within this kaleidoscope of
underground industry: sex work, numbers running for gambling
enterprises, and the supernatural consulting business.
Mining police and
prison records, newspaper accounts, and period literature, Harris
teases out answers to essential questions about these women and their
working lives. She also offers a surprising revelation. Harris argues
that the underground economy catalyzed working-class black women's
creation of the employment opportunities, occupational identities,
and survival strategies that provided them with financial stability
and a sense of labor autonomy and mobility. At the same time, Harris
shows, urban black women strove for economic and social prospects and
pleasures, and in the process experienced the conspicuous and hidden
dangers associated with newfound labor opportunities.
