NEGRO WOMEN AND GIRLS EMPLOYED IN A LAMP-SHADE FACTORY
Work room is poorly lighted and generally unattractive.
| Industry | Number | Percentage of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing and mechanical industries | 998 | 11 |
| Trade and transportation | 96 | 1 |
| Professional service | 323 | 4 |
| Clerical occupations | 163 | 2 |
| Domestic and personal service: | ||
| Laundresses not in laundries | 2,115} | |
| Servants | 3,512} | 78 |
| Other domestic and personal service | 1,336} | |
| General and unclassified occupations | 337 | 4 |
| Total gainfully occupied | 8,880 | 100 |
| Industry | Number of Establishments Reporting | Total Employees | Total Negro Employees | Total Negro Women Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing: | ||||
| Tanneries | 1 | 600 | 175 | 50 |
| Iron and steel | 3 | 10,435 | 1,729 | 74 |
| Slaughtering and packing | 3 | 20,990 | 4,818 | 437 |
| Cooperage | 2 | 327 | 106 | 30 |
| Clothing | 9 | 1,405 | 203 | 202 |
| Other needle trades | 3 | 775 | 325 | 325 |
| Box making (paper) | 3 | 995 | 143 | 104 |
| Miscellaneous | 3 | 1,543 | 95 | 73 |
| Totals | 27 | 37,070 | 7,594 | 1,295 |
| Non-manufacturing:[73] | ||||
| Hotels | 4 | 550 | 250 | 69 |
| Taxicab upkeep | 1 | 1,600 | 250 | 100 |
| Laundries | 16 | 1,511 | 664 | 543 |
| Mail order (clerical occupations)[74] | 2 | ... | 1,773 | 1,400 |
| Totals | 23 | ... | 2,937 | 2,112 |
To learn the special problems concerning Negro women in industry, one conference was devoted to the industries recently opened to them. Representatives of four establishments employing a total of 1,713 Negro women attended the conference. The investigation of the 101 establishments (employing five or more Negroes) disclosed the presence of women in a large majority of cases, but in a number of instances the management was unable to tell the sex of workers from the records kept and gave the investigator the total number of Negroes employed without classification by sex. Of the 137 establishments reporting, forty-two had no Negro women employees; forty-five kept no separate sex records; fifty reported separately the number of Negro women workers.
Comparing the industries in which Negro women were employed in 1910 with the figures quoted for 1920, a striking increase is seen in the total engaged in manufacturing, 998 being the total Negro women reported for all manufacturing establishments in Chicago in 1910, as compared with 1,295 Negro women reported by twenty-seven establishments in 1920.
Comparisons for special industries and occupations show the contrasts between 1910 and 1920 in Table XXIX.
| Industry | 1910 | 1920 | Number of Establishments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sewers and sewing-machine operators in factories | 25 | 527 | 12 |
| Slaughtering and packing-house operatives | 8 | 437 | 3 |
| Box making (paper) | 3 | 104 | 3 |
| Tanneries | 0 | 50 | 1 |
| Clerical occupations | 163 | 1,400 | 2 |
| Laundry operatives | 184 | 543 | 16 |
| Taxicab cleaning | 0 | 100 | 1 |
Labor shortage was given as the reason for employing Negro women and girls by all of the firms employing them in large numbers. The outlook for Negro women in industry when there is a labor surplus is uncertain. Employers employing 1,713 Negro women represented at a conference, May 18, 1920, agreed that there were no indications of a reduction of employment. This question is considered at length hereafter in "Future of the Negro in Chicago Industries."