Premilla Nadasen

Household Workers Unite: The Untold Story of African American Women Who Built a Movement Premilla Nadasen

Brief Description: "Premilla Nadasen recounts in this powerful book a little-known history of organizing among African American household workers. She uses the stories of a handful of women to illuminate the broader politics of labor, organizing, race, and gender in late 20th-century America. At the crossroads of the emerging civil rights movement, a deindustrializing economy, a burgeoning women's movement, and increasing immigration, household worker activists, who were excluded from both labor rights and mainstream labor organizing, developed distinctive strategies for political mobilization and social change. We learn about their complicated relationship with their employers, who were a source of much of their anguish, but, also, potentially important allies. And equally important they articulated a profound challenge to unequal state policy. Household Workers Unite offers a window into this occupation from a perspective that is rarely seen. At a moment when the labor movement is in decline; as capital increasingly treats workers as interchangeable or indispensible; as the number of manufacturing jobs continues to dwindle and the number of service sector jobs expands; as workers in industrialized countries find themselves in an precarious situation and struggle hard to make ends meet without state support or protection--the lessons of domestic worker organizing recounted here might prove to be more important than just a correction of the historical record. The women in this book, as Nadasen demonstrates, were innovative labor organizers. As a history of poor women workers, it shatters countless myths and assumptions about the labor movement and proposes a very different vision"--Biographical Note: Premilla Nadasen is an associate professor of history at Barnard College, Columbia University, and is the author of several books, including the award-winning "Welfare Warriors: The Welfare Rights Movement in the United States." A longtime scholar-activist, Nadasen works closely with domestic workers rights organizations, for which she has written policy briefs and served as an expert academic witness. She also writes about household labor, social movements, and women s history for "Ms.," the Progressive Media Project, and other media outlets."Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.; Premilla Nadasen recounts in this powerful book a little-known history of organizing among African American household workers. She uses the stories of a handful of women to illuminate the broader politics of labor, organizing, race, and gender in late 20th-century America. At the crossroads of the emerging civil rights movement, a deindustrializing economy, a burgeoning women's movement, and increasing immigration, household worker activists, who were excluded from both labor rights and mainstream labor organizing, developed distinctive strategies for political mobilization and social change. We learn about their complicated relationship with their employers, who were a source of much of their anguish, but, also, potentially important allies. And equally important they articulated a profound challenge to unequal state policy. Household Workers Unite offers a window into this occupation from a perspective that is rarely seen. At a moment when the labor movement is in decline;as capital increasingly treats workers as interchangeable or indispensible;as the number of manufacturing jobs continues to dwindle and the number of service sector jobs expands;as workers in industrialized countries find themselves in an precarious situation and struggle hard to make ends meet without state support or protection--the lessons of domestic worker organizing recounted here might prove to be more important than just a correction of the historical record. The women in this book, as Nadasen demonstrates, were innovative labor organizers. As a history of poor women workers, it shatters countless myths and assumptions about the labor movement and proposes a very different vision--; Provided by publisher. Review Quotes: "Premilla Nadasen offers a critically important look at a chapter encompassing the histories of labor, women and African Americans: the struggle of the African American domestic worker. Nadasen resurfaces a history of struggle that has been largely ignored and without which current efforts to organize domestic workers and other low-paid service workers cannot be fully understood. This book is a tribute to the thousands of Black women who were or are in this industry, and to those who took the courageous step to organize for fairness and justice. This was a book I could not stop reading."--Bill Fletcher, Jr., host of The Global African, activist, and author of ""They're Bankrupting Us!" And 20 Other Myths About Unions"Review Quotes: "Nadasen's definitive history is a must-read for workers, activists, and historians. With insight and precision, she brings to life the dynamic women who, in their courageous pursuit of respect and justice, inspired many movements and future generations." --Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) and codirector of the Caring Across Generations campaign "Premilla Nadasen offers a critically important look at a chapter encompassing the histories of labor, women and African Americans: the struggle of the African American domestic worker. Nadasen resurfaces a history of struggle that has been largely ignored and without which current efforts to organize domestic workers and other low-paid service workers cannot be fully understood. This book is a tribute to the thousands of Black women who were or are in this industry, and to those who took the courageous step to organize for fairness and justice. This was a book I could not stop reading." --Bill Fletcher, Jr., host of The Global African, activist, and author of ""They're Bankrupting Us!" And 20 Other Myths About Unions"Review Quotes: Nadasen s definitive history is a must-read for workers, activists, and historians. With insight and precision, she brings to life the dynamic women who, in their courageous pursuit of respect and justice, inspired many movements and future generations. Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) and codirector of the Caring Across Generations campaign Premilla Nadasen offers a critically important look at a chapter encompassing the histories of labor, women and African Americans: the struggle of the African American domestic worker. Nadasen resurfaces a history of struggle that has been largely ignored and without which current efforts to organize domestic workers and other low-paid service workers cannot be fully understood. This book is a tribute to the thousands of Black women who were or are in this industry, and to those who took the courageous step to organize for fairness and justice. This was a book I could not stop reading." Bill Fletcher, Jr., host of The Global African, activist, and author of " They re Bankrupting Us! And 20 Other Myths About Unions" Nadasen s stirring account relies on the voices of household workers to expose the routine indignities and hopeful aspirations that encouraged some of the most disadvantaged American women workers to organize others. Nadasen s empathetic, yet unflinching, narrative introduces us to a powerful form of historical storytelling. Bravo. Alice Kessler-Harris, author of "A Woman s Wage: Historical Meanings and Social Consequences""Review Quotes: Valuable for its recovery of a largely neglected piece of labor history, particularly one in which race, class, immigration, and gender intersect, this work may prove most useful as a how-to guide for those looking to effect change in the landscape of the new economy. Look to Nadasen's history for an understanding of how the struggle began. "Kirkus Reviews" Nadasen s definitive history is a must-read for workers, activists, and historians. With insight and precision, she brings to life the dynamic women who, in their courageous pursuit of respect and justice, inspired many movements and future generations. Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) and codirector of the Caring Across Generations campaign Premilla Nadasen offers a critically important look at a chapter encompassing the histories of labor, women and African Americans: the struggle of the African American domestic worker. Nadasen resurfaces a history of struggle that has been largely ignored and without which current efforts to organize domestic workers and other low-paid service workers cannot be fully understood. This book is a tribute to the thousands of Black women who were or are in this industry, and to those who took the courageous step to organize for fairness and justice. This was a book I could not stop reading." Bill Fletcher, Jr., host of The Global African, activist, and author of " They re Bankrupting Us! And 20 Other Myths About Unions" Nadasen s stirring account relies on the voices of household workers to expose the routine indignities and hopeful aspirations that encouraged some of the most disadvantaged American women workers to organize others. Nadasen s empathetic, yet unflinching, narrative introduces us to a powerful form of historical storytelling. Bravo. Alice Kessler-Harris, author of "A Woman s Wage: Historical Meanings and Social Consequences" Here at last is the story that finally positions black domestic workers at the center of mid-twentieth-century civil rights and anti-racist movement history. In the process of fighting for their rights as citizen-workers, the women whose phenomenal lives are explored in Household Workers Unite forged a legacy that deeply informs our social justice struggles today. Angela Davis, Distinguished Professor Emerita, History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz"Publisher Marketing: Telling the stories of African American domestic workers, this book resurrects a little-known history of domestic worker activism in the 1960s and 1970s, offering new perspectives on race, labor, feminism, and organizing. In this groundbreaking history of African American domestic-worker organizing, scholar and activist Premilla Nadasen shatters countless myths and misconceptions about an historically misunderstood workforce. Resurrecting a little-known history of domestic-worker activism from the 1950s to the 1970s, Nadasen shows how these women were a far cry from the stereotyped passive and powerless victims; they were innovative labor organizers who tirelessly organized on buses and streets across the United States to bring dignity and legal recognition to their occupation. Dismissed by mainstream labor as unorganizable, African American household workers developed unique strategies for social change and formed unprecedented alliances with activists in both the women s rights and the black freedom movements. Using storytelling as a form of activism and as means of establishing a collective identity as workers, these women proudly declared, We refuse to be your mammies, nannies, aunties, uncles, girls, handmaidens any longer. With compelling personal stories of the leaders and participants on the front lines, "Household Workers Unite" gives voice to the poor women of color whose dedicated struggle for higher wages, better working conditions, and respect on the job created a sustained political movement that endures today." Review Citations:

Kirkus Reviews 06/15/2015 (EAN 9780807014509, Hardcover)

Library Journal 07/01/2015 pg. 96 (EAN 9780807014509, Hardcover) - *Starred Review