Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Fall/Section009/Rosa Lee Johnson

Biography

Rose Lee Johnson is a 31-year-old black woman who works as a cook and maid for a white family, the Barnes, in Ozark, Alabama. She was born in Waycross, Georgia and attended school there until fourth grade when her family moved to a farm in Camilla, Georgia. At twelve-years-old she married her first husband. When he died a few years later she moved to Ozark. She lived in a 4-room house with her 15-year-old son, her second husband and four other residents. She was paid enough, $2.50/week, to pay her rent, $4.00/month, and provide for her family.

Early Life

Johnson was born circa 1908 in Waycross, Georgia to the Smith family. The Smith family was a large family with sixteen children. Johnson attended school in Waycross until third or fourth grade, until her family moved to Camilla, Georgia to farm. On the farm, Johnson helped out with nursing the young children and working around the house.

At the age of twelve or thirteen—the exact year is uncertain—Johnson got married. Child marriage in Georgia in the 1920s was not uncommon with parental consent (Syrett 2013, 316). It is likely that Johnson's early marriage was an arranged marriage conducted by her parents.

After marriage, Johnson and her husband bought a small farm and became tenant farmers for a few years. Johnson's husband died shortly after this time. She then moved to Ozark and remarried her second husband.

Career

In an interview with George S. Barnard for the Federal Writers' Project, Johnson expressed some frustrations about her job as a cook and maid for Mrs. Laura Barnes, but mostly she was content with her occupation. Johnson is paid $2.50 a week and receives two off days per month. In her interview, she states "I don't want any more days off 'cause I got no place to go except home." She explains that she makes enough to pay her monthly rent of $4.00 and is content with her financial situation so that she can avoid being a target for theft by other poor Black people in Ozark.

Johnson expressed frustration about the fact that she must wake up early to cook breakfast for the Barnes' children and is unable to cook breakfast for her own child and family. Additionally, the additional benefits she receives as a cook, such as meals, is dependent on her employer and can shift at any time. She briefly mentions that while Mrs. Laura Barnes occasionally offers her leftovers, "white folks ain't as generous about their food as they used to be" (Barnard 1939, 2). It is evident that many of Johnson's frustrations stem from the racial power dynamics between the Black worker and the white employer that grants the white employer absolute control over the Black worker's wage and working conditions.

During the late 1930s New Deal initiatives were established to increase job security for the unemployed and support farmers, the youth, and the elderly. However, one of the major New Deal initiatives "the Social Security Act of 1935, excluded farmers and domestic workers, and therefore, most African Americans" (Murphy 2018). This can explain why there was little supervision over the employer of domestic workers like Johnson and domestic worker's wages and working conditions were largely determined by the employer. This can give context to the financial statuses of Black people in Ozark, Alabama and incidents of theft within the Black community.

Marital Issues and Divorce

In her interview, Johnson mentioned experiencing verbal and physical abuse from her second husband. She stated that when she reported the abuse to the local authorities, they neglected to help her. During the early 1900s, women were stigmatized for wanting a divorce and discouraged from filing one. They oftentimes had to go through many obstacles to prove they were a victim of abuse (RedbookMag 2021). Many, like Rosa Johnson, could not afford to pay for a divorce. When a woman did successfully file a divorce she was "often referred to as a 'moral fire alarm' because of the danger [she] represented to society" (RedbookMag 2021).

Works Cited

Barnard, S. George. "A Negro Cook's Day. Federal Writers Project,1931.

Murphy, Mary-Elizabeth. “‘The Servant Campaigns’: African American Women and the Politics of Economic Justice in Washington, D.C., in the 1930s.” Journal of Urban History 44, no. 2 (March 2018): 187–202. https://doi.org/10.1177/0096144217746164.

RedbookMag. 2017. “What Getting a Divorce Was Like Every Decade since the 1900s.” Accessed October 5, 2021.https://www.redbookmag.com/love-sex/relationships/g4275/divorce-throughout-history/?slide=3.

Syrett, Nicholas L. 2013. "I Did and I Don't Regret It": Child Marriage and the Contestation of Childhood in the United States,1880-1925. Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth: 314-331,406, http://libproxy.lib.unc.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/i-did-dont-regret-child-marriage-contestation/docview/1398845020/se-2?accountid=14244 (accessed October 5, 2021).