Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2023/Fall/Section20/The Wandering Beautician

Overview

Mrs. Warren was a beautician in Athens, Georgia when she was a part of the Federal Writers' Program in 1939. Her life history was written by Mrs. Sadie B. Hornsby and edited by Mrs. Sarah H. Hall.

Biography

Historic American Buildings of Athens in 1936

Early Life

Mrs. Warren was born in 1896 and became an orphan at age four and was moved to an orphanage in Detroit, Michigan, where she lived for fourteen years. She enjoyed her time in the orphanage, learning how to be responsible and preparing her for her journey in the workforce. She also discovered her love for doing hair while at the orphanage, she would fix other children's hair. She met her first husband while visiting her uncle in Crawford, GA after leaving the orphanage at age eighteen. They married three months after they met.

Adult Life

Mrs. Warren helped to run her husband’s store while married to her first husband. When her husband fell ill she additionally took on his role working for the telegraph company. For a year she managed both the store and her husband’s job. She had two children during this marriage, born in 1915 and 1919. Mrs. Warren separated from her first husband shortly after the birth of her second child after she discovered his drinking habits and that he was being unfaithful. She took her two kids to Glendale, CA with her. Her uncle and aunt lived in Glendale and Mrs. Warren stayed there for five years. While in California she began to explore her passion for doing hair. She became a beautician and learned from a woman with her own beauty shop. She began making her own money and continued to work at her teacher’s shop. After her time in Glendale she moved to Winchester, VA. She only stayed in Virginia for a year before moving to Branchville, AL. Mrs. Warren had an aunt in Branchville and had set her sights on opening her own beauty shop. The coal mining town was not fit for her dream, however. After her cousin’s death she moved to Greenville, SC. After five months in South Carolina she decided she wasn’t making enough to support herself and her kids. She went back to Alabama and worked in a college town. After a short stint in Alabama she moved to Jacksonville, FL. After suffering a head injury from a car crash she was out of work for nine months. She began working with another Georgia woman in Bradenton, FL. Typhoid fever broke out in the town and she moved her family to Athens, GA. In Georgia she began working out of her home. She then opened her own beauty parlor out of a small hotel she was living in. Mrs. Warren then moved into her own house and opened another beauty shop there. Mrs. Warren married her second husband and moved into a new house. She began raising her two granddaughters after their mother died in childbirth. At her beauty store she trained women to become beauticians in addition to running her own business.

Social Context

Women in the workforce

In the early 20th century, the majority of women did not work outside the home, those who did were typically young and unmarried. 20% of women worked outside of the home and African American women were about 2 times more likely to be in the labor force. Work within the house included working in family businesses and agriculture, in addition to more domestic tasks. Many women lacked extensive education which limited their options for employment.The 1920s were a time of change for women in the workforce. Before this time, women typically exited the workforce before marriage. The stereotypes surrounding working women made it difficult for them to be accepted in their professions. Despite limited opportunities, 50% of single women and 12% of married women participated in the labor force in 1930. This increase correlated with first wave feminism. Going into the late 20th century, 50% of single women and 40% of married women were participating in the workforce. Access to more education and more advanced technology contributed to this increase.

Alcoholism in the 20th century

Men and women drinking beer at a bar in Raceland, Louisiana, September 1938. Pre-Prohibition saloons were mostly male establishments; post-Prohibition bars catered to both males and females.

Prohibition occurred in the 1920s, an attempt to end the sale and consumption of alcohol in the U.S.. Alcohol had been a cause of worry for the country as it had led to fatalities and crime. Prohibition ended in 1933 and consumption levels rose to pre-prohibition numbers. The amendment was considered a failure due to its inability to stop the country’s reliance on alcohol in the long term. The idea of alcoholism began to be considered a disease during the mid 20th century. Environmental and genetic factors were linked to the diseases as well. The effects of alcoholism on families of heavy drinkers caused tension, men who suffered with alcoholism oftentimes couldn’t support their families. Women were often not associated with being alcoholics, making it harder for them to get treatment or support. Alcoholics Anonymous meetings discouraged and excluded women from their meetings in the beginning. This gendered understanding of alcoholism negatively affected women who suffered with the condition. Women more usually drank within the home in a more private manner. Overall, the relationship women had with alcohol in the 20th century was misunderstood and underrepresented.

References

Goldin, Claudia. 2006. “The Quiet Revolution That Transformed Women’s Employment, Education, and Family.” American Economic Review 96 (2): 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1257/000282806777212350.

O’Brien, Jane. 2015. “The Time When Americans Drank All Day Long.” BBC News, March 9, 2015. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31741615.

O'Sullivan, Meg D. "Women and Alcohol in the United States during the 20th Century." Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History. 30 Jul. 2020; Accessed 12 Oct. 2023. https://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-724

Yamilla, and Admin. “1920 to 2020: Alcohol Consumption over the Last 100 Years.” Level Up Lake Worth, February 1, 2021. https://leveluplakeworth.com/1920-to-2020-alcohol-consumption-over-the-last-century/

Yellen, Janet L. “The History of Women’s Work and Wages and How It Has Created Success for Us All.” Brookings, January 6, 2021.