Justin Jacobs
MWF 0800
252-53-3640
African American Women of Atlanta
The portrait of the African American woman after emancipation is one of pain and sorrow, strength and pride. These women of the late 19th century and early 20th century endured hardships unimaginable to modern citizens of The United States. These hardships were particularly evident in the south. The basic needs for families were too often unattainable by many African American’s in the south. Food, shelter, and clothing stretched the income of these families to nothing. At the heart of the struggle was the woman. The woman of the house was responsible for the well being of the family. With freedom came responsibility and the ability to fulfill these responsibilities was hindered by racism and prejudice. White people of the south had the money and power, and they aimed to keep it for themselves. While many white women of the time focused on luxuries these newly freed African American women were chained to freedom. Many took jobs in the fields they had been slaved in earlier, yet others took on numerous thankless jobs for little pay. These conditions were perpetual among the inner city African American community in the early nineteen hundreds, particularly in the Deep South. However, in Atlanta conditions improved because of a vibrant and young woman who took on the system of injustice and spoke for those to meek to be heard. That woman was Lugenia Burns Hope.
The African American women of the early 20th century had few career choices. The most common jobs that these women took were cooks, gardeners, field workers, washers, and maids. These strong women showed much pride and sometimes defiance to their employers for unfair treatment. To make ends meet many women sold precious keepsakes to pawnshops. They would take out high interest loans. These loans would sometimes more than triple the amount borrowed. Yet, some other young African American women would sell themselves out as nannies. These women would live in white homes and take care of the white children. These women would slowly be adapted into the white family. They would eat the same food and sleep under the same roof as the white family. Some were even photographed in pictures with the family, showing a deep relationship with a strange ironical twist. Many African American women found this to be a good job around the turn of the century because of the low wage alternatives. [1]
Many times African American women of the early 20th century would employ the survival methods once relied on during slavery. Cooks would sneak out all scraps and unconsumed food by the white family’s they worked for to feed their family. Many employers knew that these women were taking leftovers home but did little to stop it. In fact some justified their low wages to the African American cooks by stating that they received “free” food as well. Other jobs lent themselves to borrowing white surplus as well. Gardeners and farm hands would pocket little scraps of food and plant personal gardens or steal livestock, milk, and eggs. Laundry women would borrow nice garments for the weekend and return the clean but late. Many times these African American women would wear the dresses of their white employees to social outings, church, or special occasions. Laundry women ran a greater risk of repercussions for borrowing clothing though. The Atlanta police reported thievery among African American laundry women to be an epidemic. Laura Buggs was one of the African American laundry women wrongfully accused of borrowing clothing. Her house was ransacked during a police search. The search came up with nothing but she was still ordered to clean the laundry of her accuser for one month free of charge. Later it was discovered that the clothes were borrowed by the accusers relatives. No compensation was paid to Miss. Buggs though. [2]
Sometimes African American women could not leave the house so a job within the house was needed. The Athens Banner-Herald offered a surprising job for women to take part in without leaving the home. Want adds advertised jobs for women to address envelopes, string beads, and other craft items in the home. In the want ads pay in the Athens Banner-Herald on Thursday April 2 through Sunday April 6, 1930 ranged from $15 to $40 weekly. Advertisers from all around the country placed adds including Hoboken, New Jersey, New York City, New York, and as far west as El Paso, Texas. The exact number of African American women employed by these companies is unclear but it was a significant amount.
When working hard for wages did not work the women of Atlanta formed unions to ensure more equal treatment and wages. The “Colored Working Women and Laundry Women” union helped to unite maids, laundry women, field hands, and cooks. These women were tired of being treated with little to no respect for their hard work. They demanded more money and the unification helped. The union allowed for steady fair pricing and allowed the women to not be so easily bullied around by their cheap customers. Other organizations helped lower interest rates. The Working Women’s society loaded money to women without any interest unlike the moneylenders at the time that charged high amounts of interest. These small organizations helped life for many African American women at the time.[3]
One African American woman in the early 20th century shouted above all others in defiance to the racist tendencies of her town. Lugenia Burns Hope was born in St. Louis, Missouri on February 19, 1871. Lugenia excelled in school. She even started out going to college in Chicago, however that all changed. The Burns’ fell on hard times so Lugenia was forced to get a job at an early age. Before she met John her future husband she worked for Hall House and Kings Daughters for nearly twelve years. Lugenia Burns married John Hope in 1898. The two lived in Tennessee for a year. John was a professor at Roger Williams University. In the fall of 1898 the president of Atlanta Baptist College, soon to become Morehouse College, invited John to move back to his home state and teach at the college. John eagerly took the offer and the couple moved to Atlanta that year. It was in Atlanta that Lugenia became actively involved in politics. The Hope’s lived on the college campus in downtown Atlanta. The couple initially moved into the Graves Hall dorm, which at the time was the main building, but over the span of 35 years they would gradually move into the President’s House. The city offered many clubs and groups to belong too and Lugenia became active in many of these organizations, particularly the service organizations.[4]
By the twentieth century Atlanta had cumulated a population of over sixty three thousand African Americans. Many of these residences of the city were without a steady job, or the jobs they had only provided wages that kept them in the poverty level. It is because of these low wages that several African American communities formed in low rent housing areas in the city. There were around six of these major communities formed in Atlanta. These African American neighborhoods suffered many different horrors induced by sever poverty and oppression by the rich Atlanta white elite. One horrific statistic for the time was that the African American death rate was 150% higher than white population of Atlanta.[5]
However, the oppression by Atlanta’s white elite did not always spawn tragedy. Due to the enormous burden placed on the shoulders of the African American community a unity was formed. Local churches, the YMCA and YWCA, local shelters, and other civic groups reached out to help alleviate the despair in the hearts of the African American community. One of the most prolific of these groups was the Neighborhood Union and its founder was none other than Lugenia Burns Hope. Over the span of fifty years the Neighborhood Union brought about a change in the city of Atlanta that can still be seen today. The Neighborhood Union was responsible for the first all African American high school in Atlanta, the first aide clinic in west Atlanta, the first major playground system for kids, countless educational programs for music, art, and litterateur in African American neighborhoods, and even sanitary issues like trash pick up, swage treatment, road conditions and street lighting. [6]
The reason that Hope decided to do something about the poverty stricken areas of Atlanta reminds one of Edgar Alan Poe’s idea of tragedy, “the death of a beautiful young woman.” The woman was a young African American who died near Morehouse College’s campus. Her death was most likely induced by poor nutrition. Hope took this tragedy and set up the Neighborhood Union. On a more personal level Hope’s first child, Edward, had been born in 1901. Through him she began to see the lack of opportunity for African American children in the city. Playgrounds, pools, and other recreational facilities were nearly nonexistent for African American children in Atlanta. Education was also severely lacking. The arts and humanities, as well as other cultural experiences experienced by white children of the era were almost entirely void to African American children. This all began to change on July 8, 1908. That date marked the Neighborhood Union’s initial meeting. The Neighborhood Union was run primarily by African American women, however some white women were involved as well. At the time this was astounding because African American women were considered to have the lowest amount of power of anyone in the south. The women voted Hope the president of the union and set out to make reforms. However, the Neighborhood Union was careful in its progressive steps. The women along with Morehouse College students took surveys along the west side of Atlanta to find out information on living conditions. These surveys told the needs and wishes of the general population without any swaying of the truth. The surveys showed that sewage treatment was needed, as well as a better water supply, open surface wells required covering to make them safer for children, better lighting for streets, schools needed repair, garbage collection needed to be improved, and the list went on and on.[7] [8]
The Neighborhood Union began to see that in order to disrupt the perpetual motion of the poverty-stricken African American population in Atlanta, the children would need to be the primary focus. Many of the problems uncovered by the surveys were too big to be solved by such a new group, so instead they focused on fixing things for the children. When the Neighborhood Union defined children it did not mean just African American children, but rather all children. While the rich focused on the white, the Neighborhood Union would devote itself to the voices unheard, like the Asian community and the Jewish community. The Neighborhood Union was surprisingly equal to all those in need. One specific instance of the Neighborhood Union helping out all ethnicities was the Clean Up Campaign. This campaign sought out to help clean the streets of danger for children as well as clean up merchants who provided essential goods. Many white merchants were practicing unsanitary and unethical food sales. For instance some white merchants would load bags of flower and other foods with rocks to make them appear heaver. Other merchants let flies get into meat causing all kinds of health problems. The Clean Up Campaign was instrumental in making shops sanitary and equivalent to other shops in white neighborhoods. These shops were expected to uphold the same guidelines set by the United States and Atlanta government. [9] [10]
Hope divided the union into zones with a leader for each zone. The union was also divided into four departments, the Moral and Educational Department, the Literary Department, the Musical Department, and finally the Arts Department. These four departments all had specific goals for their section of the community. These goals ranged from promoting the arts and music among African American children, to teaching skills ranging from nursing to military tactics. They also lobbed the state and city governments for more funding and maintenance in these African American neighborhoods. Healthcare was also provided by the Neighborhood Union. At first clinics instructing patients were conducted and then a permanent facility housing a clinic was set up at the intersection of West Fair and Mildred. That clinic was short lived due to demand. On Lee Street land was bought for $1,500 and another clinic was set up. Following that clinic was another clinic that was set up in June of 1914. Carrie Bell Cole ran this clinic full time for $50 a week. In 1926 the health clinic was sold to become the Leonard Street Orphanage. The orphanage helped out children from all over the Atlanta area, but in particular the west side of Atlanta. In adition to helping orphans, the Neighborhood Union pushed for better education in the African American Atlanta community. In 1913 African American schools had an enrolment of 6,163 children but only had seats for 4,102 of them. This caused overcrowding and lack of one on one attention. Due to this, the Neighborhood Union pushed for a larger budget and better facilities. The money and funding that would eventually come with charter for the school would help to alleviate the over crowding. Finally in 1921 $1,250,000 was allocated to African American schools. The African American population now had funding to teach their children. In 1924, because of the years and years of fighting with the city government, and the new funds allocated to African American schools the first African American high school, Booker T. Washington High School, was founded. The schools teachers were all African American and it was funded by the city, though very little money was given. The inception of the school was due to the persistence of Hope and the other women in the Neighborhood Union.[11] [12]
Lugenia Burns Hope’s life of service did not stop with Atlanta or the Neighborhood Union. Hope along with the Neighborhood Union helped the Red Cross aide Atlanta fire victims in 1917. Through this Calvin Coolidge, then chairman of the Red Cross, recognized her. In 1927 Hope joined with the Red Cross to help aid Mississippi in a five million dollar flood disaster relief. Later, during World War I, Hope received a medal from the French government for helping to care for French orphans caused by the war. Hope also took on lynching; she unsuccessfully tried to promote a national bill that outlawed the practice of lynching. Hope was unsuccessful because the Association of Southern Women for The Prevention of Lynching felt that state and local laws would be more easily enforced. When Hope found out that African American YMCA and YWCA were not receiving appropriate funding, and that white YMCA’s and YWCA’s were, she took on the task of cleaning up the funds appropriation to these different establishments in the south. Hopes radical ideas and setup of the Neighborhood Union became a blueprint for other social organizations around the United States. Many other African American women took Hope’s lead and started to better their community. The Neighborhood Union became the benchmark for other service organizations because of its success.[13] [14] [15]
Like past African American women of the south, Hope also carried on the traditions and customs of her slave roots. Hope was very frugal with money though her family was well off. Hope sewed her two children’s clothing and was deeply involved in their lives. She taught them everything she could and gave them every opportunity available to them in Atlanta. Hope emphasized education over all else. To her education could fix all the problems of the world. Perhaps many of the things that Hope did for the community were to benefit her two children and their children. Hope realized that her generation must forge ahead the road to success for the following younger generations. They must be the voice for the people to weak or young to speak. [16]
Hope’s life can be summed up by the Neighborhood Unions motto, “But I turned not away from their smiles nor their tears- Both parts of an infinite plan; - Let me live in my house by the side of the road And be a friend to man.” Her life was life of service to her community and to her family. She was a strong woman who oriented on the betterment of the people around her. Even with all the changes in the south Hope never lost sight of the importance of the African American traditions. She believed that everyone had the right to have the best education and life possible, no one was unworthy of being helped. Skin color, religion, or nationality did not matter to her. This was a radical idea for this time in the Deep South, were everyone knew his or her place and abilities. This country is remarkably greater because of women like Lugenia Burns Hope.[17]
[1] Tera W. Hunter, “To ‘Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors After The Civil War” (Harvard University Press, 1997), 130-135.
[2] Tera W. Hunter, To ‘Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors After The Civil War (Harvard University Press, 1997), 134-138.
[3] Tera W. Hunter, “To ‘Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors After The Civil War” (Harvard University Press, 1997), 132-138.
[4] Jacqueline Anne Rouse, “ The Legacy of Community Organizing: Lugenia Burns Hope and the Neighborhood Union,” The Journal of Negro History 69, no. ¾ (1984): 115-124.
[5] Jacqueline Anne Rouse, “Lugenia Burns Hope: Black Southern Reformer” (The University Of Georgia Press, 1989), 58- 62.
[6] Jacqueline Anne Rouse, “Lugenia Burns Hope: Black Southern Reformer” (The University Of Georgia Press, 1989), 63-64. 2.The Legacy of Community Organizing 116.
[7] Jacqueline Anne Rouse, “Lugenia Burns Hope: Black Southern Reformer” (The University Of Georgia Press, 1989), 65-68.
[8] Jacqueline Anne Rouse, “ The Legacy of Community Organizing: Lugenia Burns Hope and the Neighborhood Union,” The Journal of Negro History 69, no. ¾ (1984): 115-119.
[9] Jacqueline Anne Rouse, “Lugenia Burns Hope: Black Southern Reformer” (The University Of Georgia Press, 1989), 66-67.
[10] Jacqueline Anne Rouse, “ The Legacy of Community Organizing: Lugenia Burns Hope and the Neighborhood Union,” The Journal of Negro History 69, no. ¾ (1984): 123-124.
[11] Jacqueline Anne Rouse, “Lugenia Burns Hope: Black Southern Reformer” (The University Of Georgia Press, 1989), 67-78.
[12] Jacqueline Anne Rouse, “ The Legacy of Community Organizing: Lugenia Burns Hope and the Neighborhood Union,” The Journal of Negro History 69, no. ¾ (1984): 116-127.
[13] Jacqueline Anne Rouse, “Lugenia Burns Hope: Black Southern Reformer” (The University Of Georgia Press, 1989), 85-88.
[14] The African American Registry, “Lugenia B. Hope Social Reformer and Role Model”; available from http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/70/Lugina_B_Hope_social_reformer_and_role_model ; accessed 27 February 2004.
[15] Georgia Women Of Achievement, “Lugenia Burns Hope”; available from http://www.gawomen.org/honorees/long/hopel_long.htm ; accessed 27 February 2004.
[16] Georgia Women Of Achievement, “Lugenia Burns Hope”; available from http://www.gawomen.org/honorees/long/hopel_long.htm ; accessed 27 February 2004.
[17] Jacqueline Anne Rouse, “Lugenia Burns Hope: Black Southern Reformer” (The University Of Georgia Press, 1989), 90.
To read more about Lugenia Buns Hope and the Neighborhood Union please visit these internet sites:
http://www.gawomen.org/honorees/hopel.htm
http://www.britannica.com/women/articles/Hope_Lugenia_Burns.html
http://www.auctr.edu/arch/nuc.htm
http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/70/Lugina_B_Hope_social_reformer_and_role_model