Adams, Alice
Description
Oral history interview with Alice Adams interviewed by Bernard West on 1978 December 14.Atlanta, Georgia African American woman who worked as a domestic worker for 40 years and retired in 1972. Adams, a native of Monticello, Georgia, came to Atlanta at age 14 (around 1932). Labor union memberIn part one of this two-part interview, former domestic worker Alice Adams describes working for a family in the Druid Hills neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia from approximately 1932-1972. She describes her job as one that required long hours with little pay in return. She earned $4.00 a week but her pay increased to $25.00 a day in her latter years. She was required to work from 7 am until 7 pm everyday except Thursday and Sunday when she worked a half a day. She tells of an instance in which she confronted the woman she worked for and demanded to have two full days off per week. After some initial resistence from her employer her request was granted. Her experiences as a domestic brought her into contact with union organizer Dorothy Bolden. Later in the interview she talks about taking a streetcar to work from her house on Randolph Street in the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood and having to sit in the back when there were seats available. She described times when there were disturbances between blacks and whites on streetcars and also noted the irony of being in such close contact with whites throughout the day and not being allowed to sit...
Sound
West, Bernard
