Living In, Living Out by Elizabeth Clark-Lewis

Author:Elizabeth Clark-Lewis [Clark-Lewis, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-58834-442-7
Publisher: Smithsonian
Published: 2014-08-19T00:00:00+00:00

5

THE TRANSITION PERIOD

I thought to myself time and time again I wasn’t going to take this place. I wanted to do better. I knew I just could. I seen my way out long before I left her. But my time had to come. I waited too. My mind knew to wait ’til I had new work and all. But I was leaving them houses, and I made up my mind to do it even if my brother was mad. But I did wait ’til I was set.

—ODESSA MINNIE BARNES, AGE NINETY-FIVE

Wearied of the soul-destroying hollowness of live-in domestic work, African American migrants yearned for change. For Beulah Nelson, religious conviction underscored her resolve:

Here’s is my hand to God, I knew living on that job wasn’t for me no more than two months after I got here. God revealed it to me time and time again. And I knew no matter what, it was a some way to make my work better—change it. And do better than all them. I knew God would deliver me. Just like he got me ’way from home, he’d bring me through here. Didn’t know how—but he would.

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