Chores...a choice?

The first thought that came to mind when I awoke around 8:30 this morning was, "Do I have time to do laundry before I have to go?" I had an engagement at 11:30a.m. and thought that if I succeeded in doing my laundry, I wouldn't have anything else to worry about once I returned home. It's now 7:30pm, and I still haven't done my laundry, which probably isn't surprising to anyone who knows me well. (For the record, I wasn't totally unproductive today. After my appointment, I ran an errand, visited a friend, came home and washed my car, and cleaned up - so there.)

I've often thought how convenient it would be to have a cherished aunt of mine live with me. She's notorious for washing - daily. Seriously, if there's nothing to wash she'll soil something just so she can wash it. I'm the exact opposite, however. Shamefully, there have been times when I've opted to buy new articles of clothing because I didn't feel like washing the perfectly good - though dirty - pieces I had.

Then it dawned on me. Thinking of how my aunt is such a diligent washer somehow got me to thinking about black washerwomen during the 1800s. I took a class once on African American Women's History, so I had a bit of information on the topic. According to a book by Terra W. Hunter called, To 'Joy My Freedom, the number of black washerwomen increased by 150% in the 1880s. One of the reasons contributing to this included people seeking cheaper services and hiring out for their laundry instead of assuming the costs of an in-house domestic, which was a plus for black women because it lessened their position of servitude to whites; instead, whites were more like clients. Plus, it afforded black women the ability to provide for their families, whether they acted as single, sole-bread-winning mothers or as support for an out-of-work spouse. Additionally, it allowed these women to "clock-out" at some point during the day, instead of being "on-call" 24/7 as an in-house domestic.

Being able to have some time off from work everyday was a big deal to black women, as To 'Joy My Freedom details in a chapter entitled "Dancing and Carousing the Night Away". It allowed women to be women, thinking, breathing, loving, laughing creatures - not mules and breedhorses. It gave them options that ranged from dabbling in debauchery to investing in innovations. An example of the latter can be found in the life of Sarah Breedlove, popularly known as Madame C.J. Walker. Before Madame Walker began concocting haircare products for African American women, she worked as a washerwoman, saving and seeking a better life - one that wouldn't cause her hair to fall out.

However, the work of a washerwoman wasn't easy, eventhough black women may have preferred it to domestic work. It was a hard hustle for little pay, just like many other types of work delegated to black folks back in the day. But, I'm sure glad they did it - for my sake, not necessarily for the sake of their clientele. More than anything, it shows me how hard women were willing to work for a little piece of their dreams, and how sweet those hard-earned pieces were to them. I see it in my aunt, who with not as much education as she would have liked, is practically resucitating the entire population of elderly folk in her neighborhood at 70 years old. She believes in, and sticks to, the fruits of hard work done in good faith.

I just wish some of that productivity and hope was passed down to me and others in my generation. That's not to say that there aren't people hustlin' after their dreams, out there - there are. But, it's different. Levels of patience are lower, and more times than not, the little victories are disregarded because they simply aren't big enough. Rev. Run, on an episode of MTV's "Run's House" said it in reference to his son's group, Blackout. Unfortunately, it's just not the same and at the moment, I cannot foresee if will be a good or a bad thing in the longrun , but so far it appears to be a madrush to destruction and despair.

In the meantime, I think I'll get started on my laundry.

This Black History Month: Appreciate THE STRUGGLE.