Invisible Labor: Centering Black Women in the U.S. Domestic Worker Movement

“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.” Ralph Ellison

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n the occasion of Labor Day 2015, Law@theMargins Editor and writer Chaumtoli Huq spoke with scholar-activist Premilla Nadasen on her book, Household Workers Unite: The Untold Story of African American Women Who Built a Movement.

The pair discussed women and labor organizing in general, and specifically the history of domestic worker organizing.

Where Asian/immigrant women are often depicted as workers in need of saving, black women’s labor and agency in organizing are continually rendered invisible. Professor Nadsen and Huq discussed the intra-ethinic/racial aspect of labor organizing, and how recovering these historical narratives of black women organizing begins to allow us to recenter black women in this movement history, as well as revealing changes in policy and organizing strategies.

Click below for an excerpt of their discussion.

ABOUT PREMILLA NADASEN

Premilla Nadasen is an associate professor of history at Barnard College, Columbia University, and is the author of several books, including the award-winning Welfare Warriors: The Welfare Rights Movement in the United States.

A longtime scholar-activist, Nadasen works closely with domestic workers’ rights organizations, for which she has written policy briefs and served as an expert academic witness. She also writes about household labor, social movements, and women’s history for Ms., the Progressive Media Project, and other media outlets.