We started with one question: how can we remember and highlight the work Black women did to to build and support the North Shore?

We were drawn to the stories of Black women's care work because it is both everywhere and nowhere. According to previous interviews and Shorefront publications, “Most will admit, however, that their grandmothers and great grandmothers 'did day work,' meaning they worked as domestics and service workers in white folks’ homes throughout the North Shore.” Often, though, mention of the care work of Black women stops there. Their work remains often unacknowledged and when it is acknowledged, it is only in passing.

We knew that many Black women worked in often white families' homes--taking care of their children, cleaning their homes, cooked and fed their families, doing the laundry, listened to the problems of the children and their families and so much other work. Black women raised both their own children and the children of their employers. While some people said “domestics”, others spoke of doing “day work” as opposed to “live-in” domestic work. The transition from working as a "live in" to "day work" was referred to as “getting set” which was a process that cost about a month’s worth of wages to ensure a woman had enough funds to financially support herself. “Day work” meant that one could negotiate hours, work multiple simultaneous jobs and also, most importantly, live at home as they understood the dangers of working in the home. We describe this work as "care work"--Black women caring for children, homes, and communities--both their own Black community and the white families for whom they worked.

This project names, uncovers, and recovers these histories. Here you will find just the beginning of the immense care that Black women poured into our communities. To remember these histories, we relied on oral histories shared by the women's families as well as census and other primary sources. We are especially grateful for the work of Doria Dee Johnson who worked to preserve her own family's histories as well as those of other North Shore families. We hope to share not just the labor performed by these women, but also recover stories about their lives--their hobbies, their favorite foods, and snapshots of their everyday. Within these stories, there are often underlying (and sometimes explicit) themes of violence. Through these stories, we hope to highlight the histories of Black women while trying to acknowledge the violence and not resurface potential trauma for their descendants.

As Black women historians, we are invested in telling and retelling the rich lives of Black people, and, particularly, Black women. Our investment in and attention to the stories, lives, communities, and worlds Black women continue to build drew us to this work. We hope that our research elevates the labor of Black women and continues to reimagine care work as essential labor. Afterall what is history if not an act of care through memory, and (re)memory for our communities. We hope these snapshots can begin to tell the stories of Black women's care work throughout the North Shore.