Book Talk: Making Choices, Making Due: Survival Strategies for Black and White Working-Class Women during the Great Depression

Local author Lois Rita Helmbold discusses her study of Black and white working-class women in Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and South Bend during the Great Depression. Her analysis of employment histories, interviews, and letters demonstrates that institutionalized racism in employment, housing, and relief meant that Black women worked harder, yet secured less desirable work, or were pushed out of the labor force entirely.