Taking Care of a Community: Black Domestic and Custodial Workers
Community Members’ Labor Supported Black Women’s Education
“At the time, summer school would cost fifty dollars to get that unit that we needed to graduate. My father was a janitor. That kind of money was paying out, now, five or six thousand dollars. But he came up with it, because parents back then wanted to see their children graduate.”
Raney Norwood, Chapel Hill High School alumna
Domestic work was one of the few options for Black women in Chapel Hill, and workers experienced underpayment or mistreatment and harassment. This led older generations and the younger men in families to pursue custodial and domestic jobs and other positions that did not require college degrees to earn money faster. Men and women’s low-paid service work allowed the college-aged women in their family the opportunity to attend college with their financial help. With a college degree, Black women in Chapel Hill had more opportunities to earn a higher wage and to have a safe work environment.
Advocates and Organizers: Custodial and Domestic Workers
"I would get no more than ten dollars a week, if that much. But it began to go up to twenty-five. And then I was asking for fifty."
- Rebecca Clark, former UNC Chapel Hill staff member
Black people in Chapel Hill, including custodial and domestic workers, have a long history of advocating for their rights and needs. Kennon Cheek, a janitor at UNC’s Venable Hall, worked with other Black janitors to found the Janitor’s Association, which the university officially recognized in 1930. As the first president of the association, Mr. Cheek advocated for his fellow janitors to have better wages, hours, support, and recognition from the university. Rebecca Clark worked for the university for decades as a domestic worker, nurse’s aide, and practical nurse. Throughout her time at the university, she tirelessly advocated for the university’s lowest-paid employees, improving their working conditions.
Mr. Cheek and Ms. Clark advanced workers’ rights as part of a community of workers, and the impact of their efforts continues today.
When Your Parent is Taking Care of Other People’s Families
“My mom was a domestic and she worked long hours, and so it was my grandmother who saw to it that we got a bath, who, you know, saw to it that we had a snack, who saw to it that we did our homework, who saw to it that what we watched on TV was what we should have been watching on TV.”
- Senator Valerie Foushee, daughter of a domestic worker in Chapel Hill
The children of domestic workers often missed their parents. While many domestic workers took care of their employers’ homes and children outside of school hours, neighbors or other family members looked after their children. Some children had no choice but to take care of themselves. While the children of domestic workers acknowledged the necessity of their parents’ work, they also felt the difficulty this placed on them when they wanted more time with their parents.
Invisible Labor Built this Town: Domestic and Custodial Work in Chapel Hill
“My mother was a maid, and she worked — which is typical of Black people in Chapel Hill at that time. You either worked for the University, or you worked for the white people that worked for the University.”
- Gloria Register Jeter, daughter of a domestic worker in Chapel Hill
Domestic and custodial workers were and are integral to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and to Chapel Hill more broadly. While their work often took place away from the eyes of the public, it kept both UNC and Chapel Hill functioning. Without the labor of domestic and custodial workers taking care of university faculty members’ families and maintaining their homes, sustaining the university through the daily upkeep of its buildings and grounds, and supporting many of the town’s businesses, the university and town would not exist in their present forms.
Domestic Workers are Vital Caregivers
“Of course, they didn’t have to worry about childcare because my grandmother Leena, my mother’s mother, was always home.”
- Gloria Warren, daughter of a domestic worker from Carrboro
For many domestic workers, their jobs encompassed more than cleaning and cooking. In private households around Chapel Hill, domestic workers took care of sick and aging family members of white UNC employees, as well as their children. As a result, Black community and family members took on caregiving roles for the children and sick family members of domestic workers when they were unable to be home. Domestic workers were caregivers supported by a network of other caregivers.
