Name

Institution

Date

Midterm Exam

A Black Family in Early 20th Century America

Cato and Cassandra Williams were both born and grew up in Chicago, they were neighbors and spent most of their childhood together. Both their parents were workers at the Milford plantation in South Carolina, one the largest plantations in the history of America. They were among approximately 670 other slaves that worked for John L. Manning a one-time governor of South Carolina until 1862 when President Abraham Lincoln declared the freedom of all slaves (RODRIGUE, 2017). Just like the majority of slaves, they moved to Chicago an area that was growing fast due to the industrial revolution and there was a huge demand for unskilled labor. These were the first settlers of “Bronzeville” the black neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. Cato and Cassandra were close friends and they grew older, their friendship got more intimate. They courted for three years since Cassandra was 13 and Cato 15. Her parents were so strict and she could only see him in secret. Because of this, they moved away to Joliet 30 miles South West of Chicago when he turned 18 and started their family. Cato was barely 17, but that was common then, many of their friends were married before they reached 18 years of age.

Cato was hardworking he had gathered a little money to start them off at Joliet. He had been eyeing the opportunity to work at Joliet Iron and Steel Works, the second-largest steel company at the time and was producing thousands of tons of iron each day. Cato had always heard about the stone and metal mining that went on in Joliet and always waited for the opportunity to move there, start a new life with the woman he loved. They rented a small room that had outside bathroom facilities shared by many other black people that lived in the building. Cassandra had no kitchen and her sink was outside the building shared by about seven rooms on their floor. That was how it was back then for people at their economic level and ethnicity. The second industrial revolution had transformed the economy and most Americans shifted from farming and moved to the city to work in industries. Urban areas were full of people looking for jobs like Cato was. The competition was getting stiffer and he had to get up and be at the hiring cue at 3 a.m. so that he could get the chance to meet the foreman and be among the people the company was hiring that day.

Joliet Iron and Steel Works was new and the opportunity to land a job was a bit favorable and finally after weeks of waiting Cato was hired to work the blast furnace. With his job, he was able to make about $1.43 dollars a day working for 13 hours and sometimes more depending on whether they had produced enough iron and steel to meet the demands of the railway network that was running across the country connecting mines to mills and people to markets. The conditions of his job were horrible. The job was incredibly dangerous, the pay was bad, and the hours were long. The extra hours were not paid and the clock stopped when the managers said stop. Cato was a physically strong young man with an unbreakable will. He was sociable and made a few friends at his job.

Cassandra was such a hardworking woman and it killed her that she sat at home and waited for Cato to come home exhausted, burnt and unable to eat properly. Cassandra would nudge him about getting her won job instead of sitting at home knitting. She was always liberal and had wanted to go to school her whole life. She did not get the opportunity because, despite the many hindrances that were there for people her color to access education, her parents were not interested and did nothing to help her with this dream. Instead, they would send her to sit with her grandmother and knit. Cato had almost the same mentality. He did not believe in an independent woman and always responded by saying he was capable of looking at her. She never stopped, nonetheless, and he grew tired. On this particular day, he conversed with one of his coworkers who apparently had a wife that was working at a cotton mill. They introduced them and in no time, Cassandra was working earning about $0.60 per day.

Her job was not any safer. The fast-spinning machines had no guards and every now and then people would be trapped and pulled into the machines resulting in deaths and disabilities. Cassandra questioned the lack of disability pension and insurance that was given to people working fancier jobs. Because nobody wanted to interact with her “toxicity” and lose their jobs, not one person engaged her much. He would go home and lay all her frustrations on Cato. She would talk for more than an hour and most of the time Cato would be their asleep not listening to a word she said. She was, however, venting not to nobody in particular and she did not notice him sleeping. The managers caught wind of her talk and she was immediately fired. A young white woman that had tried so much to be her friend left with her, her name was Jennifer. Jenifer had left her home in the South after her mother died and moved to the city at only 15 without any idea of what she was doing. She was not that smart and idolized Cassandra and sought warmth in her, she had nobody else. It was so strange for Cassandra and she always tried to avoid her for the most part of the three years she had worked there. Jennifer had gone to school a little bit, however, and when Cassandra new this she started letting her get close. And when they both lost their job they started spending much time together at Cassandra’s house learning to read, Cassandra had finally found a tutor. She wanted to one day work as a clerk. Cato knew this was never going to happen and always chose to stay silent than tell her otherwise. It was many years into their marriage and they still had no child, it was now apparent that Cassandra was barren.

Jenifer was not like any white person she had ever met, she did not look at her differently or treat her otherwise. In fact, the black people that lived at Cassandra’s building would look at her with judgmental eyes as she walked around with the white woman. Cato would also not be caught dead in his house alone with Jenifer; he would literally follow Cassandra out to run an errand if it happened Jenifer was at their house, which she was for most of the time until she moved in by default. Jenifer and Cassandra had so much time on their hands and with it, they started walking around joining local women movements that were calling for the right of women to vote. One woman in particular by the name Gibson had started her own version of the National Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and walked around gathering young women and updating them with the activities of the organization. Cassandra was so interested in what the woman was saying and she went back and tried to spread the same message in her neighborhood and particularly her building. Nobody, however, cared for the woman corrupted by the white man to feel special. Because of their dedication, Gibson noticed Cassandra and her white sidekick and learning they could read, she offered them official roles and in a few years, they had become renowned representatives of NAWSA in Joliet.

Cato and Jenifer became comfortable with each other and spent time in the absence of Cassandra and before she knew, what was going on she found herself in a polygamous marriage with a pregnant white co-wife. She was hurt and nearly broke to pieces but her strong will would not let her. After a few months of constant fights, she conceded defeat and formed one of the most bizarre families at the time. Cato had gathered a little money and they move to a larger more decent house.

Cassandra was relentless and her close association with Jenifer and Gibson a black woman that could read and a white one that could write basic language which was more than enough at the time was a huge boost. Cato was the same hardworking man and had risen the ranks at his job to the position of foreman after 13 years working at the furnace. By 1914 he had worked as a supervisor at Joliet Iron and Steel Works for 4 years. His loyalty had brought him close to white managers and made him fall apart with his black friends. The comfort of his work and fake acknowledgment from white people had detached him from the reality of how white people treated black people. Cassandra did not like his interactions with the capitalists and they would often fight over him not supporting and recognizing what she was doing for their people. In 1914, in order to gain the respect of his white neighbors, Cato quite his post and joined the Soldiers for World War I. The segregation of the society did not shake his apparent loyalty to his country. Despite Cassandra disagreeing with him on the decisions, in April of 1917, he was drafted for the war in Germany. In his defense, Cato saw the conflict as an opportunity to prove his worth to the white man and maybe earn respect for his people

The exploitation of black people continued in the army as white people were sent home in large numbers on the basis of physical incapacity while only a handful of black people were. The white man wanted to send as many black people to war as possible. He left his family that now included Jenifer and their 9-year-old son Tyrone Williams. Cassandra was over Jenifer’s betrayal and they settled as a family creating one of the most epic family scenarios at the time. He promised to look after them and to keep herself distracted from her husband he went even harder into the progressive era. She was now a grown woman with a group of established activists that were not only advocating for the rights of their gender but the rights of every individual in particular. Cassandra left Jenifer home and would go out and raise her voice against impunity and calling for political and social reform. She had become a bother for some local white officials and rubbed shoulders with powerful white men of Joliet. She went back to advocating for the rights of workers and calling out unethical business practices and the negative effects of industrialization. She also got to attend women conferences advocating for women suffrage outside the state.

Although women’s suffrage movements were making progress, segregation was at its peak. One day on her way to New York to attend a women conference, she went to use the restroom at the train station. She minded the tags on the doors indicating that she was not worthy of sharing such a facility but knew one time it was going to happen. Although she was bitter, she knew there was nothing she could do at the moment. When she stepped in, however, the room was so filthy the smell from opening the door suffocated her. That same moment, a black man carrying cleaning materials emerged from the stall indicated whites, and walked away without bothering about the other one. She went to the station counter and confronted the white male that was there rather respectfully. His response was: “move away Negro, you are not even a man.” She stood there for a minute, a little shocked by the fact that she insinuated a male black man was above her in the social hierarchy and even he had no right to say a word. She was familiar with the kind of treatment but this one hit differently. She confronted the man in an angry raised voice for several minutes before she was taken away and locked in jail where she spent three days.

After World War I, the family started preparing to receive Cato who did not make it home for the next year and arrived in July of 1919. The years that followed were tough because Cato could not secure a job and the various woman suffrage movements had become lag after women were given the right to vote. The family fell on hard times and Cassandra began concentrating on the fact that she was barren. Jenifer could not make contact with her family despite them being rich as her father had married another woman after her mother’s death and they both disowned her for getting involved with a black man. The great depression hit the family as hard as it did any other lower-class family. In 1920, Cassandra got the opportunity to work with the National Association of Colored Women and later worked with the NAACP in their anti-lynching campaign.

References

RODRIGUE, J. C. (2017). “Repudiating the Emancipation Proclamation, and Re-establishing Slavery” The Abolition of Slavery in the Lower Mississippi Valley and the United States. Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, 58(4), 389-403.