CHAPTER VI

The Colored Woman as a Bread Winner

The life of the Negro woman of New York,
if she belong to the laboring class, differs in
some important respects from the life of the
white laboring woman. Generalizations on
so comprehensive a subject must, of course,
meet with many exceptions, but the observ¬
ing visitor, familiar with white and colored
neighborhoods, quickly notes marked con¬
trasts between the two, contrasts largely the
result of different occupational opportunities.
These pertain both to the married woman
and the unmarried working girl.

The generality of white women in New

York, wives of laboring men, infrequently

engage in gainful occupations.    In the early

years of married life the wife relies on her

husband's wage for support, and within her

tiny tenement-flat bears and rears her chil-

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