"She Was a Member of the Family": Ethel Phillips, Domestic Labor, and Employer Perceptions

My maternal grandmother, Ethel Phillips, labored for over fifty-nine years as a domestic servant. She worked in her longest capacity as a housekeeper for three generations of the Clark family in Dearborn, Michigan from 1955 to 1998. By conducting interviews with Ethel's daughters, family members, and past employers, I track the complicated relationships around what it means to live and love within the racial and social hierarchy of domestic service. I argue that the language used to describe affection for domestic servants by their employers obscures the labor conditions that accompany their work and worth in a world of unprotected labor.