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4 Just American Soldiers Going to Do a Job No on e kne w whe n w e were t o leave . I must hav e ha d a premonitio n becaus e afte r suppe r o n th e nigh t o f January 23r d I fel t kin d o f homesic k an d I wanted t o talk t o Mom. I kind o f fel t th e time was drawin g near , so I called he r lon g distance , an d w e talke d fo r a lon g time. I tol d he r tha t thi s woul d probabl y b e th e las t time I woul d call ; tha t I wa s no t sur e whe n w e wer e leaving. . .. I said , I'll tak e car e o f mysel f an d writ e often, an d I told her not to worry about me. —A. Noel Campbell Mitchell, Unpublished Memoir s Socioeconomic Status and Household Composition Only a fe w occupation s wer e availabl e t o Africa n American s before Worl d Wa r II . Althoug h mos t blac k professional s i n th e 1940s wer e eithe r schoolteacher s o r ministers , certainl y Africa n American doctors, scientists, and lawyers existed in black commu nities . I n addition , onl y a small percentag e o f clerica l worker s i n the labo r forc e wer e Africa n Americans . Mos t blac k businesse s in th e Nort h wer e beaut y parlors , barbershops , cleaners , an d restaurants.1 There were som e black-owned insuranc e companie s and manufacturing companie s in the southern region of the country .2 The larges t proportion o f blac k workers , however, was con centrated i n domestic, service, semiskilled, and laborer positions. 3 As indicate d b y th e narrative s i n chapte r 1 , member s o f th e 84 Just American Soldiers Going to Do a Job 85 Table 1. Parent's Occupation an d Interviewee's Occupation before Military Service Occupational Parent' s Interviewee' s Occupatio n Category Occupation * befor e Servic e % (N ) % (N ) Professional 1 8 (9 ) 1 8 (9 ) Clerical 2 (1 ) 1 9 (10 ) Retail trade 0 (0 ) 2 (1 ) Service6 1 7 (9 ) 1 1 (6 ) Domestic" 6 (3 ) 8 (4 ) Crafts 2 2 (11 ) 6 (3 ) Operatives 4 (2 ) 0 (0 ) Laborers 2 5 (13 ) 1 2 (6 ) Farmers 4 (2 ) 0 (0 ) Other4 * 2 (1 ) 2 4 (12 ) Total 10 0 (51 ) 10 0 (51 ) NOTES : "Father's occupation unles s father was deceased or unemployed. ^Excluding private household workers . c Domestic refer s t o private househol d servic e workers; Occupationa l cate gories take n fro m th e Censu s o f Population , Occupationa l Classificatio n System. ^Includes unemployed and students. 6888th cam e from divers e socioeconomic backgrounds.4 Most of the wome n interviewe d fo r this stud y gre w up in families wher e the head s o f household wer e eithe r skille d o r unskilled laborers ; the head s o f household o f the next larges t grou p wer e craftsme n (table 1) . Of the fifty-one wome n interviewed, nine were reared in households where at least one parent was a working professional , and in four cases both parents worked in professional occupation s (table 2) . Table 2 als o reveal s tha t i n seven o f these household s parents wer e schoo l teachers ; ther e wer e tw o ministers' house holds ; an d one in which a parent wa s an agriculturist. I n eleven households, parent s worke d i n skille d craft s suc h a s tailoring , dressmaking, aut o mechanics , an d construction, an d in two of those household s parent s wer e entertainers—musicia n an d playwright . Parents in nine households worked in such service occupations a s catering , hairdressing , an d barbering; parent s i n thre e households wer e domesti c workers . In three household s th e parents were operativ e workers , in two households the y wer e farm ers , and in one household bot h parents were unemployed . Although mos t...

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