Pan toting

Last updated

Pan toting, also known as the service pan, was the practice of African-American domestic workers taking dry goods or leftover table scraps from their white employers as a form of compensation that they deserved, due to the wealth they produced for their masters during their former status as slaves and because of the low wages received post-Civil War. As their way of seeking justice, domestic workers implemented the strategy of "pan-toting" by "re-appropriating the material assets of their employers for their use." [1]

Contents

Origins

Pan-toting originated in slavery in the United States, during the nineteenth century, among the African-American population. This practice evolved during the transition from slave to free labor, as an expression of a "moral economy". It is consistent with the "vales" and perquisites claimed by servants across cultures, dating back centuries. [2] [3]

After the end of the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, African-American domestic workers, as free laborers, continued this practice, to express their opposition to work conditions that deprived them of a decent standard of living, drawing on decades of experiences with creative resistance. African-American domestic workers also claimed the right to this form of compensation due to their former status as slaves, for the unpaid work they had then performed for their masters and the white community. [4]

In addition to paying low wages, some employers were dishonest about wages owed, deprived workers of wages for a length of time, or outright refused to pay wages. These deprived and frustrated workers then used pan-toting as a counter-measure, both for making ends meet and asserting their new-found freedom. [2] There were various forms of compensation that domestic workers could receive instead of actual wages. The most common item was food; and the cook, who had easy access to leftover food from their employer's kitchen, was the most likely to engage in pan-toting. Clothing was also taken as partial compensation. [5]

Household laborers expected employers to acknowledge their duty to ensure basic needs by supplementing wages with leftover food, or they would reclaim the fruits of their labor without the employers' consent. [6] Some employers knowingly allowed the practice, openly admitting that they paid low wages with the workers' getting the table scraps in mind. Other employers interpreted "free" labor to mean their expropriating labor without compensation. If the employer did not recognize this obligation, some workers would leave without consent. [2]

Dependence

Many African-American workers and their families depended on this form of payment. This leftover food was important to their survival. For example, the "service pan" augmented wages in almost two-thirds of the employers' households in Athens, Georgia, in 1913. [7] A "Negro Nurse", writing in 1912, describes this dependence:

Well, I'll be frank with you, if it were not for the service pan, I don't know what the majority of our Southern colored families would do. The service pan is the mainstay in many a home...others may denounce the service pan, and say that it is used to support idle Negroes but many a time, when I was a cook and had the responsibility of rearing my three children upon my lone shoulders, many a time I have had the occasion to bless the Lord for the service pan! [8]

Consequently, because African-American domestic workers and their families relied on "pan-toting", their diets were decided by, and depended on, the white employer. Most poignantly, Richard Wright remembered waiting for his mothers' employers to finish their meals so that he could learn what his own dinner would be:

If the white people left anything, my brother and I would eat well; but if they did not, we would have our usual bread and tea. Watching the white people eat would make my empty stomach churn and I would grow vaguely angry. Why could I not eat when I was hungry? Why did I always have to wait until others were through? I could not understand why some people had food and others did not. [9]

"Toting" was a custom important to African-American families, but it could not always ensure a steady supply of food. Some employers recognized this. One employer stated:

...there are hungry children in the cabin awaiting their mothers return, when I give out my meals I bear these little blackberry pickaninnies in mind, and I never wound the feelings of any cook by asking her 'what that is she has under her apron'...I know what it is – every biscuit, scrap of meat, or bit of cake she can save during the day, and if possible, a little sugar filched from the pantry. [10]

Advantages

Advantages for the worker

Domestic workers, who had no legal remedies to redress grievances, could use pan-toting to alleviate the effects of being poorly paid and to counter employers' dishonesty involving wages. For many domestic workers, pan-toting meant the difference between starvation and survival. It allowed them to stretch their resources and put food on the dinner table for their family. For some, pan-toting was seen as adding to the status of being a domestic worker, as it gave them greater control over their employer and their employment. [2]

Advantages for the employer

The system of pan-toting had advantages for employers, too. Most notably, it meant that they could "pay less in cash wages, and they might hope, that because her family would have some at the end of the day, the cook would take extra care with the food, producing a finer result". [11] In addition to the cash savings, some employers who allowed toting could have the psychological benefit of seeing "reinforced the stereotype of African Americans as morally bankrupt and shifty characters and reinforced the notions of black inferiority and dependency and white paternalism". [11]

Disadvantages for workers

Due to its origins in slavery, pan-toting is usually associated with keeping black domestics as inferior and reliant on their white employer, while allowing the employer to feel superior. Many white employers saw the practice as charity that allowed them to escape accountability for "paying substandard wages that engendered the need for the 'gift'". [10] Many argued pan-toting was a form of payment and used it to justify the low wages. "We know that most of this so-called 'food' is left-overs, cold scraps and the like which we would not use on our tables again," a city-dwelling, self-proclaimed "Old Time Southerner" admitted. "We know that our servants are paid a small wage." Another employer similarly conceded: "Totin' was a well-established custom, and should be remembered if the wages paid to seem horrifyingly small". [10]

The quality of the food from pan-toting was not always good or plentiful. African-American families received leftover food on the employers' terms, and the quality was often poor. "Washingtonian Nellie Willoughby recalled receiving leftover roast beef – the tough, hard ends of the cut". [12] The family often had to wait long hours for the worker to return home with the food. "Educator William Henry Holtzclaw, born about 1875, remembered genuine hunger waiting for his mother to return from her cooking job". [12]

Furthermore, white families ate foods strange to some African-American palates, and families who relied on the service pan sometimes had to accept uncommon food not of their choosing. Audrey Smith recalled having to learn to eat the pheasant, lamb, and veal that her mother, Georgia Anderson, brought home from Maymont. Throughout the South, cooks for Jewish families brought home chopped liver, kugel, and other Eastern European delicacies as part of their "hookarm". If the food was good, plentiful, and regular, the cook might gratefully accept the service pan; but if the supply were inconsistent, the cook's family suffered. [13]

Rejection by workers

Some domestic workers took the opposite approach and rejected pan-toting. "To preserve this valued independence, three black domestics explained, they avoided borrowing from whites, even if this meant going without much-needed money." [14] Some black domestics rejected such borrowing because it meant they were "still linked to white families in ways that were but one step away from the plantation system". [14] From 1900, domestic workers felt "an uneasiness about such 'gifts'". "I told them I didn't tote", said one, discussing the "old days" about slavery, when whites did not pay, except by giving food in the "service pan". Black women correctly associated these gifts with a system designed to keep them in the service of whites, and leaving them without the monetary means to achieve a higher standard of living. [14] Several African-American domestic workers began to refuse food and claimed they would not tote, especially in the 1920s. Many white women remembered black domestic workers refusing to tote and "making it a condition of their acceptance of a job that they not be asked to do so". [15] These workers expressed a sense of disapproval and did not want to be compensated with leftover food in lieu of higher wages.

Regarded by employers as theft

A number of white employers and authorities began to denounce pan-toting as theft and a crime. Katharine Du Pre Lumpkin recalled her upbringing in an upper-class white home: "We verily believed that a Negro could not help but steal. So we acted accordingly. We must lock up our valuables. We children should never leave the key in the food pantry door, but turn it and put it back in its hiding place". [11] Another employer celebrated the departure of a cook as they believed her to be a thief: "This is our Emancipation day! We are free from Susan Bell...She has been robbing our table for months to support her mother". [2]

A number of African-American domestic workers denied such accusations. In 1912, The Independent —a progressive New York City journal edited at the time by a prominent abolitionist, Henry Ward Beecher—printed a quasi-autobiographical account of servant life by an African-American who was born and raised in the South and was a domestic worker for more than 30 years. In this journal she mentions the practice of pan-toting. She states:

I do not deny that the cooks find opportunity to hide away at times, along with the cold 'grub' a little sugar, a little flour, a little meal, or a little piece of soap; but I indignantly deny that we are thieves. We don't steal; we just 'take' things—they are a part of the oral contract, expressed or implied. We understand it, and most of the white folks understand it. [16]

As domestic workers became more resistant, employers became more repressive and began attacking pan-toting in an attempt to control them. They believed it resulted in the spouses of domestic workers becoming lazy and that it would poorly affect the economy if healthy men were not working. They therefore wanted pan-toting banned. This song about black men portrays the attitude employers resented:

I doan has to work so ha'd
I's got a gal in a white man's ya'd
Ebery night 'bout half pas' eight
I goes 'round to the white man's gate
She brings me butter and she brings me la'd
I doan has to work so ha'd! [17]

Some whites disagreed with such attempts to ban the practice. "Some feared that ending the tradition would alienate black women and encourage them to quit". Domestic workers in Thomasville, Georgia, threatened to quit if regulations monitoring pan-toting were passed. This resulted in the town's newspaper warning officials to exercise caution. Other employers recognized that criminalizing customary rights would be perceived as insulting to domestic workers. "The cook's dignity is a factor in all domestic service contracts. That dignity is immediately offended if the housewife questions her about the rations she totes off after supper", a Montgomery newspaper editorialized. The "Old Time Southerner" stated her objections to regulating pan-toting: "If I consent to my servant taking a little food home that is my business". [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wage slavery</span> Dependence on wages or salary

Wage slavery is a term used to criticize exploitation of labor by business, by keeping wages low or stagnant in order to maximize profits. The situation of wage slavery can be loosely defined as a person's dependence on wages for their livelihood, especially when wages are low, treatment and conditions are poor, and there are few chances of upward mobility.

Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any other entity, pays the other, the employee, in return for carrying out assigned work. Employees work in return for wages, which can be paid on the basis of an hourly rate, by piecework or an annual salary, depending on the type of work an employee does, the prevailing conditions of the sector and the bargaining power between the parties. Employees in some sectors may receive gratuities, bonus payments or stock options. In some types of employment, employees may receive benefits in addition to payment. Benefits may include health insurance, housing, and disability insurance. Employment is typically governed by employment laws, organisation or legal contracts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wage</span> Payment by an employer to an employee for labour

A wage is payment made by an employer to an employee for work done in a specific period of time. Some examples of wage payments include compensatory payments such as minimum wage, prevailing wage, and yearly bonuses, and remunerative payments such as prizes and tip payouts. Wages are part of the expenses that are involved in running a business. It is an obligation to the employee regardless of the profitability of the company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salary</span> Form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee

A salary is a form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee, which may be specified in an employment contract. It is contrasted with piece wages, where each job, hour or other unit is paid separately, rather than on a periodic basis. Salary can also be considered as the cost of hiring and keeping human resources for corporate operations, and is hence referred to as personnel expense or salary expense. In accounting, salaries are recorded in payroll accounts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domestic worker</span> Person who works within the employers household

A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or care for children and elderly dependents, and other household errands. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Babysitting</span> Temporary childcare

Babysitting is temporarily caring for a child. Babysitting can be a paid job for all ages; however, it is best known as a temporary activity for early teenagers who are not yet eligible for employment in the general economy. It provides autonomy from parental control and dispensable income, as well as an introduction to the techniques of childcare. It emerged as a social role for teenagers in the 1920s, and became especially important in suburban America in the 1950s and 1960s, when small children were abundant. It stimulated an outpouring of folk culture in the form of urban legends, pulp novels, and horror films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wage labour</span> Relationship where a worker sells labour to an employer

Wage labour, usually referred to as paid work, paid employment, or paid labour, refers to the socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer in which the worker sells their labour power under a formal or informal employment contract. These transactions usually occur in a labour market where wages or salaries are market-determined.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thibodaux massacre</span> Event of racial violence in the late 19th Century Southern United States

The Thibodaux massacre was an episode of racial violence that occurred in Thibodaux, Louisiana on November 23, 1887. It followed a three-week strike during the critical harvest season in which an estimated 10,000 workers protested against the living and working conditions which existed on sugar cane plantations in four parishes: Lafourche, Terrebonne, St. Mary, and Assumption.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kafala system</span> System used to monitor migrant laborers in Arab countries

The kafala system is a system used to monitor migrant laborers, working primarily in the construction and domestic sectors in Gulf Cooperation Council member states and a few neighboring countries, namely Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

A Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights is legislation designed to grant basic labor protections to domestic workers. These laws are supported by the National Domestic Workers Alliance, a labor advocacy group founded in 2007. The first such law took effect in New York state on November 29, 2010. Among other rights, this law gave domestic workers the right to overtime pay, a day of rest every seven days, three paid days of rest each year, protection under the state human rights law, and a special cause of action for domestic workers who suffer sexual or racial harassment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penal labor in the United States</span>

In the United States, penal labor is a multi-billion-dollar industry. Annually, incarcerated workers provide at least $9 billion in services to the prison system and produce more than $2 billion in goods. The industry underwent many transitions throughout the late 19th and early and mid 20th centuries. Legislation such as the Hawes-Cooper Act of 1929 placed limitations on the trade of prison-made goods. Federal establishment of the Federal Prison Industries (FPI) in 1934 revitalized the prison labor system following the Great Depression. Increases in prison labor participation began in 1979 with the formation of the Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP). The PIECP is a federal program first authorized under the Justice System Improvement Act of 1979. Approved by Congress in 1990 for indefinite continuation, the program legalizes the transportation of prison-made goods across state lines and allows prison inmates to earn market wages in private sector jobs that can go towards tax deductions, victim compensation, family support, and room and board.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Contemporary slavery in the United States</span>

Slavery is a system which requires workers to work against their will for little to no compensation. In modern-day terms, this practice is more widely referred to as human trafficking. Human trafficking is defined by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation”. The practices of slavery and human trafficking are still prevalent in modern America with estimated 17,500 foreign nationals and 400,000 Americans being trafficked into and within the United States every year with 80% of those being women and children. Human trafficking in the United States can be divided into the two major categories of labor and sex trafficking, with sex trafficking accounting for a majority of cases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Labor trafficking in the United States</span>

Labor trafficking in the United States is a form of human trafficking where victims are made to perform a task through force, fraud or coercion as it occurs in the United States. Labor trafficking is typically distinguished from sex trafficking, where the task is sexual in nature. People may be victims of both labor and sex trafficking.

Migrant workers in the United Arab Emirates describe the foreign workers who have moved to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for work. As a result of the proximity of the UAE to South Asia and a better economy and job opportunities, most of the migrant foreign workers are from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Philippines and Pakistan.

Dorothy Lee Bolden was the founder of the National Domestic Worker's Union of America and worked to fight for women's rights and bringing segregation to an end. Bolden began working as a domestic worker at the age of nine. She would eventually utilize her past experiences to form the Domestic Worker's Union in Atlanta, Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in Qatar</span>

For most of its history, Qatar practiced slavery until its abolition in 1952. Many members of the Afro-Arabian minority are descendants of the former slaves. Chattel slavery was succeeded by the Kafala system. The kafala system has been abolished in Qatar since December 2016. However, concerns still remain about workers' rights and employers retaining considerable power over workers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in Saudi Arabia</span>

Legal Chattel slavery existed in Saudi Arabia until the 1960s.

The Atlanta washerwomen strike of 1881 was a labor strike in Atlanta, Georgia involving African American washerwomen. It began on July 19, 1881, and lasted into August 1881. The strike began as an effort to establish better pay, more respect and autonomy, and a uniform base salary for their work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in Kuwait</span>

Open chattel slavery existed in Kuwait until the 1940s. Slavery was formally abolished in Kuwait in 1949. In practice, slavery was not actually abolished as such, but the law no longer recognized it after 1949, which meant that every slave who applied for manumission was guaranteered to be freed. Many members of the Afro-Arabian minority are descendants of the former slaves. Slavery of people from Africa and East Asia was succeeded by the modern Kafala system of poor workers from the same region were slaves had previously been imported.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in Bahrain</span>

Open slavery existed in Bahrain until the 1930s. Slavery was formally abolished in Bahrain in 1937. Slavery ended earlier in Bahrain than in any other Gulf state, with the exception of Iran and Iraq. Many members of the Afro-Arabian minority are descendants of the former slaves. Slavery of people from Africa and East Asia was succeeded by the modern Kafala system of poor workers from the same region were slaves had previously been imported.

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Hunter, p. 60.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Hunter, p. 61.
  3. ↑ Philanthropos (February 15, 1760). "The Custom of Giving Vales Condemned". The Scots Magazine . Vol. 22. pp. 81–82. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  4. ↑ Hunter, p. 227.
  5. ↑ Honey, Michael (December 1998). "Review of books: Tera W. Hunter, To 'Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women's Lives and Labors after the Civil War". The American Historical Review. 103: 1702. doi:10.1086/ahr/103.5.1702. ISSN   1937-5239.
  6. ↑ Hunter, pp. 60-61.
  7. ↑ Sharpless, p. 74.
  8. ↑ Sharpless, pp. 74-75.
  9. ↑ Sharpless, pp. 102-103.
  10. 1 2 3 Hunter, p. 132.
  11. 1 2 3 Sharpless, p. 154.
  12. 1 2 Sharpless, p. 75.
  13. ↑ Sharpless, p. 76.
  14. 1 2 3 Tucker (1987), p. 10.
  15. ↑ Tucker (1988), p. 146.
  16. ↑ "More Slavery at the South". The Independent. Vol. 72. New York. 25 January 1912. pp. 196–200. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.78656. ISBN   978-0-19-530173-1 . Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  17. 1 2 Hunter, p. 226.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.