Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work, and the Family from Slavery to the Present [Hardcover]

Jacqueline Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1985

A powerful account of the changing role of American black women in the labor force and in the family.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Winner Of The Brown Publication Prize Of The Association Of Black Women Historians

"Brilliant, bedrock scholarship crucial to our understanding of the crisis of the black family in the 1980's."

-- Los A Angeles Times

"A valuable contribution...on several counts. Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow exorcises several malignant stereotypes and stubborn myths, it is free of the sexism and racism it describes, and it interprets old data in new ways.... Rather than simply looking at data, Miss Jones sees them. In so doing she has turned an are light on several dark and unexplored corners."

-- Toni Morrison, The New York Times Book Review

"A remarkable, inspiring work...which reveals important truths about our society. It is a major contribution to American social history and should be required reading for everyone who cares about the progress of justice and equality in America." -- Coretta Scott King

"Jacqueline Jones's excellent study takes us far into the implications of the broad social differences between the black and the white experiences in America."

-- Nathan I. Huggins

"A seminal work of scholarship, which has no rival in its subtle explication of the complex interface of work, sex, race and class. All future studies of the black worker will have to take this book into account." -- Henry Louis Gates --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

"A seminal work of scholarship which has no rival in its subtle explication of the complex interface of work, sex, race, and class."--Henry Louis Gates, Jr. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; First Edition edition (March 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465037569
• ISBN-13: 978-0465037568
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,361,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jones Examines Relationships b/t Race, Gender, Class, & Work, March 4, 2005

By 

N. Douglas "Nascent 1der" (Louisiana, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow (Paperback)

Overall, Jones presents a broad analysis of black female labor history with special attention to familial life. Her work gives greater meaning to the quote, "Women have always worked," because she contends and demonstrates the unique nature of black women's work from a historical perspective. The strongest quality of this book is the way Jones' analyzes the how race, gender, class, and work dynamics interconnect, thus affecting black women's lives in various ways over time and space. The weakest quality of Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow is that at times this analysis is too broad and too focused on black women's familial lives. The most unique quality of this text is how Jones attempts to address contemporary issues (the "supersexist," racist welfare system, black single mothers, black feminist, momism, and Supermomism, affirmative action), while taking into account past historical events, such as slavery. It would be interesting to continue the dialogue and research on black women's labor from 1985 to the present and assess to what extent black women have strengthened and accelerated their collective politicization. Jones suggests black female collective politicization would be inevitable.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book, November 16, 2006

By 

Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 01 (Starship Voyager, Gamma Quadrant) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow (Paperback)

Jones did an admirable job on this book. We used this in African-American history because my professor wanted to ensure we learned about the history of women not just men. At the time I took the class (late 80's)there were not a whole lot of offerings.

We also had a Black women's reading circle and this book inspired a lot of debate. We discussed this book in depth and a few people felt she was trying too hard to explain social woes. There was even debate about her race; some people thought she was too apologetic because she was a white woman who was trying to be extra sensitive. A professor told our group that Jones was Black and that we were off base. The discussions and interest in the topic of Black Women's history her book inspired were important.

It also dragged in a few places but talented researchers are not always great writers. Now there are many more offerings in this area; I would suggest "When and Where I Enter" by Paula Giddings as an alternative or as the book to read after Labor of Love Labor of Sorrow.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "Must Read", September 1, 2010

By 

Sylvia K. Miller (Chapel Hill, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women , Work, and the Family, from Slavery to the Present (Paperback)

My mother sought out this book because it was referenced so many times in a book about American women's history by Gail Collins. She was stunned by it and passed it along to me. It took me a long time to read, not because it was scholarly but rather because almost every page offered a hard-hitting revelation that I needed a bit of time to absorb both intellectually and emotionally. Unlike one of the other reviewers, I particularly enjoyed how the author brought in the voices of the past to tell the story. The is one of the best books I ever read, and if anyone ever says that the civil rights movement is over, or asks in your presence why African Americans in poverty don't just pull themselves up by their own bootstraps like other minority groups, you have to read this book so that you can answer them.