Dora Lee Jones was born on October 11, 1889 was an American
domestic worker
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 ...
in early 20th-century
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. She helped to found a
Domestic Workers' Union in
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...
in 1934.
["The Domestic Workers Union"]
National Women's History Museum.Teresa L. Amott, Julie A. Matthaei, ''Race, Gender, and Work: A Multi-cultural Economic History of Women in the United States''
South End Press, 1996, p. 171. The Domestic Workers' Union was started by a group of Finns
Finns or Finnish people (, ) are a Baltic Finns, Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these cou ...
and a few African Americans in California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, who saw the necessity for a fight against the exploitation of Negro
In the English language, the term ''negro'' (or sometimes ''negress'' for a female) is a term historically used to refer to people of Black people, Black African heritage. The term ''negro'' means the color black in Spanish and Portuguese (from ...
domestics.
Purpose of a union in the early 1900s
Creating the Domestic Workers' Union was a step towards trying to erase domestic slavery. The Union members helped send out letters to the ministers
Minister may refer to:
* Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric
** Minister (Catholic Church)
* Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department)
** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...
of the African-American churches where these