The other day, I was watching reruns of “Good Times,” a 70’s sitcom set in the ghetto, and starring Ester Rolle, an accomplished African American actor. Several years ago, Ms. Rolle was quoted on TV as having regretted her role in the show; the implication being that it was demeaning to her and to her race. A Florida native in real life, her character, Florida Evans, first came on the scene as a maid in another sitcom, “Maude.” It hurt me to learn of the regrets of this brilliant woman, a television pioneer.
During and after the Civil Rights movement, the maid characters lost favor. They represented the concept, “that’s all that White folks will let us play.” For that reason stereotyping our people was resented, and performers in stereotypical roles were considered “less than” by the Black community. Black actors were finally portraying the broader spectrum of our race so long denied by White America: black doctors, nurses, teachers, detectives, even gangsters and soap opera characters.
I have fond childhood memories of Hattie McDaniel - Mammy in “Gone With the Wind” - but I knew her best as “Beulah,” a maid on that 1940’s radio show. As a seven year-old child, I knew nothing of racial stereotyping. In my naive mind, Beulah was a lovable lady who worked for and took care of White people … and she was Black like me.
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To me, there was no shame in being a maid. My maternal grandmother, “Gram,” came to this country as an upstairs maid. She had been a teacher in the Caribbean Islands. As the story was passed down in the family, there was a young girl in her class who had stopped coming to school because she had no shoes to wear. Gram bought the child a pair of shoes so that she could return to school and continue her education.
One day, the child’s mother, filled with gratitude, approached Gram: “Do you want to go to America? There’s talk on the island that Miss Dorothy is moving to New York and needs an upstairs maid to go with her.” So Gram, the teacher, became the immigrant upstairs maid. Subsequently, she married an ambitious Island lad who felt called to the ministry. By taking in laundry, Gram supported her husband through seminary. He became an Episcopal priest: the teacher/maid had catapulted them back into the middle class.Miss Esther, Miss Hattie, Gram … you were the foundation upon which the future generations were built. I look back on you with pride … the maids who pioneered in the entertainment business and all the maids whose hard work created the foundation upon which many of our successful families were built.
With all my heart, I honor those who came before.
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Amy Bryant is the author of You CAN Go Home Again, a collections of vignettes honoring her mufti-cultural heritage. http://amzn.to/U3NfzG