Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Fall/105/Section068/Hassie Fletcher

January 1939. Housewife reading in living room.

Overview

Hassie Fletcher was a white housewife residing in Durham who was interviewed for the Federal Writer’ Project in 1939 by Omar Darrow and Edwin Massengill.

Biography

Early Life

Hassie Fletcher was born in Durham, North Carolina on December 4, 1870. She grew up on a farm with her family, where they worked to fight poverty. Her father was injured after being dragged by a mule in a farming accident. After the accident, he stayed at the mill and Fletcher had greater responsibilities at the farm, where she would help bring water to workers and also help raise and harvest crops. Fletcher was never consistently in school. She did go to school, but her attendance was inconsistent because of her responsibilities at home. Fletcher would work hard at anything she did, motivated by being able to go out and have fun afterwards. She grew up with strong Christian values, and religion was the thing most important to her.

Adult Life

Fletcher met her first love, Arthur Burchum, at a church event. Bonded by faith, they were married after a year when she was nineteen, and soon her first son came into the world. Burchum did landscaping, and the couple rented a small cottage to live in. Tragically, on the walk back home one night, he was murdered, and his body was left at the Durham train tracks. His killers were never found, and Fletcher had to care for their child on her own in all of her grief. However, after three years, she was able to find love again with Rob Fletcher. They had nine more children of their own and lived on a farm. The Fletcher’s worked hard on the farm, and as the kids grew up, they started helping as well. Though Mrs. Fletcher helped on the farm, her main contribution to the family was taking care of her family and home. She was a strong believer in men and women having separate importance in society. It was a woman’s meaningful contribution to take care of her home and those inside it, while her husband was out working and providing for the family. Though feminist ideas were on the rise, she held on to her traditional values. Mrs. Fletcher’s faith in God never faded. She went to church every Sunday, even though she had to walk a long way to get there. Her studies of the Gospel contributed to her ideology of men having a more dominance stance over women in society, as the Bible says “Let the women be silent in the churches.” Mrs. Fletchers children stayed in the area as they grew older, and now sixty, she can never see herself leaving Durham. Her family was never wealthy, but she is happy with how her life has turned out, and is proud of how she has raised her family.

Social Issues

Gender Opportunities

In the 1850’s, housewives were crucial to the household and to society. They were respected for the hard work they put in at home. However, women barely had any other opportunities for work, and no political voice. The social spheres to which men and women were confined were strict; women were responsible for domesticity and men dominated the publicity, business, and work. In the beginning of the 20th century, feminism began to rise. The Women’s Suffrage Movement caused an opening for more political opportunity for women, starting with the right to vote in 1919. Alongside this new political right, other doors began to open. The possibility for women to have other roles in society were no longer impossible. World War I helped make these new opportunities available for women. After the United States joined the battle overseas in Europe, soldiers were shipped out in mass amounts. This left women bigger responsibilities on the home front. Their new participation in the workforce brought the basis for a changed mindset of a woman’s role in society.

Education

Education in the late 1800s and early 1900s was not widely available. Though many children were enrolled in school, it was common to walk miles to get there. Others couldn’t regularly attend due to having to help their families with harvests or other tasks. Attendance was low, content was lacking, and many, especially those in lower social classes, struggled to get a saturated education.

The Machine Age

From the end of WWI in 1918 to the start of WWII in 1941, there was a dramatic shift to more advanced technology and a rapid increase of urbanization. While society was mostly rural, the Machine Age brought the start of the advanced America as seen today. Radios, automobiles, televisions, toasters, and technology galore shifted American lifestyles to be more focused on working for well-being and enjoyment of material things, rather than working for surviving. There was an economic boom, and society began to look much more modern. However, this lifestyle started in cities and moved outward. More economic opportunity was in the hearts of urban areas, and those who stayed rural stayed behind for a longer period.

Bibliography

Darrow, O. (n.d.). Federal Writers Project Papers. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/03709/searchterm/folder_335!03709/field/contri!escri/mode/exact!exact/conn/and!and/order/relatid/ad/asc/cosuppress/0

Matthews, Glenna. Just a Housewife: The Rise and Fall of Domesticity in America. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=WrhwDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=housewife&ots=d28M98SXMN&sig=zB4joP9eGG5Mju7NmxQcbkI-104#v=onepage&q=housewife&f=false

Mccammon, Holly J., Karen E. Campbell, Ellen M. Granberg, and Christine Mowery. “How Movements Win: Gendered Opportunity Structures and U.S. Women's Suffrage Movements, 1866 to 1919.” American Sociological Review 66, no. 1 (2001): 49–70. https://doi.org/10.2307/2657393.

McCarthy, Erin. “11 Ways School Was Different in the 1800s.” Mental Floss, January 7, 2016. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/58705/11-ways-school-was-different-1800s

Trachtenberg, Alan. “THE ART AND DESIGN OF THE MACHINE AGE.” The New York Times. The New York Times, September 21, 1986. https://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/21/magazine/the-art-and-design-of-the-machine-age.html.

Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E. “Women, Gender, and Church History.” Church History 71, no. 3 (September 2002): 600–620. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4146422.