Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Summer/105/Section 08/Susie Ray

Overview

Susie Ray was a Black female from Georgia. She was an entrepreneur and restaurant owner in the 1930s. In 1939, Grace McCune interviewed Susie in conjunction with the Federal Writers Project.

Susie Ray
Born	1892 Wilkes County, Georgia
Died	Unknown
Occupation	Restaurant Owner/ Entrepreneur
Spouse(s)	Robert Ray
Children	Four Children

Biography

Personal Life

Susie Ray was born in 1892, near Rayleigh in Wilkes County, Georgia. She was one of seven siblings. Growing up her family encouraged education and she went to school through her second year of high school. At the age of nineteen, she had dropped out and married Robert Ray, a farmer, and had moved to the country. During this period, she had become a full-time school teacher and mother of four. After moving throughout the South during the 1920s-1930s taking odd jobs, the couple settled their family in Athens, Georgia. Each of the daughters were well educated and moved on to become a teacher, store owner, nurse, and attend university.

Career

Susie Ray led an entrepreneurial life. After cotton prices dropped in rural Georgia, Ray and her husband had moved to Atlanta. Susie Ray created a stable income washing clothes for a wealthy white woman. Ray continued to do laundry for over five years. She had also taken up sewing for clients, gaining recognition throughout the area. In 1925, the Ray's traveled to Tampa, Florida with hopes of taking part in the real estate boom, "without a penny and no job in view". During this period, Ray found her passion for food. She had begun to cook meals for families. After finding much success, the pair moved back to Georgia and opened up a grocery store. Ray quickly became the breadwinner of her family, allowing them to buy a home and car. Once the Great Depression had hit, the store had begun to struggle, and she was forced to closed her business. Without giving up hope, in 1935, Ray decided to open up a restaurant out of the old town post office. Susie Ray's Café had attracted many members of the Black community with home-style cuisine and southern hospitality. The café charged reasonable amounts for meals that catered to those struggling during the crisis. Ray's café provided a safe space for members of the community. When Susie Ray had retired, her daughter took over the restaurant, keeping the family tradition's alive.

Social Context

Oppression of Black Females in the Workplace

In the early 1900s, Black women were often overlooked in the workforce. Both race and gender barriers were placed in the way of pursuing their own ventures. Consequently, many women were subject to working in the barber/salon industry. "Working in largely feminized types of industries has implications for racialized women's participation in entrepreneurship. Lower wages, lack of savings, relevant business experience/mentorship and work flexibility therefore create less opportunity to venture exclusively into entrepreneurship”. As a majority of Black women lived in the South for the greater part of the 20th Century, Jim Crow laws enabled Whites to treat the Black community inhumanly."In the early-twentieth-century South, the conditions of Black women's self-employment in this pursuit were reminiscent of slavery—not only with respect to the tasks that Black women were required to perform, but also with regard to Whites' expectations of these women's subservience". In the past thirty years, Black women have made great strides in the workplace. Forbes recently published, “In the U.S., “17% of Black women are in the process of starting or running new businesses, compared to just 10% of white women, and 15% of white men”. As a result of the influx of women creating businesses there has been a positive shift in societal perceptions.

The Great Migration

From the 1910s-1940s migration within the Black Community to areas that offered better quality lives became highly sought after. At this time, racism was terrorizing the South. African Americans began to move north and west in pursuit of protecting their families. States with essential industries or crops became suitable options. Often the jobs were rigorous but provided stable livelihoods for families. Once the Great Depression hit, many Black people living in the South were impacted. A majority of jobs were reliant on the success of the agriculture industry, "the loss of tenant positions on leased farmland, foreclosure, falling farm yields, or the closure of textile factories and other industries forced them away from their homes". The African American community was often found at the bottom of the societal caste system. When jobs became scarce, African Americans were often the "last hired, first fired", resulting in higher urgency to migrate. Through shared struggles, the Black community began to unite over economic and social issues. The increased activism within the community aided in the progression towards the Civil Rights Movement.

Bibliography

Boyd, Robert L. “Race, Self-Employment, and Labor Absorption.” American Journal of Economics and Sociology 71, no. 3 (2012): 639–61. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1536-7150.2012.00825.x.

Klein, Christopher. “Last Hired, First Fired: How the Great Depression Affected African Americans.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, April 18, 2018. https://www.history.com/news/last-hired-first-fired-how-the-great-depression-affected-african-americans.

Knight, Melanie. “Race-Ing, Classing and Gendering Racialized Women's Participation in Entrepreneurship.” Gender, Work & Organization 23, no. 3 (2014): 310–27. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12060.

McCune, Grace. Susie Ray. Athens, Georgia: Federal Writers Project, 1939.

“Migrant Workers During the Great Depression in Florida.” Florida Memory. State Archives of Florida, 2021. https://www.floridamemory.com/learn/exhibits/photo_exhibits/migrant/.

Zalis, Shelley. “Black Female Entrepreneurs Are Launching More Businesses Than Ever: Here's What They Need To Help Them Mature.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, May 25, 2021. https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelleyzalis/2021/05/25/black-female-entrepreneurs-are-launching-more-businesses-than-ever-heres-what-they-need-to-help-them-mature/?sh=5e58f1176bc0.