I've Got to Make My Livin' I've Got to Make My Livin'
Historical Studies of Urban America

I've Got to Make My Livin‪'‬

Black Women's Sex Work in Turn-of-the-Century Chicago

    • $52.99
    • $52.99

Publisher Description

For many years, the interrelated histories of prostitution and cities have perked the ears of urban scholars, but until now the history of urban sex work has dealt only in passing with questions of race. In I’ve Got to Make My Livin’, Cynthia Blair explores African American women’s sex work in Chicago during the decades of some of the city’s most explosive growth, expanding not just our view of prostitution, but also of black women’s labor, the Great Migration, black and white reform movements, and the emergence of modern sexuality.

Focusing on the notorious sex districts of the city’s south side, Blair paints a complex portrait of black prostitutes as conscious actors and historical agents; prostitution, she argues here, was both an arena of exploitation and abuse, as well as a means of resisting middle-class sexual and economic norms. Blair ultimately illustrates just how powerful these norms were, offering stories about the struggles that emerged among black and white urbanites in response to black women’s increasing visibility in the city’s sex economy. Through these powerful narratives, I’ve Got to Make My Livin’ reveals the intersecting racial struggles and sexual anxieties that underpinned the celebration of Chicago as the quintessentially modern twentieth-century city.

GENRE
Non-Fiction
RELEASED
2010
December 15
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
344
Pages
PUBLISHER
University of Chicago Press
SELLER
Chicago Distribution Center
SIZE
4
MB

More Books Like This

The World of Stephanie St. Clair The World of Stephanie St. Clair
2014
Urban Reform and Sexual Vice in Progressive-Era Philadelphia Urban Reform and Sexual Vice in Progressive-Era Philadelphia
2015
Colored Amazons Colored Amazons
2006
White Slave Crusades White Slave Crusades
2010
The Rise of Chicago's Black Metropolis, 1920-1929 The Rise of Chicago's Black Metropolis, 1920-1929
2011
Black Chicago's First Century Black Chicago's First Century
2005

Other Books in This Series

Blood Runs Green Blood Runs Green
2015
Newsprint Metropolis Newsprint Metropolis
2017
Urban Appetites Urban Appetites
2014
Places of Their Own Places of Their Own
2009
Miss Cutler and the Case of the Resurrected Horse Miss Cutler and the Case of the Resurrected Horse
2011
In the Shadow of Slavery In the Shadow of Slavery
2023