| Sex Workers, Psychics, and Numbers Runners: Black Women in New York City's Underground Economy Contributor(s): Harris, Lashawn (Author) |
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ISBN: 0252040201 ISBN-13: 9780252040207 Publisher: University of Illinois Press OUR PRICE: $108.90 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: June 2016 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - Social Science | Women's Studies - Business & Economics | Economic History |
| Dewey: 331.408 |
| LCCN: 2015041914 |
| Series: New Black Studies |
| Physical Information: 1" H x 6.2" W x 9.4" (1.35 lbs) 296 pages |
| Themes: - Ethnic Orientation - African American - Sex & Gender - Feminine - Topical - Black History - Chronological Period - 1900-1949 - Locality - New York, N.Y. - Geographic Orientation - New York |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: During the early twentieth century, a diverse group of African American women carved out unique niches for themselves within New York City's expansive informal economy. LaShawn Harris illuminates the labor patterns and economic activity of three perennials within this kaleidoscope of underground industry: sex work, numbers running for gambling enterprises, and the supernatural consulting business. Mining police and prison records, newspaper accounts, and period literature, Harris teases out answers to essential questions about these women and their working lives. She also offers a surprising revelation, arguing that the burgeoning underground economy served as a catalyst in working-class black women (TM)s creation of the employment opportunities, occupational identities, and survival strategies that provided them with financial stability and a sense of labor autonomy and mobility. At the same time, urban black women, all striving for economic and social prospects and pleasures, experienced the conspicuous and hidden dangers associated with newfound labor opportunities. |