Mary Clare de Graffenried (May 19, 1849 – April 26, 1921) was an American
labor
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the la ...
researcher and writer, who worked as an investigator for the
U.S. Department of Labor
The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the United States federal executive departments, executive departments of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of fede ...
beginning in 1888. She wrote a number of influential articles on the conditions of
working-class people, particularly women and children, including the controversial 1891 essay "The
Georgia Cracker
Georgia crackers refer to the original American pioneer settlers of the Province of Georgia (later, the State of Georgia), and their descendants.
In the late 19th century and the early part of the 20th century, Georgia ranchers came to be kno ...
in the Cotton Mill." Her work is notable for its early inclusion of scientific data as a basis for rhetorical argument in discussions of the American working class.
Early life and education
Mary Clare de Graffenried, usually known as Clare, was born in
Macon, Georgia, in 1849.
Her mother was Mary Holt Marsh, and her father was Colonel William Kirkland de Graffenried, a lawyer who had initially opposed
secession
Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics le ...
but eventually came to support the
Confederacy in the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
and serve in Georgian Governor
Joseph E. Brown's administration.
De Graffenried attended Macon's
Wesleyan College
Wesleyan College is a private, liberal arts women's college in Macon, Georgia. Founded in 1836, Wesleyan was the first college in the world chartered to grant degrees to women.
History
The school was chartered on December 23, 1836, as the Ge ...
, then known as Wesleyan Female College, graduating with honors in 1865, the same year
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
troops
took control of Macon. As the school's valedictorian, de Graffenried went off-script in her graduation speech, criticizing the troops led by
James H. Wilson
James Harrison Wilson (September 2, 1837 – February 23, 1925) was a United States Army topographic engineer and a Union Army Major General in the American Civil War. He served as an aide to Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan during the Maryland Cam ...
who were camped in the city. Wilson threatened to shutter the college in response, but he held off after hearing it was an impromptu, non-sanctioned speech.
Career
After spending another decade in Macon, in which time she most likely worked as a schoolteacher, de Graffenried moved to
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, in the mid-1870s, apparently due to the postwar economic depression in the
South.
She taught math, literature, and languages at
Georgetown Female Seminary, then, thanks to her father's connections with Interior Secretary
L. Q. C. Lamar, she was given a job working in the
patent office in 1886.
Labor investigator
From there, she quickly went to work at the Bureau of Labor, and in 1888 she was appointed as one of the first 20 labor investigators at the renamed
Department of Labor
The Ministry of Labour ('' UK''), or Labor ('' US''), also known as the Department of Labour, or Labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, training, a ...
.
In this role, she traveled across the United States, particularly to the South and the
Northeast
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
's textile
mill towns, visiting factories and workers' homes to collect data and testimony on working conditions. She also traveled to Europe in 1892 as part of a project comparing working-class life there and in the United States.
As a labor researcher, de Graffenried was particularly interested in the living conditions of working-class women and children, as well as the importance of providing working-class families with decent housing. She was one of the first to call for government involvement in the lives of working-class Americans, particularly through
child labor laws and
public education.
She retired from the Department of Labor in 1906, and she spent four years traveling the world after her retirement.
Writing
In addition to her work for the Department of Labor, de Graffenried wrote on labor issues for national publications and traveled the country giving lectures on the subject.
Her work was innovative at the time in its use of statistical data to back up rhetorical arguments. Alongside Labor Commissioner
Carrol D. Wright and others in the new Department of Labor, she drove discussion of working-class Americans away from subjective rhetoric and toward a more statistical analysis. However, while her writing showed a deep concern for the working class, it sometimes leaned into a tone of middle-class condescension toward her subjects.
She is best known for her controversial article "The Georgia Cracker in the Cotton Mill," which was published in February 1891 in ''
The Century Magazine
''The Century Magazine'' was an illustrated monthly magazine first published in the United States in 1881 by The Century Company of New York City, which had been bought in that year by Roswell Smith and renamed by him after the Century Associatio ...
'', with illustrations by
E. W. Kemble.
It was based on her interviews with poor, white mill workers in Georgia. While it was praised in the North as a compelling argument that incorporated detailed research, it drew an angry response in the South, particularly in Georgia, because it was perceived as ridiculing Southern whites.
She had described millworkers as "an impressive example of race degeneration," with these white laborers having become "the butt of ridicule, shiftless and inconsequent, always poor though always working." Her depiction of women and children working—amid a "criminal indifference" to child labor laws—as the men of the household lazed around was seen as particularly offensive to Southern social and gender norms.
Southern politicians railed against her work, and in the local press, the scandal became known as "The De Graffenried Controversy."
Despite the controversy, the article won the
American Economic Association's prize for the year's best essay on wage-earning women.
Other influential articles by de Graffenried in this period included 1890's "The Needs of Self-Supporting Women"; 1891's "Essay on Child Labor," which won another prize from the American Economic Association for the year's best essay on labor issues; and 1896's "Need Of Better Homes for Wage-Earners."
She also sometimes wrote about her adopted home city, including the 1896 study "Typical Alley Houses in Washington," the first scientific study of Washington's
alley
An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in the older parts of towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road (back lane ...
life.
Personal life
De Graffenried lived in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, until her death in 1921.
She turned her home at 1935 7th St NW into a "house museum" of antiques and souvenirs of her travels to Europe and Asia. She moved in the city's high-society circles, associating with the likes of first lady
Ellen Axson Wilson
Ellen Louise Wilson (née Axson; May 15, 1860 – August 6, 1914) was the first wife of President Woodrow Wilson and the mother of their three daughters. Like her husband, she was a Southerner, as well as the daughter of a clergyman. She was ...
, but was also described as an "original type" who "never gave a thought to her personal appearance."
She never married.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Graffenried, Clare
1849 births
1921 deaths
Wesleyan College alumni
American women writers
American workers' rights activists
Writers from Washington, D.C.
Writers from Macon, Georgia
Labor studies scholars
Activists from Georgia (U.S. state)