179:. 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."
20:
141:, 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
186:'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
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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
160:
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
202:, 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
46:
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.
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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.
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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
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58:, in 1849. Her mother was Mary Holt Marsh, and her father was Colonel William Kirkland de Graffenried, a lawyer who had initially opposed
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She is best known for her controversial article "The
Georgia Cracker in the Cotton Mill," which was published in February 1891 in
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206:, but was also described as an "original type" who "never gave a thought to her personal appearance." She never married.
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After spending another decade in Macon, in which time she most likely worked as a schoolteacher, de
Graffenried moved to
89:. As the school's valedictorian, de Graffenried went off-script in her graduation speech, criticizing the troops led by
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She retired from the
Department of Labor in 1906, and she spent four years traveling the world after her retirement.
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489:"Artistic Liberty and Slave Imagery: "Mark Twain's Illustrator," E. W. Kemble, Turns to Harriet Beecher Stowe"
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460:"Sleep Sickness Claims Another: Miss Mary C. de Graffenried, 71, Latest Victim of Malady in Capital"
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133:. In this role, she traveled across the United States, particularly to the South and the
81:, then known as Wesleyan Female College, graduating with honors in 1865, the same year
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536:"A Short History of "Redneck": The Fashioning of a Southern White Masculine Identity"
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people, particularly women and children, including the controversial 1891 essay "The
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beginning in 1888. She wrote a number of influential articles on the conditions of
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105:, in the mid-1870s, apparently due to the postwar economic depression in the
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614:""Comfort and Respectability": Washington's Philanthropic Housing Movement"
379:"The De Graffenried Controversy: Class, Race, and Gender in the New South"
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Mary Clare de
Graffenried, usually known as Clare, was born in
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researcher and writer, who worked as an investigator for the
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Records of the
Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C
575:"Alley Life in Washington: An Analysis of 600 Photographs"
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de
Graffenried, Mary Clare (1849-1921), labor investigator
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311:"Sidney Lanier's Letters to Clare deGraffenreid"
109:. She taught math, literature, and languages at
30:(May 19, 1849 – April 26, 1921) was an American
182:Despite the controversy, the article won the
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23:The labor investigator Clare de Graffenried.
269:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1500908
263:. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press.
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309:Antippas, A. P.; Flake, Carol (1973).
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77:De Graffenried attended Macon's
383:The Journal of Southern History
70:and serve in Georgian Governor
257:Walsh, Julia (February 2000).
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682:Writers from Washington, D.C.
493:Nineteenth-Century Literature
184:American Economic Association
687:Writers from Macon, Georgia
612:Hannold, Elizabeth (1992).
16:American labor investigator
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111:Georgetown Female Seminary
521:10.1525/ncl.2009.63.4.499
505:10.1525/ncl.2009.63.4.499
487:Sonstegard, Adam (2009).
28:Mary Clare de Graffenried
573:Borchert, James (1973).
466:. 1921-04-27. p. 13
198:De Graffenried lived in
175:, with illustrations by
50:Early life and education
36:U.S. Department of Labor
667:Wesleyan College alumni
534:Huber, Patrick (1995).
377:Whites, LeeAnn (1988).
692:Labor studies scholars
672:American women writers
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87:took control of Macon
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464:The Washington Times
172:The Century Magazine
315:American Literature
131:Department of Labor
74:'s administration.
618:Washington History
432:"Women Can Reform"
204:Ellen Axson Wilson
125:Labor investigator
68:American Civil War
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540:Southern Cultures
436:Wesleyan Magazine
278:978-0-19-860669-7
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662:1921 deaths
657:1849 births
585:: 244–259.
137:'s textile
64:Confederacy
651:Categories
470:2021-05-03
442:2021-05-03
210:References
139:mill towns
630:1042-9719
591:0897-9049
552:1068-8218
513:0891-9356
403:0022-4642
335:0002-9831
135:Northeast
121:in 1886.
60:secession
638:40073068
599:40067743
560:44378645
411:2208998
343:2924447
156:Writing
85:troops
66:in the
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190:life.
97:Career
634:JSTOR
595:JSTOR
556:JSTOR
517:JSTOR
407:JSTOR
339:JSTOR
188:alley
107:South
83:Union
32:labor
626:ISSN
587:ISSN
548:ISSN
509:ISSN
399:ISSN
331:ISSN
273:ISBN
145:and
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
