Viewing page 5 of 15

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

BRONX "SLAVE" MART
By DUTTON FERGUSON

TRUE TO ITS REPUTATION AS A CITY of superlatives, New York has the largest "slave market" north of the Mason Dixon Line. Located in the Jerome Avenue sector of the Bronx, this mart, where services of unemployed domestic workers go on the "slave block" for 20 to 30 cents an hour, presents a day-long drama filled with pathos, labor questions, humor and hard-won little triumphs.

MANY AN OLD WOMAN TAKES HER LAST nickel and subways from Harlem poverty to the Bronx "Slave Market." Her hopes ride high on the crest of a bitter, cold, rising sun. Like as not her age is against her. With work-gnarled hands doubtfully hidden beneath a thread-worn coat, she is often passed up by women seeking younger and stronger women to do a day's work. At sundown, the old women beg the more fortunate "slaves" for passage back to Harlem poverty.

[[9 images]]
[[captions]] 
MANY A HARLEM BOY FRIEND DOES NOT KNOW HIS MAIN GIRL GETS HER MONEY VIA "SLAVERY."

THURSDAY BARGAIN RUSH. BRONX HOUSEWIFE HITS TOUGH LABOR PROBLEM (CIRCLE).

PRODUCTS OF THE "SLAVE MARKET." LIFE GOES HARD IN SPITE OF HOPES. THE YOUTH SEEKS JOB AS WINDOW-WASHER.

DRAMA: THESE "SLAVES" TELL JOKES, DISCUSS EVENTS OF THE NIGHT BEFORE, HOPE FOR WAGES ABOVE 20c AN HOUR. 

LABOR WINS. HOUSEWIFE AND "SLAVE" BARGAINED 40 MINUTES FOR 5c AN HOUR WAGE DIFFERENCE. A GOOD BOUT!

FROM LENOX AVENUE COMES GLADYS JONES. SHE FILLS OUT JOBLESS BLANK. NOTE "SLAVE" MESSAGE ON THE WALL.

SEEKING A PLACE IN THE SUN. MODERN-DAY "SLAVES" AT 170th AND WALTON AVENUE, BRONX. IN THIS DISTRICT COME HUNDREDS OF UNEMPLOYED MEN AND WOMEN FROM HARLEM HOPING TO GET A DAY'S WORK AS DOMESTICS.

"WONDER WILL THIS UNEMPLOYMENT BLANK GIVE ME A JOB?" OLDER FOLK HAVE HARD TIME GETTING JOB VIA "SLAVE" MART.

"LET'S FILL THE BLANK OUT. WHAT WE GOT TO LOSE?" POVERTY AND HOPE DIRECT DRAMA OF BRONX "SLAVE MARKET."
[[/captions]]

Flash! Eight
Flash! Nine