As late as the 1930s, most upper-middle-class American families had servants. By the end of World War II, almost nobody did. Here’s an article on the government commission set up to deal with the problem. I first saw this linked by somebody trying to tie it in to the current labor shortage.

submitted by Chipit from daily.jstor.org

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[–]jet199Instigatrix 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Yeah, I'm not sure race can be blamed as exactly the same thing happened in Europe with the white working class.

Basically after the war people started to value their own lives more and wanted something better for themselves and their children.

Most female servant would have been expected to leave work when they married (some times were even sacked for getting married if they wanted to keep working) so it was only ever seen as a temporary job for that group anyway. If there were other more regular options most people would take them over cleaning out someone else's potty ever day.

[–]Chipit[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

“The question is not ‘Did racism take place?' but ‘How did racism manifest in that situation?'”

-- Robin DiAngelo

[–]IkeConn 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

We had a maid when I was a kid. I asked he if she was black all over.