What’s In A Name, Indy?
Employment Requirements By Race

March, 2021

Newfields includes The Indianapolis Museum of Art.
(This photograph was provided courtesy of the Carol M. Highsmith Archive of the Library of Congress, September 19, 2016.)

While the local newspapers no longer print help wanted ads that specify the race of the people sought for employment, the example of Newfields shows that the issue of race may still rear its head in employment opportunities.  Even in 2021.

The organization that includes The Indianapolis Museum of Art initially indicated in a job posting through an executive search firm that it was seeking someone who would work to help Newfields “…attract a broader and more diverse audience while maintaining the Museum’s traditional, core, white art audience…”  One hundred years ago, in 1920, an employment advertisement appeared in The Indianapolis Star that was both similar and yet different from the job posting initially placed on behalf of Newfields:  The Becker Chemical Company of Saint Louis was seeking someone in Indianapolis with an advertisement:  “Can you sell to Colored people?”

In years past, employment advertising included aspects that are generally considered unethical and illegal today.  It was not unusual for employers to seek “men” or “girls” for workers.  Other ads sought a single person or people of certain ages.  Likewise, some job advertisements specified that the employer was seeking a “White” person or a “Colored” individual.

There were also ads in previous decades from people seeking work themselves that noted personal aspects of their lives.  Some of the individual people seeking work explicitly noted their own race.  Individuals would also cite their age or age grouping, gender, ethnicity, and other elements as they sought work.

While most job ads did not include racial notes, a few examples of advertisements for employment opportunities in Indianapolis that did include racial preferences included the following:

A White man was sought for a night-time janitorial job in an advertisement in the November 15, 1920, issue of The Indianapolis News;  the Severin Hotel was seeking two White females as vegetable cooks.  In an ad in the same edition, Model Laundry sought “White only” girls as folders, feeders, and shakers;  a separate advertisement from the same business also sought “White only” girls as ironers and press machine operators.  This same issue of this newspaper also included eight ads seeking White girls or women for various types of housework, one advertisement seeking a White girl for pastry work, and two ads for White nurses.  One person was open to hiring a White or Colored girl for housework.  Four other ads sought Colored people for several types of jobs, including a janitress, housekeeper, dishwasher, and a maid.

The Indianapolis Star included an ad for a White chief at the Sterling Cafeteria and a separate advertisement for a White cook at the Severin Hotel in the newspaper’s issue dated December 19, 1920.  Three other ads for White cooks, one ad for a White maid, and one other advertisement for a White dishwasher were also in this edition of the newspaper.  The same issue included an ad for a “Colored girl to do housework…”  It was in this edition of The Indianapolis Star that The Becker Chemical Company of Saint Louis sought someone in Indianapolis with an advertisement:  “Can you sell to Colored people?”

An ad for a White housekeeper was published in The Indianapolis News dated October 7, 1930.  The Indianapolis Star in its edition dated August 17, 1930, included an advertisement that stated that the Hotel Linden was open to hiring a “White or Colored man and wife, experienced in pressing and cleaning…”

In the issue of The Indianapolis News dated January 12, 1940, eight ads were printed for White girls and women for different types of housekeeping work;  another ad sought a Colored woman for housework.  On May 26, 1940, The Indianapolis Star included two ads for White housekeepers.  An advertisement in the same issue of this newspaper sought “Colored cooks, dish washers, laundresses” for a children’s camp in northern Indiana.

Dukes Lunch sought a “White Lady” with experience for counter and short order work, according to an ad on February 25, 1950, in The Indianapolis News.  The same edition of this newspaper included four different job ads for White housekeepers.

A White messenger, a White rug cleaner, and a White boy “to work on magazine routes” were sought in advertisements in The Indianapolis Star on October 29, 1950.  Among other ads in the same edition included one from National Personnel Services that sought White men “to age 45” for factory work.  Advertisements also were included for three White cooks as well as for three White housekeepers.  Colored people were also sought for certain jobs advertised in this same edition of The Indianapolis Star.  One ad sought two Colored beauty operators, while another advertisement was seeking a Colored person for cooking and housework for two adults.  Interestingly, at least two businesses sought both White people for certain jobs and Colored persons for other work.  One ad from Kerr’s Cafeteria sought “Girls – White” for counter work, while a second advertisement from the same business indicated that it was also seeking cooks – “White or Colored.”  Breitfield’s Cottage sought a “White Lady” to “make salads and work on steam table,” while a second advertisement from the same business was seeking “Colored Girls” for kitchen helpers and bus girls.

On March 9, 1960, The Indianapolis News included two advertisements for people seeking White housekeepers as well as three advertisements seeking White babysitters.  The Indianapolis Star included an ad for an experienced single White farm hand in its edition dated April 20, 1960.  Other advertisements seeking White people were included in this specific edition of this newspaper, including two ads offering White babysitting jobs, six advertisements seeking White housekeepers, and one ad for a White woman to care for an infant.  The same edition of The Indianapolis Star included an ad for a Colored housekeeper.

While these older advertisements were ones that were explicit in their quest for specific types of workers, other ads appeared to be race-neutral.  Unfortunately, some of those advertisements were from businesses that did not actually practice equal opportunities for all people in Indianapolis.

An editorial in the September 13, 1947, issue of The Indianapolis Recorder noted that job discrimination based on race had a great impact within Indianapolis and beyond.  A few sentences from that editorial:

“A perusal of the Help Wanted columns in local daily newspapers reveals that that blight on American democracy, job discrimination, is again on the increase in Indianapolis...It little avails us to struggle for political equality, educational equality, civic equality, if at the same time economic equality is denied us...For when all is said and done, the factor contributing most to juvenile delinquency and other evils of our society is enforced unemployment.”

A photograph – a piece of art – that shows a few of the colors that make the world a more reflective place of reality.
(The photograph was provided by DarkmoonArt_de through Pixabay, March 13, 2018.)

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Contact Richard McDonough at whatsinanameindy@usa.com.

© 2021 Richard McDonough