Art
Laundry was backbreaking work done almost entirely by hand in the early 1900s. This photograph captures the labor—and the skill—required to keep a household clean, a job that fell almost always to women and often to women of color in American homes.
Art · Full story
Water steams in large pots. Your hands are raw from the lye soap. Wet linens—heavy, endless—drip from your arms to the basin, then to the line where they'll catch the Caribbean sun. The work is never finished; tomorrow's dirt is already gathering.
Reflect
Who does the laundry in your home, and how has that changed over time?