Pink Collar Workers: Carrie Crawford Smith

Womanica

Acast Creative Studios

History, Society & Culture, Education

4.3 • 920 Ratings

🗓️ 12 August 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Carrie Crawford Smith (1877-1954) placed hundreds of fellow Black women in jobs in and around Chicago through her employment agency. In an era when Black women faced intense discrimination and negative stereotyping in the workforce, Carrie made it her mission to ensure her clients were treated with dignity and respect.

For Further Reading:

This month, we're bringing back some of our favorite Womanica episodes you might have missed! We'll be talking about Pink Collar Workers: women who revolutionized jobs that have traditionally been called "women's work." Through their lives, they created a more just and humane world for us today.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn't help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we'll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Adrien Behn, Alyia Yates, Vanessa Handy, Melia Agudelo, and Joia Putnoi. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an I-Heart podcast.
0:05.0	I always had to be so good no one could ignore me.
0:08.0	Carve my path with data and drive.
0:10.0	But some people only see who I am on paper.
0:14.0	The paper ceiling, the limitations from degree screens to stereotypes
0:18.0	that are holding back over 70 million stars.
0:24.4	Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree.
0:26.9	It's time for skills to speak for themselves.
0:31.7	Find resources for breaking through barriers at tailorpapersealing.org.
0:34.1	Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council.
0:39.2	Hear insightful, entertaining discussions on today's important health and wellness topics on the Health Discovered podcast from WebMD.
0:42.4	Through in-depth conversations with experts,
0:44.6	Health Discovered covers everything from tips for healthier living to the latest on therapy
0:48.9	and mental health.
0:49.9	My goal is to really destigmatize mental health treatment and looking at it from a whole health perspective.
0:56.9	Physical health and mental health can be intertwined.
1:00.2	Listen to WebMD Health Discovered on the IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:06.1	Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica.
1:11.0	This August, we're bringing back some of our favorite Womanica episodes you might have missed.
1:15.3	All month, we'll be talking about pink-collar workers.
1:18.4	These women revolutionized jobs that have traditionally been called women's work.
1:22.5	Through their lives, they created a more just and humane world for us today.
	...

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