Author Alice Childress

Publisher ‎ Independence Publishers; First Edition (January 1, 1956)

Binding hardcover without dust jacket

ConditionFine condition, some wear on edges and no dustjacket, binding is strong. This is a first edition of a rare and important book

Summary

Childress, Alice. Like One of the Family: Conversations from a Domestic’s Life.
Brooklyn: Independence Publishers, 1956. First Edition.

Octavo. Original gray and red cloth, black stamped lettering to front board and spine. 1956 copyright; no later printings listed.

A pristine, remarkably well-preserved copy of Alice Childress’s groundbreaking portrait of Black domestic workers in mid-century Harlem. First appearing in Paul Robeson’s newspaper Freedom (1950–1955), these conversational vignettes between Mildred, a sharp-witted domestic, and her friend Marge form a candid, humorous, and incisive critique of race, gender, and labor in America. Childress—one of the earliest published African American female playwrights and novelists—captures the lived experiences of working-class Black women with unparalleled authenticity.

This first edition, published by the small Brooklyn house Independence Publishers, is notoriously scarce, particularly in collectible condition and without institutional markings. An important early work of African American literature, proto-feminist writing, and social commentary.

Condition: Near Fine (no dust jacket). Binding tight and square; pages clean, fresh, and unmarked. Only the faintest shelf wear to spine ends. An unusually bright and crisp example of a title seldom found in this condition.