First Person Narratives: Domestic workers and caregivers
First Person Narratives: Domestic Workers and Caregivers
Domestic workers and caregivers have played an essential but frequently overlooked role in the economic and social history of the United States. Their labor has sustained households, raised children, supported elderly people, assisted individuals with disabilities, and made it possible for millions of other people to participate in the paid workforce. Yet much of this work has historically occurred behind closed doors, outside public view and often without the recognition, compensation, or protections afforded to workers in other occupations.
First-person narratives provide an opportunity to understand this history through the experiences of the people who performed the work. Oral histories, recorded interviews, family memories, and personal testimonies reveal the daily responsibilities, emotional demands, economic pressures, and relationships that shaped domestic employment and caregiving.
This collection brings together 100 unique narratives documenting experiences across generations, occupations, racial and ethnic communities, and geographic regions. Sources include the Library of Congress, PHI, StoryCorps, the Iowa Women's Archives, and the Digital Public Library of America.
Together, these accounts illuminate the experiences of workers whose contributions have often remained absent from traditional historical records. They also demonstrate how domestic labor intersects with immigration, racial inequality, gender, disability, family relationships, economic insecurity, and movements for workers' rights.
Domestic Workers, Nannies, and Housekeepers
Domestic employment encompasses a wide range of responsibilities, including cleaning homes, preparing meals, washing clothes, caring for children, and managing household routines. Although these activities are essential to family life, paid domestic workers have frequently occupied economically vulnerable positions because their workplaces are private homes and their employment arrangements often depend on individual relationships.
First-person accounts reveal the complexity of this work. Nannies describe supporting children's emotional and intellectual development, negotiating expectations with parents, and maintaining professional boundaries while becoming closely involved in family life. Housekeepers recount physically demanding labor, unpredictable schedules, and the challenge of obtaining reliable income.
The narratives of Christine Lewis, Hazel Ann Lynch, Magdalen Wilson, and other immigrant domestic workers preserved by the Library of Congress illustrate how household employment requires interpersonal skills, cultural understanding, practical expertise, and emotional judgment.
Contemporary StoryCorps interviews further document how professional childcare has become a significant occupation for workers balancing education, artistic careers, family responsibilities, and long-term employment.
These testimonies challenge the assumption that household labor is unskilled work. They reveal occupations requiring considerable knowledge, patience, flexibility, and responsibility.
African American Domestic Workers and Segregation
For generations, domestic service provided one of the principal employment opportunities available to African American women, particularly in the American South. Racial discrimination restricted access to many occupations, while household employment offered limited financial independence under frequently unequal working conditions.
Oral histories collected by the Iowa Women's Archives document the experiences of Black domestic workers who cleaned homes, cared for children, cooked meals, and performed other household tasks during the era of segregation.
Narrators describe beginning work at very young ages, receiving low wages, and experiencing racial restrictions inside employers' homes. Some recall being required to enter through separate doors, use different eating utensils, or observe other discriminatory customs.
The testimonies of Loreatha Smith-Reid, Hazel Rankins, L. Walker, and others also document the vulnerability of Black women and girls to sexual harassment, coercion, and racial violence.
At the same time, these accounts reveal considerable variation in relationships between workers and employers. Some describe respectful treatment, personal friendships, or long-term employment arrangements, while others recall exploitation and exclusion.
The experiences of Alice Adams, who worked for approximately four decades in an Atlanta household, illustrate the persistence of low wages and long working hours across much of the twentieth century.
Family recollections add another dimension to this history. Descendants remember mothers, grandmothers, and other relatives who supported their families through domestic service, often passing down stories of determination, sacrifice, and resistance.
These narratives preserve perspectives that are essential to understanding the everyday operation of racial inequality and the economic contributions of African American women.
Immigrant Domestic Workers and Cultural Experiences
Immigration has shaped the domestic service and caregiving workforce throughout American history.
The collection includes workers who migrated from Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, Grenada, Guatemala, Colombia, Liberia, Ukraine, Kenya, Mexico, and other countries.
Their testimonies reveal that migration often involved major occupational changes. Some individuals entered domestic employment after working in professional or technical occupations in their countries of origin. Others brought extensive experience caring for children, older relatives, or members of their communities.
Olena Kryuchenko, for example, describes transitioning from engineering in Ukraine to home care employment in Oregon. Culix Wibonele reflects on Kenyan traditions of supporting elderly family members and compares these practices with professional caregiving in the United States.
Immigrant workers describe navigating unfamiliar employment systems, language barriers, cultural expectations, and sometimes discriminatory treatment.
Their accounts also demonstrate how caregiving traditions cross national borders. Ideas about family obligation, respect for elders, child development, and community responsibility influence how workers understand their professional responsibilities.
For some, domestic employment provides a pathway toward economic stability. For others, it exposes the difficulty of obtaining fair wages, dependable schedules, and meaningful workplace protections.
Home Health Aides and Personal Care Workers
Home health aides and personal care workers provide essential assistance to people who need support with everyday activities.
Their responsibilities may include bathing, dressing, preparing meals, grocery shopping, housekeeping, mobility assistance, transportation, and companionship.
The collection documents workers who support older adults, individuals recovering from illness, and people living with disabilities.
Library of Congress interviews with workers such as Victoria Tenbusch, Michael Ryan Hohman, Kimberly Cole, and David Rogers reveal the practical and emotional dimensions of direct-care employment.
Many narrators emphasize that caregiving involves more than completing assigned tasks. Workers must understand personal preferences, establish trust, respond to unexpected situations, and respect the independence of the people receiving assistance.
PHI worker stories provide additional perspectives on long-term employment in home care. Some individuals describe careers lasting several decades, demonstrating how caregiving expertise develops through sustained experience.
These narratives also document economic challenges, including limited pay, unstable employment, demanding schedules, and the difficulty of balancing paid care with personal responsibilities.
They show how professional caregiving can provide meaningful relationships and personal satisfaction while simultaneously exposing workers to substantial physical and emotional demands.
Elder Care, Hospice, and End-of-Life Support
Caring for older adults and people approaching the end of life presents distinctive challenges.
Care workers must often assist individuals experiencing declining mobility, chronic illness, memory loss, isolation, or serious medical conditions.
Hospice workers describe providing comfort and companionship during emotionally difficult periods. Their narratives emphasize the importance of patience, compassion, communication, and respect for personal dignity.
Crystal Proffitt discusses her experiences providing hospice care and supporting people during the final stages of life. Mellissa Stuart reflects on approximately three decades of work in home health and hospice services.
Other narrators describe the differences between institutional care and assistance delivered in private residences.
Workers often develop meaningful relationships with clients and their families. These relationships can make caregiving deeply rewarding, but they may also expose workers to grief, burnout, and emotional exhaustion.
The accounts demonstrate that end-of-life care involves human relationships as well as practical and medical responsibilities.
Family Caregiving and Disability Support
Much caregiving occurs within families, where responsibilities are frequently unpaid or only partially compensated.
Parents, adult children, siblings, spouses, and other relatives may provide daily assistance to loved ones with disabilities, chronic illnesses, or age-related limitations.
These responsibilities can shape employment decisions, financial circumstances, educational opportunities, and family relationships.
Adelina Martinez describes caring for children with disabilities and becoming a paid caregiver for her son. Zchon Polon discusses providing care for several relatives while navigating the challenges of living in a rural community.
Other interviews examine family experiences with dementia, aging, disability, and the transition from informal assistance to professional caregiving.
These accounts illustrate how family caregiving and paid employment frequently overlap.
They also reveal the importance of accessible community services, respite opportunities, caregiver training, and financial support.
The narratives challenge narrow definitions of work by documenting labor that is socially necessary even when performed without wages.
Women's Work, Gender, and Economic Survival
Domestic service and caregiving have historically been strongly associated with women.
This association has contributed to the undervaluation of occupations involving household maintenance, childcare, elder care, and emotional support.
Many women entered domestic employment because other opportunities were limited or because caregiving offered schedules compatible with family responsibilities.
Their testimonies document efforts to support children, survive widowhood, recover from financial hardship, and build stable careers.
Accounts of African American domestic workers reveal how gender and racial discrimination combined to restrict employment opportunities.
Immigrant women's narratives similarly demonstrate the interaction between gender expectations, migration, and economic necessity.
The collection also includes men working in caregiving occupations. Their experiences offer perspectives on gender stereotypes and the challenges of entering fields traditionally viewed as women's work.
Together, these accounts demonstrate that the historical undervaluation of caregiving is connected to broader attitudes about gender, labor, and economic worth.
Working Conditions, Professional Skills, and Worker Organizing
One of the recurring themes throughout the collection is the struggle for recognition of domestic work and caregiving as skilled, valuable employment.
Workers describe physically demanding responsibilities, emotional stress, irregular schedules, and the expectation that they should perform additional duties without adequate compensation.
Some accounts document the importance of professional training, particularly when assisting people with mobility limitations, disabilities, or complex personal needs.
Wendy Martin discusses preparing workers to provide safe care in private homes. Maria Cosper emphasizes the practical judgment required when caregivers must make decisions without immediate assistance from other professionals.
Other narrators describe participating in unions, worker cooperatives, and community organizations.
Domestic Workers United and SEIU appear in interviews documenting efforts to improve pay, working conditions, professional recognition, and workplace protections.
These testimonies demonstrate how collective organizing can transform experiences of isolation into shared political and economic action.
Worker-led organizations also provide opportunities to develop leadership, challenge stereotypes, and advocate for policies that recognize the importance of care labor.
Exploitation, Vulnerability, and Labor Rights
The private nature of domestic employment can create conditions in which exploitation is difficult to detect.
Workers may face excessive hours, inadequate wages, threats, discrimination, or pressure to remain in abusive employment relationships.
Immigrant domestic workers can face additional vulnerabilities related to language barriers, economic dependence, or uncertainty about their legal rights.
The collection includes testimony concerning passport confiscation, exploitative household employment, and trafficking-related abuse.
Patricia Medige recounts legal advocacy involving an immigrant domestic worker subjected to abusive working conditions. Fainess Lipenga discusses experiences of exploitation and her subsequent involvement in anti-trafficking advocacy.
These accounts illustrate the importance of distinguishing ordinary workplace disagreements from serious abuses involving coercion, restrictions on freedom, and violations of labor rights.
They also demonstrate the role of legal assistance, community organizations, and survivor advocacy in protecting vulnerable workers.
Preserving Overlooked Lives Through Oral History
Domestic workers and caregivers have often left relatively limited traces in conventional historical records.
Their employment may have occurred informally, without detailed contracts, institutional archives, or public documentation.
Oral histories help recover experiences that might otherwise disappear.
The Library of Congress preserves recorded interviews, transcripts, and related materials documenting domestic workers and professional caregivers.
The Iowa Women's Archives records the experiences of African American women whose household labor shaped family economies and everyday life under segregation.
StoryCorps preserves conversations involving workers, family members, and descendants, revealing how caregiving experiences become part of intergenerational memory.
PHI worker stories document the perspectives of contemporary direct-care employees and the occupational challenges facing the caregiving workforce.
Together, these collections demonstrate the value of preserving firsthand testimony alongside employment records, photographs, community histories, and other documentary evidence.
Not every narrative represents direct testimony from a domestic worker. Some accounts come from descendants, relatives, employers' family members, or advocates who witnessed or inherited knowledge of domestic employment.
These different perspectives should be distinguished when interpreting historical evidence.
Oral histories also reflect individual memory, personal interpretation, and the circumstances of each interview. Comparing narratives with other records can provide a fuller understanding of historical events.
Domestic Work, Caregiving, and Social Change
The narratives collectively reveal substantial changes in domestic service and caregiving across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Earlier accounts frequently emphasize racial segregation, childhood labor, informal employment, and sharply unequal relationships between household workers and employers.
Later interviews increasingly discuss professional training, home health services, disability rights, worker cooperatives, union representation, and the recognition of caregiving as an essential occupation.
Nevertheless, several challenges persist across generations.
Workers continue to describe economic insecurity, limited recognition, demanding responsibilities, and the difficulty of balancing employment with family obligations.
The expansion of professional caregiving has also created new questions about how societies should organize and finance assistance for older adults and people with disabilities.
These accounts show that domestic work is not simply a private household matter. It is closely connected to labor policy, migration, public health, disability access, gender equality, and the economic organization of society.
Conclusion
First-person narratives of domestic workers and caregivers reveal a history that is both deeply personal and socially significant.
They document the experiences of people who cleaned homes, raised children, assisted older adults, supported people with disabilities, and provided comfort during illness and death.
Their stories demonstrate how essential labor can remain overlooked when it takes place inside private homes or is associated with traditional expectations of women's responsibilities.
The collection also reveals the effects of racial discrimination, immigration, gender inequality, economic insecurity, and unequal employment relationships.
At the same time, these narratives preserve examples of professional pride, practical expertise, compassion, resilience, solidarity, and collective action.
By recording the voices of workers and the memories of their families, oral history expands the historical record beyond prominent political figures, institutions, and public events.
The experiences preserved here provide evidence of how ordinary people sustained households and communities, navigated unequal social structures, and contributed to changes in labor rights and caregiving practices.
Understanding these lives is essential to understanding the broader history of work, family, social inequality, and human interdependence.
First Person Narratives: Domestic Workers and Caregivers
Domestic workers, nannies, housekeepers, and childcare
1. | Carla Cesare – Working as a Nanny in Switzerland | StoryCorps | August 28, 2026
Carla Cesare briefly recalls working as a nanny in Switzerland after completing her education. Her life-history conversation connects international childcare employment with travel, migration, and her later career in academia. Domestic work is a secondary subject of the interview.
2. | Sara Fox – Nanny Employment While Pursuing a Dance Career | StoryCorps | August 25, 2026
Sara Fox discusses her education, move to New York City, and employment as a nanny while pursuing professional dance. Her broader life-history interview illustrates how childcare employment can support workers pursuing artistic careers and navigating uncertain professional opportunities.
3. | Kendall Crouther – Professional Nannying and Private Education | StoryCorps | August 21, 2026
Kendall Crouther discusses becoming a professional nanny and recognizing the importance of childhood development, educational activities, and communication with parents. She describes taking on additional responsibilities for childcare, household management, and education during the COVID-19 pandemic.
4. | Ellen Matthewson – The Rewards of Long-Term Nanny Employment | StoryCorps | July 28, 2026
Ellen Matthewson discusses her varied employment history and identifies nannying as a particularly rewarding occupation. She recalls enjoying relationships with children and emphasizes that successful childcare employment depends on maintaining cooperative relationships with parents.
5. | Kelley Powell – Working as a Nanny for Families in New York and California | StoryCorps | 2024
Kelley Powell recalls working as a nanny for a wealthy family in New York City and later providing live-in childcare for friends in California. She remembers the children she cared for, the relationships she formed with employers, and the role these experiences played in her early adult life.
6. | Dionne Davis – Twenty-Five Years of Childcare and Domestic Work | StoryCorps | September 9, 2023
Dionne Davis speaks with Patrick Rosenberg about her long career as a nanny and caregiver. She recalls babysitting as a child, helping relatives, growing up in a family where women worked multiple jobs, and pursuing education to improve her childcare skills. The recorded conversation preserves a personal account of caregiving as both an occupation and a lifelong responsibility.
Shree Williams and Wendi Brown discuss their experiences in childcare and education. Their conversation addresses nanny employment, postpartum doula work, early-childhood development, professional aspirations, and family traditions of caring for children. They explain how caregiving influenced their occupational choices.
8. | Andrea Thompson – A College Student's Experience as a Part-Time Nanny | StoryCorps | 2022
Andrea Thompson remembers providing after-school childcare while attending college. She describes an employer who regularly made time to ask about her well-being, illustrating how small expressions of respect could positively influence relationships between domestic workers and employing families.
Marie-Ketlaine Antoine participates in an oral history collected through the Domestic Workers United project. Her interview forms part of the documentation of Haitian immigrant workers and their experiences in household employment, community life, and domestic worker advocacy.
Marie-Choubert Exantus discusses her background in Haiti and experiences performing domestic labor in New York. Her interview addresses work inside private households, the balance between employment and family needs, economic insecurity, and workers' rights. The interview was recorded in Haitian Creole and translated into English.
Darlene Flores recalls her experiences as a domestic worker and explains how she maintains relationships with relatives in Trinidad and Tobago. Her oral history addresses household employment, personal responsibilities, worker rights, economic pressures, and solidarity among immigrant workers.
12. | Valerie Murray – Domestic Workers United Oral History | Library of Congress | August 24, 2016
Valerie Murray provides an interview preserved in the Domestic Workers United collection. The recording contributes a worker's firsthand perspective to the history of immigrant domestic employment and collective efforts to make household labor more visible.
13. | Nubia – Colombian Immigrant and Housecleaning Day Laborer | Library of Congress | July 13, 2016
Nubia describes migrating from Colombia and seeking housecleaning employment through day-labor arrangements in Brooklyn. Her interview explores waiting for employers, unpredictable work, treatment by household employers, and organizing with other immigrant workers. Her surname is withheld in the archival record.
14. | Lizeth – Housecleaning, Day Labor, and Worker Organizing | Library of Congress | July 13, 2016
Lizeth discusses her experiences as a housecleaning day laborer and activist in New York. Her interview examines domestic work as legitimate labor, negotiations with employers, the demands of working in private homes, and the importance of collective advocacy. Her surname is withheld by request.
15. | Lorna Robley – Firsthand Experiences of Domestic Employment | Library of Congress | June 4, 2016
Lorna Robley's recorded interview contributes to the Domestic Workers United oral history collection. It preserves an individual worker's account within a project documenting immigrant household employment, relationships with employers, and the struggle for recognition of domestic labor.
Liseth Valencia recounts migrating from Guatemala and working in private households in New York. She describes negotiating relationships with employers, establishing professional boundaries, and resisting expectations that domestic workers should form familial attachments to the children and households they serve.
Christine Lewis describes her work caring for children in New York City, the skills required of domestic workers, relationships with employing families, cultural differences, workplace competition, and the importance of organizing. Her oral history also explores music, spirituality, and the balance between paid caregiving and family responsibilities.
Magdalen Wilson discusses everyday childcare responsibilities, including encouraging children to eat and comforting them when they are unwell. She describes balancing domestic employment with her personal life, participating in artistic activities, and building solidarity through Domestic Workers United.
Hazel Ann Lynch recalls working as a nanny and domestic worker in New York after leaving Trinidad. She describes handling children's tantrums, negotiating disciplinary expectations with parents, preparing food in kosher households, and maintaining relationships with former employers. Her interview also explores creative writing and poetry.
20. | Althea Haynes – Twenty-Two Years as a Domestic Worker | Library of Congress | March 28, 2016
Althea Haynes discusses decades of housekeeping and domestic employment in the New York metropolitan area. She describes being dismissed after 12 years with one employer, the influence of her upbringing in St. Vincent, and the difficulties of maintaining financial security while performing household labor.
In the first part of her oral history, Christine Lewis recalls leaving Trinidad and Tobago for New York and entering domestic service. She discusses stereotypes about immigrant domestic workers, cultural traditions of childcare, unequal treatment, artistic expression, and collective organizing.
22. | Joyce Romain – Life as a Nanny, Baby Nurse, and Postpartum Doula | Library of Congress | 2016
Joyce Romain, originally from Grenada, describes immigrating to the United States and working as a nanny, baby nurse, and postpartum doula. The interview transcript preserves her own words about migration, household employment, infant care, and the responsibilities of supporting families after childbirth.
Home health aides and personal care workers
23. | Mary Chris Kenney – Home Care and Hospice Work on Cape Cod | StoryCorps | August 26, 2026
Mary Chris Kenney discusses choosing caregiving after earlier employment in communications. She explains her work as a certified home health aide, visiting clients in their homes, and providing hospice support. Her narrative also explores volunteerism, the importance of service, and the experiences of an older worker continuing in direct care.
24. | Leni Marshall – Early Experiences as a Home Health Aide | StoryCorps | August 20, 2026
Leni Marshall recalls working as a home health aide while attending college. Initially interested in pediatric care, she began assisting elderly clients and became fascinated by their personal histories and living arrangements. Her recollections illustrate how home care exposes workers to different family circumstances and life experiences.
25. | Teri Lynn Barton – Home Health Assistance for Veterans in New Mexico | StoryCorps | May 24, 2024
Teri Lynn Barton discusses working as a certified nursing assistant and traveling throughout the Four Corners region to support veterans. Her personal interview connects professional caregiving with local community life, medical training, and the responsibilities of providing care across a geographically large region.
26. | Mellissa Stuart – Three Decades in Home Health and Hospice Care | StoryCorps | April 12, 2024
Mellissa Stuart discusses approximately thirty years of employment in home health and hospice services. She remembers comforting isolated patients, assisting people facing serious illness, and using bilingual communication skills to support families. Her account explores the emotional responsibilities and human relationships involved in professional caregiving.
Dolores Melchor discusses becoming a certified nursing assistant and transitioning from skilled nursing facilities to home health work. Her conversation with Crystal Tyni explores occupational choices, adapting to different healthcare environments, and personal experiences working directly with patients.
28. | Yvette Beatty – Twenty-Seven Years of Home Care | PHI | January 9, 2023
Yvette Beatty recalls helping neighbors with disabilities as a child and eventually pursuing a long career as a home health aide. Her story illustrates the personal motivations behind caregiving and the experiences of a worker involved in cooperative home care.
29. | Kao Saephan – Personal Transformation Through Hospice and Home Care | PHI | March 9, 2021
Kao Saephan recalls becoming involved in hospice-related caregiving during incarceration and later pursuing home care employment in San Francisco. His firsthand narrative explores rehabilitation, compassion, personal change, and the dignity of people receiving care.
30. | Carol Langston – Raising a Child While Working in Home Care | PHI | December 14, 2020
Carol Langston explains how she entered caregiving after her husband's death while raising a young son. Her personal account examines employment flexibility, long-term relationships with clients, and the experiences of a worker who remained in direct care for more than two decades.
31. | Diana L'Alcorta – From Childcare to Personal Care Work | PHI | December 14, 2020
Diana L'Alcorta recalls working in daycare for approximately 27 years before helping a neighbor who had been injured in an accident. Her experience led her into professional personal care work. She discusses compassion, listening to clients, and the need for greater recognition of caregivers.
32. | Erika Honan – Respecting Dignity in San Francisco Home Care | PHI | November 24, 2020
Erika Honan describes entering home care after completing an alcohol recovery program and seeking meaningful community work. Her account explores professional caregiving, respect for clients, and the importance of preserving independence and dignity.
33. | Zulma Torres – Twenty-Three Years Caring for People in Their Homes | PHI | November 24, 2020
Zulma Torres describes beginning her career as a home health aide in the Bronx in 1997 while raising children and facing financial hardship. Her personal account explores finding purpose through caregiving, developing relationships with clients, and the importance of stable employment and worker support.
34. | Camran Hayes – From Nursing Home Employment to Personal Care | PHI | May 26, 2020
Camran Hayes recalls his early experiences working in a nursing home and his eventual decision to become a personal care worker. His story examines the emotional and practical dimensions of caregiving and the relationships between workers and the people they assist.
35. | Ricardo Araujo – Family Disability Experience and Professional Home Care | PHI | February 18, 2020
Ricardo Araujo describes moving from security employment into home health care. His experience helping his sister, who uses a wheelchair, influenced his decision to support people outside his family, particularly individuals living without close relatives.
Kevin Kitchel provides an occupational oral history about personal home health care in Michigan. The archival recording and accompanying documentation contribute to understanding the demands of paid home care, worker experiences, and the social importance of caregiving.
37. | Aria Porraz – Leaving Retail Employment for Home Care | Library of Congress | June 11, 2018
Aria Porraz describes leaving retail work in 2016 to become a personal care assistant. Her oral history explains how relationships with clients made caregiving more personally meaningful than previous employment. She discusses working full-time and providing care for several regular clients.
Marilyn Martell-Stotler participates in an extended interview about personal home health care in Michigan. The archival materials include audio, photographs, and written documentation relating to caregiving, working conditions, disability support, and the intersection of employment and family life.
Rhonda Estrada recounts becoming a home care worker in Oregon after working in migrant Head Start and fast-food employment. She describes grocery shopping, laundry, medication assistance, housekeeping, and transporting clients to appointments. Her experiences raising four children helped prepare her for caregiving.
Eileen Ordway recounts entering home care employment in 2008 after working in manufacturing and retail. She describes the emotional intensity of caring for vulnerable people, the importance of patience, and the need to respect clients who struggle with losing independence.
41. | Kimberly Cole – The Rewards and Difficulties of Caregiving | Library of Congress | May 5, 2015
Kimberly Cole explains her experiences as a home care worker, including difficult client relationships and the personal satisfaction of helping people with disabilities. She discusses the importance of workplace solidarity, union participation, and public recognition of caregiving labor.
Olena Kryuchenko describes immigrating from Ukraine, where she had worked as a chemical engineer, and retraining as a home care worker in Portland, Oregon. Her bilingual oral history explores language barriers, personal relationships with elderly clients, and the emotional responsibilities of caregiving.
David Rogers recalls his work assisting people with disabilities in their homes and at community day centers. He discusses everyday responsibilities, relationships with clients, cooperation between agencies, and using music and humor to strengthen caregiving relationships.
Edward Smith discusses his background in military service, nursing, and medical training before becoming a home care worker. His interview explores caring for clients with demanding needs, gender expectations in caregiving, worker satisfaction, and the improvements achieved through union organizing.
45. | Victoria Tenbusch – A Home Care Worker's Daily Life | Library of Congress | November 20, 2014
Victoria Tenbusch describes moving from cannery employment into nursing-home and home-based care. Her testimony explores daily schedules, demanding clients, emotional stress, job satisfaction, and efforts to improve working conditions through union activity.
Michael Ryan Hohman discusses his career providing home care and supporting people with different disabilities. He describes the skills required for caregiving, the realities of everyday work, relationships with clients, and organizing through SEIU Local 503.
47. | Sam Owen – Fourteen Years as a Home Care Specialist | PHI | Date Not Specified
Sam Owen shares his experiences providing direct care through Community Living Alliance in Madison, Wisconsin. His interview offers a firsthand perspective on the responsibilities of personal assistance and the relationships between caregivers and people requiring help with everyday activities.
Brenda Mueller recounts her long career as a home health aide and certified nursing assistant in Minnesota. Her personal account provides insight into professional caregiving, relationships with older adults, and the experiences of workers who devote decades to providing direct care.
49. | Janet Folsom – Home Care, Nursing Assistance, and Peer Mentoring | PHI | Date Not Specified
Janet Folsom describes her work as a home health aide, certified nursing assistant, and peer mentor in Minnesota. Her account highlights the importance of practical knowledge, caregiving experience, and supporting fellow workers in demanding care occupations.
50. | Farah Germain – Fifteen Years as a Brooklyn Home Health Aide | PHI | Date Not Specified
Farah Germain shares her experiences as a home health aide working with JASA in Brooklyn, New York. Her personal testimony contributes to understanding long-term home care employment, relationships with elderly clients, and the daily responsibilities of direct-care workers.
51. | Marisol Rivera – Twenty-Two Years in Home Care and Care Coordination | PHI | Date Not Specified
Marisol Rivera shares her experiences working with Cooperative Home Care Associates in the Bronx, New York. Her career as a care coordinator provides a perspective on the organization of home care services, relationships between workers and clients, and the experience of moving into coordination responsibilities within the care workforce.
Immigrant caregivers and cultural experiences
52. | Comfort Railey – From Liberia to Home Health Care in Philadelphia | PHI | April 11, 2023
Comfort Railey describes caring for her sister in Liberia before immigrating to the United States and becoming a home health aide. Her firsthand account discusses patience, professional responsibility, relationships with clients, and the benefits of working within a caregiver-owned cooperative.
53. | Culix Wibonele – Kenyan Traditions of Elder Care and American Caregiving | PHI | February 3, 2020
Culix Wibonele describes growing up in Kenya, where elderly relatives commonly lived with family members rather than in residential care facilities. After immigrating to the United States, she followed her mother's example by becoming a certified nursing assistant. Her testimony compares family caregiving traditions with professional elder care in America.
54. | Livicia Antoine – Haitian Immigrant Providing Elder Care | Library of Congress | August 30, 2016
Livicia Antoine describes immigrating from Haiti and working as a home aide caring for elderly people in Brooklyn. Her Haitian Creole interview, preserved in English translation, documents her background, entry into caregiving, and experiences providing paid assistance to older adults.
Undine Brereton recounts migrating from Trinidad and Tobago to the United States and working for approximately 15 years as a nanny and elder caregiver. Her testimony explores immigrant experiences, employment barriers, childcare, and the challenges of caring for elderly clients.
Neftali Garcia, a Mixtec immigrant from Oaxaca, Mexico, discusses moving to the United States while seeking services for his deaf son. His oral history examines disability care, immigration, community organizing, learning about social services, and becoming a trained caregiver. The interview was conducted in Spanish with interpretation.
Olga Yakimchuk recounts immigrating from Ukraine in 2000 and becoming a paid caregiver for her husband's parents. Formerly a nurse, she describes visiting her relatives several times daily, assisting with intimate personal care, and the difficulty of separating family responsibilities from paid employment.
58. | Teresita Sattar – Filipino Caregiver and Worker Leader | PHI | Date Not Specified
Teresita Sattar shares her experiences as a caregiver in Los Angeles and a worker leader associated with the Pilipino Workers Center. Her personal account contributes an immigrant worker's perspective to discussions of caregiving, workplace dignity, and collective representation.
59. | Marichu Buenaventura – Filipino Immigrant Caregiving Experiences | PHI | Date Not Specified
Marichu Buenaventura discusses her experiences as a professional caregiver in Los Angeles. Her narrative contributes to understanding the circumstances of immigrant care workers, the relationships involved in paid personal assistance, and the importance of community organizations.
60. | Allen Galeon – Caregiving and Filipino Worker Advocacy | PHI | Date Not Specified
Allen Galeon shares his perspective as an experienced caregiver and worker leader connected to the Pilipino Workers Center. His story offers insight into professional caregiving, immigrant worker participation, and advocacy within the domestic and direct-care workforce.
Family caregiving and disability support
61. | Scott Austin and Hannah Brooks – Family Disability Care and Nursing | StoryCorps | August 16, 2026
Hannah Brooks and Scott Austin discuss their lives and family responsibilities. Brooks describes helping care for two disabled siblings, while Austin discusses his background in pediatric nursing. Their conversation connects unpaid family caregiving with professional healthcare experience.
Brittani McClendon describes the important role her great-grandmother played in raising younger generations of the family. She remembers that her great-grandmother also worked as a home health aide for elderly clients into her seventies. The account highlights women who simultaneously performed unpaid family care and professional caregiving.
Berneet Kaur and Carla Weiss discuss family relationships, aging, and the difficulties associated with dementia. Weiss describes her mother's dementia and recent family bereavement. Their conversation contributes the perspective of families navigating the emotional and practical challenges of caring for aging relatives.
64. | Dave Kaminsky – Family Caregiving and a Longtime Nanny | StoryCorps | July 22, 2026
Dave Kaminsky recalls a nanny who helped raise him and became a central figure in his family's life. He also discusses taking responsibility for an elderly family member. His recollections illustrate the long-term relationships formed through domestic childcare and the challenges of supporting aging relatives.
65. | Zchon Polon – Caring for Family Members in Rural Washington | PHI | November 2, 2023
Zchon Polon describes caring for his grandfather, mother, and brother and becoming a paid independent care provider. His narrative explores family obligations, caregiver burnout, setting personal boundaries, and the limited resources available to people with disabilities in rural communities.
66. | Eva M. Sharpe – Paid Caregiving Within the Family | Library of Congress | June 10, 2018
Eva M. Sharpe discusses becoming a paid caregiver for a family member and explains how family traditions influence attitudes toward caring for relatives. Her interview examines the overlap between family obligations and paid employment, showing how domestic caregiving can become a recognized form of work.
Adelina Martinez describes raising children with disabilities and becoming a paid care provider for her son. Her testimony details bathing, dressing, educational activities, therapy appointments, learning caregiving techniques, and the importance of patience. She also recalls earlier employment in fields, hotels, restaurants, and childcare.
Hospice, elder care, residential care, and rehabilitation
Carin-Isabel Knoop and Sharon Pope discuss professional life, aging, elder care, and the importance of maintaining personal dignity. Their conversation explores experiences with caregiving and occupational therapy alongside changing expectations about retirement and family responsibilities.
69. | Crystal Proffitt – Hospice Care and the Final Stages of Life | PHI | January 20, 2021
Crystal Proffitt describes raising two children while building a career as a certified nursing assistant. The death of a close friend influenced her decision to work in hospice care. Her personal account explores compassion for dying patients, the emotional responsibilities of end-of-life caregiving, and the challenges of working during COVID-19.
Kelli Holmgren recalls her training as a certified nursing assistant and her experiences working in nursing homes and private residences. She describes helping people recover from surgery, illness, or falls, emphasizing safe bathing, personal hygiene, and encouraging clients to maintain independence.
71. | Geana Hopkins-Spann – A Career in Home Health and Nursing Assistance | PHI | Date Not Specified
Geana Hopkins-Spann shares her perspective after approximately 27 years as a home health aide and certified nursing assistant in Philadelphia. Her personal narrative preserves the experiences of a long-serving direct-care worker and contributes to understanding the value of caregiving expertise.
72. | Maria Marrero – Eighteen Years as a Home Health Aide | PHI | Date Not Specified
Maria Marrero recounts her experiences as a certified home health aide in New Jersey. Her account provides a worker's perspective on the responsibilities and human relationships involved in sustained employment caring for people in their homes.
73. | Milta Ayala – Personal Experiences in Home Health and Nursing Care | PHI | Date Not Specified
Milta Ayala shares her experiences as a certified nursing assistant and home health aide in New Jersey. Her story contributes to understanding long-term care work, professional experience, and the everyday responsibilities of workers supporting older adults and people requiring assistance.
74. | Musa Manneh – Eighteen Years Providing Nursing Assistance | PHI | Date Not Specified
Musa Manneh shares his experiences as a certified nursing assistant at Transitions LifeCare in Raleigh, North Carolina. His narrative preserves the perspective of an experienced direct-care worker supporting people with serious illnesses and significant daily care needs.
75. | Michelle Godwin – Fifteen Years as a Certified Nursing Assistant | PHI | Date Not Specified
Michelle Godwin describes her experiences as a certified nursing assistant in Tallahassee, Florida. Her personal account contributes to understanding the responsibilities of residential care workers and the human relationships involved in assisting older adults with daily activities.
76. | Venecia Bradley – Caring for Older Adults in Residential Care | PHI | Date Not Specified
Venecia Bradley shares her experiences as a care partner at the Villas of Killearn Lakes in Tallahassee, Florida. Her story contributes a firsthand perspective on residential elder care, the importance of relationships with residents, and the demanding work performed by direct-care employees.
77. | Dessaline Watkins – Supporting People with Disabilities | PHI | Date Not Specified
Dessaline Watkins recounts her experiences as a direct support professional at Misericordia in Chicago. Her interview documents the role of workers who provide daily assistance to people with disabilities and the interpersonal responsibilities involved in long-term support.
Training, working conditions, and worker advocacy
78. | Maria Cosper – The Skills and Emotional Demands of Home Care | Library of Congress | June 27, 2018
Maria Cosper discusses the practical difficulties of caregiving, including physically demanding tasks, limited assistance from other professionals, and the need to make decisions independently. Her testimony challenges the characterization of direct-care labor as unskilled and emphasizes the satisfaction of improving another person's quality of life.
79. | Wendy Martin – Training Workers for Care in Private Homes | Library of Congress | June 6, 2018
Wendy Martin explains the differences between providing care in institutional facilities and private residences. She discusses training caregivers, evaluating workers' qualifications, adapting to small bathrooms, and using equipment such as grab bars and shower chairs to make home care safer.
African American domestic workers, segregation, and historical memory
80. | Brian Baker – Remembering His Grandmother's Work as a Maid, Cook, and Nanny | StoryCorps | 2024
Brian Baker recalls watching his grandmother work in the homes of affluent white families. He describes the unequal social relationships she experienced and remembers young white children addressing her by her first name. His family recollections illuminate the persistence of racial hierarchy in domestic employment.
81. | Nancy Ann Ball Bunker – Family Memories of a Widowed Domestic Worker | StoryCorps | 2024
Nancy Ann Ball Bunker recalls her grandmother becoming a cook and maid after losing her husband during the 1918 influenza pandemic. Her account describes economic survival through household employment and memories of hearing her grandmother talk about the family she worked for. This is a descendant's recollection rather than the worker's own testimony.
82. | Sherry Williams – Remembering a Grandmother Who Worked as a Maid | StoryCorps | August 30, 2018
Sherry Williams discusses her grandmother's experiences working for a white family in Mississippi before migrating north. Her family testimony recalls Jim Crow restrictions, unequal relationships between landowners and Black workers, and the determination required to leave the segregated South. The conversation explores how family history inspired her historical preservation work.
Jimmie Lane describes temporarily replacing another domestic worker who became ill. She recalls cleaning, running errands, answering messages, and caring for grandchildren in the employing family. Her account includes reflections on relatively friendly employer relationships alongside memories of segregated schools, restricted voting rights, and Civil Rights protests.
Hazel Rankins recalls helping her sister with domestic work in Arkansas, including sweeping and hanging laundry. She describes segregation in businesses and accounts of sexual coercion involving white male employers. Her oral history documents the vulnerability of Black women and girls working in private households.
L. Walker describes growing up in a Mississippi sharecropping family and beginning childcare, cooking, and housekeeping work around age nine. She recalls attending school only intermittently and experiencing unequal treatment in white households. Her testimony also addresses racial violence, sexual harassment, and migration from the rural South.
Hal Chase recalls two Black women who worked in his family's home during his childhood, including Elsie Jackson, who was employed during the 1950s. His interview offers an employer-family perspective on domestic workers' independence, racial attitudes, employment relationships, and the circumstances surrounding a worker's dismissal.
Tyrone Hunt shares family memories of his grandmother, Elmer Smith, who cooked, cleaned, and cared for children in a white household in Alabama. He recalls visiting her workplace, the household's physical arrangements, and her relationship with the employing family. His testimony helps recover a domestic worker's life through family oral history.
Melvina Brooks Scott recalls accompanying her grandmother to domestic service jobs beginning around age nine or ten. She describes entering employers' homes through different doors depending on who was visiting, experiences of unequal treatment, and intimidation directed at people associated with the Civil Rights Movement.
Dorothy Weathers recalls entering domestic employment in Des Moines during the 1950s to support her children. She discusses long-term work for white families, differences in wages and employer treatment, and opportunities for education and financial advancement. Her account provides a detailed perspective on household labor across changing social conditions.
Nancy Hickman recalls moving from Mississippi to Des Moines, Iowa, and working full days cleaning multiple households while raising three children. She describes relationships with employers that included shared meals, watching television, and conversations about family life, revealing the personal dimensions of paid household labor.
Odessa Roberts describes working as a cleaner, babysitter, and cook for white families in Louisiana. She recalls employers who treated her respectfully as well as others who imposed discriminatory restrictions. After moving to Nebraska, she experienced improvements in pay and treatment. Her testimony illustrates regional differences in domestic workers' lives. The interviewee uses a pseudonym.
Loreatha Smith-Reid recalls growing up in a large Arkansas sharecropping family and beginning paid housecleaning work at age nine. She describes segregated facilities, unequal treatment, and threats of sexual violence affecting Black domestic workers. Her testimony also documents relationships with female employers and the transition from domestic service to other employment.
Ruthie O'Neal recalls living and working in the household of a white landowner as a teenager after her grandmother, Helen Sisk, became too old to continue domestic service. She discusses childcare, cleaning, relationships with employers, racial customs, and her later migration to Iowa. Her recollections also connect household labor with personal artistic expression.
J. B. McCellan discusses his mother, Elra Wade Johnson, who worked as a maid for a white family during the 1940s. His recollections contrast with his mother's earlier testimony about discrimination, including being required to use a back entrance and separate eating utensils. The interviews illustrate differences between family memories and workers' own accounts.
Millie Saffold describes working as a cleaning lady for several white families in Iowa. She remembers being permitted to enter through front doors and use household bathrooms but also recalls losing income when employers left for extended vacations. Her account shows how apparently respectful employment relationships could coexist with economic insecurity.
Annie Victoria Johnson recalls accompanying her mother to household jobs involving childcare, washing, and ironing. She describes interactions between Black and white families in Mississippi, including gardening, quilting, and food exchanges, while also discussing racial violence, sexual exploitation, and differing experiences of segregation across communities.
Alice Adams recalls working for a family in Atlanta's Druid Hills neighborhood from approximately 1932 to 1972. She describes twelve-hour workdays, low wages, limited time off, and changes in pay over four decades. Her testimony documents the demands of domestic service during segregation and the long-term economic inequality experienced by Black household workers.
Mamie Johnson remembers working in the fields and performing household tasks for white landowners beginning around age seven or eight. She describes cleaning, washing dishes, racial restrictions on entering homes and using facilities, and the threat of violence under segregation. Her testimony preserves the experiences of a Black child performing agricultural and domestic labor.
Exploitation, labor rights, and survivor testimony
99. | Fainess Lipenga – Survivor Testimony and Anti-Trafficking Advocacy | StoryCorps | May 13, 2021
Fainess Lipenga discusses her upbringing in Malawi, experiences of trafficking and abuse, and subsequent involvement in anti-trafficking work. Her firsthand account provides insight into the circumstances that can make vulnerable women susceptible to exploitation. The interview is broader than domestic employment specifically and is included for its relevance to labor vulnerability and recovery.
100. | Patricia Medige – Testimony About Exploitation of Immigrant Domestic Workers | StoryCorps | 2021
Patricia Medige discusses legal advocacy involving exploited immigrant workers. She recounts a case in which a household worker accompanying a family to Colorado experienced passport confiscation, excessive work hours, and inadequate pay. Her testimony provides a legal advocate's eyewitness perspective on vulnerabilities associated with live-in domestic employment.
