Scraping by

More about the book

The book explores the diverse workforce of post-Revolutionary Baltimore, highlighting the experiences of enslaved mariners, white seamstresses, Irish dockhands, free black domestic servants, and native-born street sweepers. It examines how factors such as race, sex, nativity, and legal status shaped the economic opportunities and vulnerabilities faced by working families during the early republic, providing a nuanced understanding of the low-end labor market in this historical context.