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In July 1881, African-American laundry women in Atlanta formed the Washing Society and organized a strike to gain higher wages and respect for their labor. Utilizing door-to-door canvassing and with the support of black churches, the Society quickly increased its membership from twenty to three thousand. Aside from the "Letter to Mr. James English," written by the washerwomen themselves, these articles from the Atlanta Constitution are the only surviving documents of the strike. Although hostile to the strikers, and sympathetic to measures taken by white citizens to undermine the strike (which included making plans for a new steam laundry, proposing to tax the laundry women's organization, and finally charging its leaders with "disorderly conduct"), the paper nonetheless notes the "vast proportions" of the laundry women's "thoroughly organized association." Although the historical outcome of the strike is in doubt, it served as a reminder to the white community of the importance of African-American labor in the post-Civil War South, and remains an extraordinary testament to the resolve and political sophistication of the strikers.

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