Plugged In : NESHTEY CRUDUP : Pioneering Electrician Overcame the Trade’s Racial and Sexist Barriers

I’m proud to be a union member, and I wish we had more unionism in America today. It was while working at JPL--a job that stemmed from an Urban League computer training program--that a friend told me about a woman he knew who was an electrician.

The idea of being an electrician sounded good--working outside and being with a variety of people--and I believed I would enjoy that.

Nobody told me, during all the time that I was preparing to take the entry test, of the hardships or difficulties that a black woman would face becoming an electrician. It was probably a blessing.

I got the notice to start working in August, 1981. My first day of work I didn’t know a thing. I came in with my tool pouch on, all my tools in it, and this guy told me to get an eight-foot ladder. I didn’t know what an eight-foot ladder looked like, so I got out my tape measure and started measuring all the ladders. That’s so funny, thinking back now, because recognizing the height of an eight-foot ladder is just taken for granted.

Being in the trades isn’t easy, but it can be done. I never felt that I’m an exception. But being a single parent, I was determined to finish training, and I knew I had to make sacrifices. (She has an 18-year-old son, Gregory.)

While I was an apprentice, I worked 40 hours a week, went to school twice a week, three hours per night for four years. The first year, I learned to adjust to a whole new environment, you have to have a flexible attitude to make it in the trades. You’re going to get dirty, break fingernails and get scarred up. There’s nothing pretty or cute or feminine about going to work. You wear blue jeans, shirt, work boots and hard hats.

I felt my femininity was being taken away from me and I didn’t want to lose it. I became very aware of how guys treated me in a social setting in contrast to the work environment.

I spent the first year buying nothing but dresses, feeling sexy and smelling sweet off the job. You try to wear perfume on the job--by the end of the day you’re sweaty and stinky. You can’t even wear makeup with all that dust. All the things you’re used to, things you take for granted going to work in an office, are taken away. Once I became aware of who I am, it just didn’t matter.

I was tested a lot the first year. For example, I went on one job and the owner made it quite clear he didn’t want me. I don’t know whether it was because I am a female or black, or both, but I was laid off the next day.

As an apprentice, I had a white female counterpart say, “It’s hard, so I know it’s hard for you.” It was like a slap in the face. I’d never thought of it that way, I just thought everyone was having it hard. But the reality was that I am a black female in a mostly white environment.

I learned early that my only defender I could count on was myself. The topic of the day can be sexual, but if it’s not about me, or directed to me, I don’t care. I never expected better treatment from any man, black or white. I have to say though that I have met some beautiful and dedicated union members who are friends and associates that I will always cherish.

In 1986, I took my son with me to a retirement party for Ralph Norrington, the first black business agent out of District 1. To my surprise, they introduced me as the first black female electrician in Los Angeles County. I was so proud that my son was there to see it.

Some people think I keep jobs because I’m black, but that’s far from the truth. I get laid off just like everyone else. I have to work hard to keep my job.

My dad, Edward Crudup, had always worked two to three jobs to keep the family going. My mom, Dorothy, was into education and politics. Without my family and friends’ help, half my accomplishments wouldn’t be possible. My father gave me the strength, mother gave me the courage and my son gave me the love and motivation to keep going.

There are a lot more women in the trades now than when I started. It makes me feel proud--just to see another black face makes me feel like I’m not so alone.

Some of my friends still work jobs with all men, but I see other women all the time because I like the large construction jobs, the high-rises, where you work with different trades--ironworkers, carpenters and pipe fitters--sometimes up to 300 people.

The opportunities that were available for me in the ‘70s I’m quite sure are not here in the ‘90s. But, as far as being an electrician, if I had to do it all over again, I would have no hesitation. It has helped me grow as a person, it has taught me that if I got into any hard situation, on or off the job, I could deal with it. It’s a very good trade, it’s something that I’ll always have that no one can take away from me.