Female Bricklayer Defied Doubters To Build Baltimore Landmarks

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.npr.org/2014/08/01/336889387/female-bricklayer-defied-doubters-to-build-baltimore-landmarks?sc=17&f=3&utm_source=iosnewsapp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=app


by NPR STAFF
August 01, 2014 5:00 AM ET



More than four decades working as a bricklayer gave Barbara Moore calloused, aching hands — and these biceps.

Courtesy of Olivia Fite

When Barbara Moore started working as a bricklayer in 1973, the 21-year-old was the only woman in Baltimore doing the job.

It wasn't the first job she'd tried, but a desk job, she says, just wasn't the right fit. "Right out of high school I worked in a[n] office, but a couple hours behind a desk and I was falling asleep," Moore tells her daughter, Olivia Fite, on a visit to StoryCorps in Baltimore. "So I became a bricklayer."

"It was kind of rough at first 'cause, you know, a lot of the older guys didn't think I should be there and I was taking a job from a man," Moore says. "But I believed that I could do that job."


Olivia Fite, left, with her mother Barbara Moore. Fite used to tell boys who were bullying her, "You better watch out. My mom's a bricklayer and she'll come beat you up if you mess with me."

StoryCorps

And she was right. Moore, 62, recently retired, but during more than 40 years on the job she laid the masonry for many Baltimore landmarks — including Camden Yards, where the Orioles play, and M&T Bank Stadium, home to the Ravens.

FULL story at link.

[Aristus]

1. Good for her!

One thing I can't stand is asshats whose attitude is: "Yer takin' a job away from a man, honey!"

If a man was supposed to have that job, he would have been hired...

[shenmue]

2. Brilliant

I love her.

[pscot]

3. That's Awesome

[jberryhill]

4. I saw a brick shithouse in Baltimore once

I wonder if it was one of her works?

[WinkyDink]

10. Nope; that was a man's.

[LittleBlue]

5. She could be one of those thinspo models on Instagram

Those are some mighty impressive guns

[we can do it]

6. Heard it the other day, thanks for posting.

[malaise]

7. Nice story

Rec

[panader0]

8. Damn. As a man who has over four decades as well as a bricklayer

I say DAMN! Good for her!

[colorado_ufo]

9. That is one GORGEOUS arm!

It is as beautiful as any Greek statue.

There should be a monument to the female manual laborers of this nation, and they should use this marvelous woman's arm - and face! - as the model. A new "Rosie the Riveter" for today.

Any artists out there, up for doing a bronze?

[DreamGypsy]

11. There is only one profession in which a women cannot succeed...

...and that is convincing women there is a profession in which they cannot succeed.

That profession is reserved for ignorant males of the species. Fortunately, not all males follow that career path:

Moore recalls working with one man, a World War II veteran.

"He was, you know, really an old-school guy, but he was willing to work with me when a lot of other people did not want me as their partner," she says. "And when he passed away, his daughter called me and said that he wanted to leave me his tools. ... If you're getting tools from the bricklayers that have gone before you, that would be a sign of respect."

[blockhead]

12. Kudos to my union sister!

[Lithos]

13. Sexy

Not just the muscles, but the attitude! Impressive!

L-

[JaneyVee]

14. Cool. My bro is a union bricklayer here in NYC.

Good money, hard work. Here in the city bricklayers make $53.76/hr. Plus he does side work. Labor unions are a great ticket into the upper middle class. Bravo to Barbara Moore!