History Main / EthnicMenialLabor

* Actress Lupe Ontiveros estimates she's played over 150 maids in her acting career (including Rosalita in ''TheGoonies''). Ontiveros is a graduate of Texas Women's University, with majors in psychology and social work. She narrated a documentary called ''Maid in America''.

* Rosalita in ''The Goonies''
* Baz Luhrmann's modern-day version of ''[=~William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet~=]'' turned the nurse Hispanic.

This stereotype can also be seen in the United States with the au pair nanny, who is not menial in reality, but is often treated so in fiction. She is a young European girl, usually Swedish, Norwegian or Finnish, for some reason. Occasionally she'll be German or French.

* The whole point of ''The Help'' by Kathryn Stockett.

* Lupe, Lucille's put-upon maid, in ''ArrestedDevelopment''. The stereotype is subverted in "Staff Infection," where (via one of the series' trademark chain of events solely subject to FinaglesLaw) Lindsay tries to put an end to a strike using Latino scabs, who turn out to be Lupe's family (whom Michael had directed to meet their bus for their Catalina Island family reunion at the Bluth Company's parking lot), at least one of whom is a professor of something-or-other.

* For about ten seconds, there's an unnamed black housekeeper visible in ''[=~Miracle on 34th Street~=]'' early in the film whose entire purpose is to tell Dorothy Walker where her daughter is and then never be seen again.

One recurring figure from this period is the "mammy", a nursemaid who would continue to provide an important mothering role well into adulthood. The Black Maid, Black Farmhand and Black Railroad Worker are also common. There are a lot of parallels between 'mammy' types and {{Magical Negro}}es.

* Also, Martha Jones is stuck as a maid in the Human Nature/Family of Blood episodes in ''Series/DoctorWho''. But it seems a little bit different in her case, in that she's basically the undisputed protagonist for those episodes, the other characters are blatantly prejudiced toward her and she tries to demonstrate to them how wrong they are, and she's usually a [[HospitalHottie med student]].

* A particularly insulting "Mammy" example can be seen with Eulabelle in ''{{Horror of Party Beach}}'', which was mercilessly called out and attacked in the episode of ''MST3K'' that featured it. The actress actually was named Eulabelle Moore, and her few acting credits have her playing the same type of role, though this was the only one to use her real name. Amusingly, Eulabelle is one of the only characters in the film to display any sort of common sense about the titular horror.

* The titular character in ''[[MaidInManhattan Maid in Manhattan]]''
* Blanca from ''Fun With Dick and Jane''
* ''Meet The Fockers'' has Isabel, the Fockers' former housekeeper who runs a catering business. When she was working for the titular family, main character Greg lost his virginity to her. She also has a son, which leads to Jack (the father of Greg's fiancee Pam) trying to find out if Greg is the father of said son. [[spoiler:He isn't.]]

One recurring figure from this period is the "mammy", a nursemaid who would continue to provide an important mothering role well into adulthood. The Black Maid, Black Farmhand and Black Railroad Worker are also common. There are a lot of parallels between 'mammy' types and {{Magical Negro}}es. There's the same thing of the character being respected and positive, even though they're always secondary, so that somehow makes them OK.

* Also, Martha Jones is stuck as a maid in the Human Nature/Family of Blood episodes in ''DoctorWho''. But it seems a little bit different in her case, in that she's basically the undisputed protagonist for those episodes, the other characters are blatantly prejudiced toward her and she tries to demonstrate to them how wrong they are, and she's usually a [[HospitalHottie med student]].

-->-TomLehrer.

They continued this role far into the next period, working alongside the Black slave and later Black Laborer.

** TruthInTelevision for the 2000s era Chicago. At least, for some subcontractors/maintenance work.

One recurring figure from this period is the "mammy", a nursemaid who would continue to provide an important mothering role well into adulthood. The Black Maid, Black Farmhand and Black Railroad Worker are also common. There are a lot of parallels between 'mammy' types and {{Magical Negro}}es (a concept further viciously DeConstructed in the theory of the "house negro" and the "field negro"). They're almost the DistaffCounterpart. There's the same thing of the character being respected and positive, even though they're always secondary, so that somehow makes them OK.

Irish immigrants to the United States were often considered "backwards" and only fit for menial labor. This led to many of them having no choice but to accept such jobs. Female immigrants often worked as washerwomen or maids; the term "bidie" or "bridget" meaning "maid" stems from their prevalence in that field. Males worked on farms, on the railroads, and at similar, back-breaking tasks. OfficerOHara is a subtrope of this.

* Baz Luhrmann's modern-day version of ''[=~William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet~=]'' turned the [[strike:maid]] nurse Hispanic.

* Hattie [=McDaniel=] played the role of many a Black maid, including Scarlett O'Hara's mammy in ''GoneWithTheWind''. She reputedly said that she'd rather play a maid for a weekly wage of $700 than be a maid for a weekly wage of $7.

* Baz Luhrmann's modern-day {{remake}} of ''RomeoAndJuliet'' turned the [[strike:maid]] nurse Hispanic.

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'''Irish Laborers'''

'''The Irish Laborer'''

!!Chinese Laborers
* ChineseLaborer
* ChineseLaunderer

!!Black Laborers

* On {{South Park}}, you can hire the Mexicans at the Home Depot to read your Hemingway assignment. Just be clear when you ask them to write the essays.