Rachel Carson and Ida Sprow: uncovering Black women’s labor to interrogate the whiteness of queer memory

Recognition of Rachel Carson as a “queer icon” of environmentalism has reached a high point worth celebrating. At precisely this moment, however, the implicit valorization of whiteness that is common to both Carson memory and queer memory studies needs to be challenged. I do so through archival research as well as analysis of Carson’s published letters in order to uncover the disremembered role of Ida Sprow, an African American woman hired to work as Carson’s housekeeper. Specifically, I examine Sprow’s domestic, caregiving, and intimate labor within the context of racial capitalism, heteropatriarchy, and ableism. I argue that Sprow’s labor helped make possible not only Carson’s environmental rhetoric in Silent Spring, but also her same-sex intimate relationship with Dorothy Freeman—especially as Carson developed debilitating illnesses. My point in underscoring the importance of Sprow’s labor to Carson’s queer memory is not to undercut her rhetorical achievements within her own historical moment. Rather, I advocate that we amplify the contributions of Sprow as part of a larger project to continue advancing Carson’s queer memory while simultaneously interrogating its whiteness.