Review: Making Minimum Wage: Elsie Parrish versus the West Coast Hotel Company, by Helen J. Knowles

Abstract

Book Review| May 01 2023 Review: Making Minimum Wage: Elsie Parrish versus the West Coast Hotel Company, by Helen J. Knowles Helen J. Knowles. Making Minimum Wage: Elsie Parrish versus the West Coast Hotel Company. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2021. 396 pp. Paperback $29.95. Donna C. Schuele Donna C. Schuele DONNA C. SCHUELE is a research affiliate at the Center for the Study of Women at UCLA and teaches history, political science, and law in the California State University and University of California systems. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar California History (2023) 100 (2): 122–124. https://doi.org/10.1525/ch.2023.100.2.122 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Donna C. Schuele; Review: Making Minimum Wage: Elsie Parrish versus the West Coast Hotel Company, by Helen J. Knowles. California History 1 May 2023; 100 (2): 122–124. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/ch.2023.100.2.122 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentCalifornia History Search In the past few decades, a cottage industry has arisen around resurrecting the backstories of landmark constitutional decisions. By driving home the point that constitutional rights become real only if and when ordinary people stand up against their alleged violation, these studies highlight the courageousness of litigants who rarely occupied privileged positions in society. In addition, these studies often dispel the sense of inevitability that comes from a case being well woven into the constitutional fabric of the nation. In Making Minimum Wage, Helen J. Knowles does a fine job of achieving both purposes. The Supreme Court case Parrish v. West Coast Hotel (1937) consistently serves as a turning point and thus is included in a variety of U.S. law and history curricula. In courses on sex-based discrimination, the case marks the point when the Supreme Court stopped waffling over whether protective labor legislation would pass muster only if... You do not currently have access to this content.