Black History Month 2026 Sade A. Harris Moncrief, the Life of a Servant

This beautiful woman was a servant of God and a servant to man. There is very little praises in

Black History to African Americans who worked as a personal assistance, housemaid, household manager, domestic managerand butler. (There was a movie The Butler based on the life of Eugene Allen who was the butler and waiter for eight presidents, including former President Barack Obama) Slaves who worked inside a plantation owner’s home were primarily called house servants or domestics. To distinguish them from field hands, they were simply called servants. They performed tasks such as cooking, cleaning, child rearing and laundering. Mrs. Sadie Moncrief was not a slave but worked in many roles mentioned above in the homes of rich and middle class whites in Mississippi and New York.

Mrs. Sadie was born to Leala Hickman Harris in Louisville, MS on October 7, 1931. She picked cotton up to 300 pounds daily to care for her children. She worked as a short order cook at the Louisville Depot; cooked for the First Baptist Church; worked as a domestic servant for a millionaire in New York City in 1965. She moved to New York because it was too difficult to make ends meet in Louisville, MS. She was the mother of seven children that were left in Louisville, MS until she could save money to send for them. They were the late James Harris, twins Madie and Sadie Moncrief, Larry, Otis, Jerome and Dr. Richard Moncrief. She eventually sent for them to move to New York in 1967. She always kept $1,500 under her mattress for traveling funds to visit her children and to get them to New York.

According to her youngest son Dr. Richard Moncrief, she was a doctor for her children and others for colds and flu using pine top tea for medicine. She was a dentist who pulled their teeth by tying a string on them.  She was a very good mathematician. She was a banker and loan officers who loaned money to various people; she kept a ‘black book’ for accounting to keep up with payments from loans. She helped family member start businesses. She was a therapist who was very wise.  She was a caregiver for her parents and others. Her missionary work was to visit the sick at hospitals and nursing homes.

Mrs. Sadie lived to be 91 ½ years old. Her wish was to live long enough to see her children grown. All of her children were over 70 years old when she passed on June 9, 2025. She lived a long life as a servant to God and people.