Only four African Americans applied for an electrician internship in suburban DuPage County around 40 years ago. Of these four, two were accepted and only one person graduated: Lawrence Driskell.
Despite approximately 40 years of experience with racism through working as an electrician, Mr. Driskell has still persevered in a career where he is still a minority.
Throughout his career, Mr. Driskell has been in the minority. Especially during his initial internship in a county which was predominantly white at the time.
“[I] went to people’s home in order to do work and they would not let me in,” Mr. Driskell said.
Alongside racism from clients, he also said he was harassed by the police and overlooked for promotions due to racism.
“A lot of things that I experienced helped to mold me, you know, in a lot of ways,” Mr. Driskell said. “And helped me see the world differently, and I don’t mean that in a negative way.”
Mr. Driskell realized he wanted to be an electrician in high school. His passion originally came from his experiences during childhood.
“I was the child in the neighborhood that everyone came to to fix bikes, motorbikes, lawnmowers,” Mr. Driskell said. “I was always good with my hands.”
According to career search website Zippia, even today, only 8% of electricians nationwide are African American.
Despite the adversity and discrimination he has faced, Mr. Driskell still does not regret his career choice.
Being an electrician has allowed him to help others through the trade and has shaped who he is today, Mr. Driskell said.
After finishing his apprenticeship in nearby DuPage County, Mr. Driskell, a Chicago native, eventually returned to his home city, where he served across the South and West Side. Mr. Driskell has mostly retired but still does jobs as a consultant.
Mr. Driskell now wants to encourage the younger generation of African Americans to pursue a career as an electrician and work through the internship system.
“The opportunities are out there for younger African American men and women in the trades,” Mr. Driskell said, “not just the electrical trades, in all trades.”
According to Construction Coverage, which provides construction industry data, Chicago has fewer electricians than the national average and is the top metropolitan city in the country to need electricians. Despite the intense demand, the number of active electricians is slowly shrinking, according to CNBC. Similarly, Glassdoor, a job search platform, says electricians earn $67,958 per year on average.
Slowly, the number of African American electricians is increasing nationwide. This is also true for many historical minorities in the electrical industry.
Mr. Driskell believes hope is on the horizon in terms of increasing diversity for electricians.
“There are more women in the trade, there are other ethnicities in the trade and things of that nature,” Mr. Driskell said. “I would say that racism should not and would not, you know, play a part in whether you decide to move forward to get in the trade.”
