mudsill

These Africans were analogous to the “mudsill,” she writes — the wooden beam that anchors a house to its foundation and provides support for the whole structure.

That piece is called the mudsill, the sill plate that runs along the base of a house and anchors the entire structure above it.

These are among the mudsill jobs in a pandemic, the jobs less likely to guarantee health coverage or sick days but that sustain the rest of society, allowing others to shelter in place.

The studs and subfloors, the ceilings and windows, the doors and roofing, all the components that make it a house are built on top of the mudsill.

In a caste system, the mudsill is the bottom caste that everything else rests upon.