Oral History Interview with Eula and Vernon Durham, November 29, 1978. Interview H-0064. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).
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Abstract
Eula Durham and her husband Vernon recall their experiences as mill workers in Bynum, North Carolina. The Durhams discuss the integration of their mill in the early 1970s and the failures of unionization, but their recollections of their lives as mill workers pale in comparison to their vivid memories of their childhood in Bynum and the many colorful ways they found to entertain themselves. Eula's memories of the joys of her childhood are more vibrant than Vernon's: she remembers making candy, decorating Christmas trees with popcorn, and snipe hunting; box parties, spin the bottle, and chicken stews; ball games, carnivals, and stealing chickens. This interview will be somewhat useful for researchers interested in mill work, more useful for those interested in childhood and adolescence in the rural South.
Excerpts
First job at a textile mill
Close-knit work environment has evaporated over time
New, professional management has rigidified the textile mill environment
Integrating smoothly at a textile mill
Failed attempt at organization at a textile mill in the late 1930s
Mill workers' disinterest in striking
The New Deal boosts textile mill wages
Bynum residents band together to alleviate the effects of Depression-era poverty
Christmas in early twentieth-century Bynum, North Carolina
Courting in early twentieth-century North Carolina
Remembering a childhood rich in play
Various social gatherings in the rural South
A textile mill transitions from water power to electricity
Workplace injuries in a textile mill
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Subjects
Trade-unions--Textile workers--North Carolina
Textile workers--North Carolina--Social conditions
Women in the textile industry
Textile industry--Technological innovations
Bynum (N.C.)--Religious life
Bynum (N.C.)--Social life and customs
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