Growing interest in the civil rights movement and migrant workers' problems
Pierce discusses his growing interest in the problems of migrant workers during the late 1950s. In 1956, Pierce began to work for the IUE outside of Texas, spending a lot of time organizing workers in Florida. Here, although most of the workers were highly skilled and primarily white during these years, his involvement in the civil rights movement and minority workers became more intense.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Jim Pierce, July 16, 1974. Interview E-0012-3. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- WILLIAM FINGER:
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You didn't work with migrants or black workers
that much during those Florida years. This was still mostly
highly skilled industry?
- JIM PIERCE:
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That's right.
- WILLIAM FINGER:
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And they were mostly just white workers?
- JIM PIERCE:
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Mostly.
- WILLIAM FINGER:
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Did you come in contact with migrants?
- JIM PIERCE:
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It was in Florida when I resumed my interest in migrants. In my early CIO
days, I have done a considerable amount of organizing in Texas, along
the Texas coast, and even out around El Paso, I saw and became involved
as a part of the Civil Rights struggle some of the problems of migrants.
In fact, you know, when you had a day off you couldn't drive
all the way to Fort Worth, and a campaign was slack, well a lot of times
you'd just drive out and learn things. You know, see people
and talk to people. So, I developed an interest in, and I think this
probably comes from my own rural background, an interest in problems
that they had in the Texas valley, but there wasn't much that
we could do about it. We did it through the CIO Council, we did what we
could, but it wasn't a lot. But then when I got back to
Florida … when I got to Florida as kind of a State Director
for IUE, I continued my involvement in the Civil Rights movement, in the
political movement, and they were involved with migrants and that is
when I first became involved with what we call the eastern stream of
migrants, but not very heavily involved.
- WILLIAM FINGER:
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You were learning.
- JIM PIERCE:
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Learning is right.
