Community relations in Greenville, South Carolina
Pauline Griffith describes what kind of people lived in the mill village of Greenville, South Carolina, after her family moved there in 1915. According to Griffith, the community had high standards and was quite close knit. In her description, the importance of community solidarity and family-community ties are emphasized as key attributes of an ideal working community.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Paul and Pauline Griffith, May 30, 1980. Interview H-0247. 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
- ALLEN TULLOS:
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Were there any differences between the people that had come from the
mountains and those who were cotton people?
- PAULINE GRIFFITH:
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Well, I couldn't tell any difference. At the time that we came to the
mill, the mill people had a good standard that the people had to live
by. There were no roughnecks allowed in the village. They were choice
people. You didn't even have to lock your doors. If you wanted to go to
town or somewhere, you could just go to town and come back, and
everything would be there.
- ALLEN TULLOS:
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Would that be true for the several mill villages at that time?
- PAULINE GRIFFITH:
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I guess it was. It was for this one. Because the
ones that were over the plant, they would just as soon make people move
if they didn't live up to standard. They just simply wouldn't have
anybody that wasn't the best type people. And it was a good thing.
Because, without some kind of stardard, people's lives deteriorated.
They're just not up to par, and it affects communitites in the ways they
don't want to be affected. We had lots to be thankful for in that.
