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Oral History Interview with Paul and Pauline Griffith, May 30, 1980. Interview H-0247. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).
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  • Abstract
    Paul and Pauline Griffith were married in 1927 in Greenville, South Carolina. Paul's family moved from Mauldin, South Carolina, to the area in 1905 in search of work. Initially, his father worked as an overseer on a cotton plantation, but in 1912, when the Judson Mill was built, he became a machinist for the mill while his mother went to work as a weaver. Pauline's family moved to Greenville in 1915 from Hendersonville, South Carolina. She and her family found that it was increasingly difficult to survive as farmers, so they moved to Greenville so that her father could work in the Judson Mill. Both Paul and Pauline describe growing up in Greenville as well as the conditions they faced in the Judson Mill, where both spent their entire working careers. They also describe the changes in technology and work strategies in the mills from the 1920s to the 1970s; how life in Greenville changed during the Great Depression and World War II; and the importance of religion in their lives.
    Excerpts
  • Portrait of life in a small, rural southern community
  • Community relations in Greenville, South Carolina
  • Work conditions and workplace relationships in a textile mill
  • Subtle subversion of authority in the textile mills
  • Courtship in a working community
  • A workplace injury and the aftermath
  • Strategies for increasing production in a textile mill
  • Balancing work and family in a working community
  • Women weavers in a textile mill
  • An explanation for lack of unionization in one working community
  • Learn More
  • Finding aid to the Southern Oral History Program Collection
  • Database of all Southern Oral History Program Collection interviews
  • Subjects
  • Textile industry--South Carolina--Greenville
  • Greenville (S.C.)--Social life and customs
  • Women in the textile industry
  • Trade-unions--Textile workers--South Carolina--Greenville
  • Textile workers--South Carolina--Health and hygiene
  • Textile workers--South Carolina--Social conditions
  • The Southern Oral History Program transcripts presented here on Documenting the American South undergo an editorial process to remove transcription errors. Texts may differ from the original transcripts held by the Southern Historical Collection.

    Funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this title.