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
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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
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