Mr. Quattlebaum and Annie Griggs Interviews

Partial Transcript: MR. QUATTLEBAUM: Now what you want to know about this?

GEORGE STONEY: Show me, tell me about the people on the --

MR. QUATTLEBAUM: Well that's my mother's Sunday school class.

Segment Synopsis: Mr. Quattlebaum discusses pictures in his album

Subjects: Photographs

Partial Transcript: M1: You ever try to go fishing with--

GEORGE STONEY: Ok.

M1: -- a cast iron pole?

MR. QUATTLEBAUM: (laughter) No.

Segment Synopsis: Mr. Quattlebaum discusses growing up during the Great Depression and his memories of the textile workers' strike of 1934.

Keywords: education

Subjects: Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934)

Partial Transcript: GEORGE STONEY: What do you think of -- have you ever been a member of a union?

MR. QUATTLEBAUM: No.

STONEY: What do you think of -- I want you to talk about what you think about Angie's doing all this?

Segment Synopsis: Mr. Quattlebaum discusses living in Columbus, Ga.

Keywords: union organizing

Subjects: Columbus (Ga.); Textile workers--Labor unions

Partial Transcript: GEORGE STONEY: Why not?

MR. QUATTLEBAUM: Well I'm going back to the time I was, it was too much like a damn concentration camp if you want to know.

Keywords: aftermath of the strike; legacy of the strike

Subjects: Textile workers; Textile workers--Health and hygiene

Partial Transcript: GEORGE STONEY: I want you to-- could you think about that story that you told about your brothers and the bakery? It just illustrates the depression so well. I want you to think about--

MR. QUATTLEBAUM: They went in there and stole some--

Keywords: African-American mill workers; prejudice; racism

Subjects: Great Depression; Ku Klux Klan (1915- ); Segregation; Working class African Americans

Partial Transcript: GEORGE STONEY: Did you ever see any of the big labor day parades?

MR. QUATTLEBAUM: Not here no.

Segment Synopsis: Mr. Quattlebaum discusses why the depression wages happens in Columbus.

Keywords: baseball team

Subjects: Baseball; Columbus (Ga.); Working class--Songs and music

Partial Transcript: MR. QUATTLEBAUM: And uh, i didn't personally hear him say it but it was told that Gene Talmadge said a man in a pair overalls wasn't worth a dollar a day.

Keywords: racism

Subjects: Georgia. Governor (1948-1955 : Talmadge)

Partial Transcript: GEORGE STONEY: How's your worm business?

MR. QUATTLEBAUM: Well I just got started in it.

Segment Synopsis: Mr. Quattlebaum discusses his worm business

Partial Transcript: GEORGE STONEY: Ok, could you tell us how and when you got into the mills and what you did.

ANNIE GRIGGS: Well when I got into the mill I learned how to spin.

Segment Synopsis: Annie Griggs discusses her childhood and going to work in a cotton mill.

Keywords: spinners; women mill workers

Subjects: Child labor; Wages--Women; Women textile workers

Partial Transcript: GEORGE STONEY: Do you remember any strikes?

ANNIE GRIGGS: Oh yeah they had one at the Eagle and Phenix.

Segment Synopsis: Annie Griggs discusses the textile workers' strike of 1934, the union, the national guard at the mill,

Keywords: aftermath of the strike; picket lines

Subjects: Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile workers--Labor unions; Women textile workers

Partial Transcript: GEORGE STONEY: Do you remember the Labor Day Parades?

ANNIE GRIGGS: Oh yeah.

GEORGE STONEY: Tell us about them.

Segment Synopsis: Annie Griggs discusses labor day parades, living in the mill village, taking care of her family, and working in a textile mill.

Keywords: Labor Day; Labor Day parade; mill managers; mill villages; women mill workers

Subjects: New Deal (1933-1939); Parades; Working class women; Working class women--Family relationships; Working class--Dwellings

Partial Transcript: GEORGE STONEY: Could you tell us about your education?

ANNIE GRIGGS: (Inaudible) I went to the second grade.

Segment Synopsis: Annie Griggs discusses her and children's education.

Keywords: education

Subjects: Child labor; Working class--Education

Partial Transcript: GEORGE STONEY: Talk about the diet, what, what did you eat?

ANNIE GRIGGS: We ate dried peas and butterbeans, such as that.

Segment Synopsis: Annie Griggs discusses the food she grew up with and her perspective of working in a cotton mill.

Keywords: lintheads; mill buildings; women mill workers

Subjects: Agriculture; Rural-urban migration; Textile factories; Women textile workers

Partial Transcript: GEORGE STONEY: So explain why you miss the mill.

ANNIE GRIGGS: Well I miss going to work cause after you work so long you're not satisfied, not happy at all.

Segment Synopsis: Annie Griggs discusses how she has kept active during her retirement and what she missed about working in the mill.

Keywords: mill buildings; spinners; stretch-out; women mill workers

Subjects: Retirement; Textile factories; Women textile workers