Interview with Harry Harden and Elvis H. Pippin

Partial Transcript: Judith Helfand: Ok. Could you talk for me so I could see how I'm doing.
Harry Harden: Hey baby [laughs].

Segment Synopsis: Harry S. Harden and Elvis H. Pippin talk about the sound of the mill. Harden introduces himself in the latter half of this segment. Pippin doesn't introduce himself until later in the interview.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; Elvis H. Pippin; Harry S. Harden; textile production

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Machinery; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers

Partial Transcript: Helfand: Let's start with when you started to work.
Harden: Well when I started to work we worked twelve hour shifts.

Segment Synopsis: Harden talks about his wages and hours when he began working in the mill, Roosevelt's changes in labor reform through the NRA (when wages were raised and hours were cut), and the nationwide strike in 1934. He also talks about conditions in the mill at that time when there was no air conditioning, high humidity with lint flying everywhere

Keywords: "dope house"; "scrip"; "utility men"; Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; Elmore County, Al.; Franklin Delano Roosevelt; General Textile Strike of 1934; National Recovery Administration; bank closures; card room; drawing; farm work; lint; money; supply frames; textile mill employees; textile production; textile strike; textile work; wages; weave room; work hours; work shifts; working conditions

Subjects: Banks and banking; Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Farms; Hours of Labor--Law and legislation; Money; Presidents; Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945; Strikes and lockouts--Textile industry; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers; United States. National Recovery Administration; Wages

Partial Transcript: Harden: They didn't care if you quit because there's a bunch of barefooted folks sitting on the curb just waiting for something.
Helfand: Did they tell you that or did you see barefooted-
Harden: No, hell, I knew it! They didn't have to tell me!

Segment Synopsis: Harden talks about the difficulties of finding a mill job and how people in Bibb City lived and worked during the Great Depression.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Civilian Conservation Corps; Columbus, Ga.; Franklin Delano Roosevelt; Great Depression; Herbert Hoover; Presidents; Works Progress Administration; breadlines; loans; poverty; textile mill employees; textile production; textile work; unemployment

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Great Depression; Poverty; Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers

Partial Transcript: Helfand: Now after the NRA came in, how did- it was good for you... how did the company feel?
Harden: They was proud of it too. It was a law nationwide and the company was always an ideal company to work for.

Segment Synopsis: Harden and Pippin talk about the mill's positive treatment of their workers and Bibb City's reaction to the changes enacted by the National Recovery Administration (NRA), including raising wages and cutting work hours.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; General Textile Strike of 1934; National Recovery Administration; breadlines; labor reforms; stretch-out; strikers; textile mill employees; textile production; textile strike; textile work; wages; work hours; workloads

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Hours of Labor--Law and legislation; Presidents; Strikes and lockouts--Textile industry; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers; United States. National Recovery Administration

Partial Transcript: Harden: And I'll you something else, nobody said anything about let's strike or organize either.
Helfand: Not around here.
Harden: Not- period! When they were working 12 hour shifts, 6 dollars a week.

Segment Synopsis: Harden and Pippin talk about how Bibb City workers did not want to strike because of the National Recovery Administration's changes, and the negative impact of outsiders from Columbus, Ga coming into Bibb City to strike.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; General Textile Strike of 1934; National Recovery Administration; labor reforms; strike; textile mill employees; textile production; textile strike; textile work; unions; wages

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Labor unions--Public relations; Strikes and lockouts--Textile industry; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers

Partial Transcript: Helfand: Now, when the strike came what happened to your job? Where were you? What was going on with you?
Harden: I didn't strike. I stayed home, they didn't run me off.

Segment Synopsis: Harden and Pippin talk about the extra police that were brought in to watch over the mill and the mill village and how Harden was hired to work as an officer guarding the mill village during this time. They also talk about episodes of violence in Bibb City during the strike and Talmadge bringing in the National Guard to police the area. Audio is poor in this segment because of wind interference.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; General Textile Strike of 1934; Governor Eugene Talmadge; National Guard; deputies and police officers; hiring practices; mill village houses; policing; strike violence; textile mill employees; textile production; textile work

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Georgia. Governor (1948-1955 : Talmadge); National Guard Association of the United States; Police; Strikes and lockouts--Textile industry; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers; Violence

Partial Transcript: Helfand: Now, did people stop working- why did people stop working here at the factory?
Harden: Why did they what?
Helfand: Why did they walk out?

Segment Synopsis: Harden and Pippin talk about ways in which the mill workers interacted with the strikers, and the anti-union attitudes of the workers because they were well-treated by the mill. The interviewees also talk again about the National Guard policing of the city and blockades in place around the city.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; General Textile Strike of 1934; National Guard; anti-union attitudes; deputizing of mill workers; low rent housing; mill village blockades; picket line; police; strikers; textile mill employees; textile production; textile strike; textile work; union organizers; violence

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Housing; Labor unions; National Guard Association of the United States; Strikes and lockouts--Textile industry; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers; Violence

Partial Transcript: Helfand: They were telling me in Macon that they used to have big- when you would go on vacation, that the men in Columbus would go with the men in Macon to Florida?
Harden: No...
Helfand: For big trips? The men's clubs would get together?

Segment Synopsis: Harden talks about going on vacation to Florida with men from Macon, Ga. Pippen recalls a story about fishing during one of these trips.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; Florida; Macon, Ga.; textile mill employees; vacation; vocational school

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Florida; Macon (Ga.); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers; Vocational education

Partial Transcript: Helfand: Some folks in Macon told me that there were some people who had gone out on strike from the Bibb there, and that they had to leave- that they couldn't live in the city anymore, they had to leave.
Harden: Well I'm not familiar, I know they had a lot of trouble in Macon, but I'm not familiar with what they had.

Segment Synopsis: Harden talks about difficulties in Macon in comparison to Bibb City during the strike and how people had to leave Macon. They also talk about when they first heard of the strike after Roosevelt came into office, as well as Roosevelt's role in the bank's closing and creating the National Recovery Administration (NRA).

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; Franklin Delano Roosevelt; General Textile Strike of 1934; Macon, Ga.; National Recovery Administration; bank closures; mill village evictions; strikers; textile mill employees; textile production; textile strike; textile work; wages; work hours

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Eviction; Hours of Labor--Law and legislation; Macon (Ga.); Presidents; Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers; United States. National Recovery Administration; Wages

Partial Transcript: Helfand: What did people think about Gene Talmadge around here?
Harden: Loved him. They thought a lot of Herman Talmadge, his son. All of a sudden he got screwed up with his wife and all this bad publicity come up.

Segment Synopsis: Harden and Pippin talk about Bibb City's positive opinion of Eugene Talmadge, and how they used to listen to Roosevelt's Fireside Chats on the radio. Judith Helfand tells the interviewees about a textile exhibit in the Columbus Museum and why they're creating the documentary.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus Museum; Columbus, Ga.; Fireside Chats; Franklin Delano Roosevelt; Governor Eugene Talmadge; Herman Talmadge; radio; retirement from textile mill; textile mill employees; textile production; textile work

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Georgia. Governor (1948-1955 : Talmadge); Museums; Presidents; Radio broadcasting; Retirement; Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers

Partial Transcript: Helfand: I've heard a term that's rather mean and derogatory. It's all about attitudes, you know, class attitudes. What do you think about the term "linthead"?

Segment Synopsis: Judith Helfand asks Harden and Pippin if they've heard of the derogatory term "linthead." The two men recall who referred to them by this name, the origins of the name, and how they felt about being called "lintheads" while working in the mills.

Keywords: "linthead"; Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; class tensions; textile mill employees; textile production; textile work

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Discrimination; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers; Working class--Social conditions

Partial Transcript: Helfand: Was the wage always low for cotton workers?

Segment Synopsis: Harden and Pippin discuss the wages in Bibb City and how they had it better than people working in other cities. At the Bibb City mill, they say the wages were low, but they had much lower rent and electricity costs. Harden says that if this wasn't the case, they might have joined the strike. Audio is poor in this segment because of wind interference.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; cotton rollers; drawing frames; low wages; mill employment; textile mill employees; textile production; textile work; working conditions

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Money; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers; Wages

Partial Transcript: Helfand: So when did they bring in the efficiency experts?
Harden: Oh that was in later years. Efficiency experts liked to shut the mill down, didn't they Pip?

Segment Synopsis: Harden talks about when efficiency experts (Industrial Engineers) were brought in and shut the mill and told the workers how to do their jobs, resulting in many workers leaving their jobs. At this point, Harden has to leave the interview.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; Macon, Ga.; industrial engineers; opposition to efficiency experts; textile mill employees; textile production; textile work

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Industrial engineering; Macon (Ga.); Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers

Partial Transcript: Helfand: Was he working when you- did you know him when he started working?
Pippin: Mmhm. He was in there, alright. He'd quit running drawing frames and running what was called slubbers.

Segment Synopsis: Pippin talks about when he started working with Harden and the jobs they performed in the mill. In this segment Pippin also introduces himself and talks about how he lives across from the Bibb Mill parking lot, which used to be the Bibb Hotel. This is where many people lived while working in the mill.

Keywords: 35th Street; Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Hotel; Bibb Mill parking lot; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; Elvis H. Pippin; drawing frames; post office; slubbers; textile mill employees; textile production; textile work

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Hotels; Parking lots; Postal service; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers

Partial Transcript: Helfand: Now, when did you move here? You moved here with your family?
Pippin: Well I wasn't but sixteen years old.

Segment Synopsis: Pippin talks about how he moved from Ozark, Alabama to Bibb City when he was sixteen and how his brother got him a job at the Bibb Mill. Interview on this side of the tape abruptly ends.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; First Avenue; General Textile Strike of 1934; Ozark, Al.; families; farm; textile mill employees; textile production; textile work

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Families; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers

Partial Transcript: Helfand: Okay.
Pippin: Twenty-five cent was big as a hub cap on a car then, know what I mean. The money was scarce, it was hard to get.

Segment Synopsis: Pippin talks about getting a job at the mill once the strike had already begun and and his experiences with the National Guard while they were policing the mill.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; General Textile Strike of 1934; National Guard; employment; job interviews; mill blockade; textile mill employees; textile production; textile work

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; National Guard Association of the United States; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers

Partial Transcript: Helfand: Did you have to walk through all those picketers?
Pippin: No, that picket line... there was still some of them around but is wasn't like it was there... you know, it was hot and heavy to start with. It just kind of eased off.

Segment Synopsis: Pippin talks about the picketers outside the mill, and the types of jobs that African Americans had in the mill, as well as the increase of African American workers in textile mills in recent years.

Keywords: "scab"; 38th Street; African American mill employees; Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; National Guard; Second Avenue; fixers; picket line; picketers; strikers; taxes; textile mill employees; textile production; textile work; wages; women strikers; women textile workers

Subjects: African Americans--Employment; Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Strikes and lockouts--Textile industry; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers; Wages; Women textile workers

Partial Transcript: Helfand: How much did you make when you started working?
Pippin: Well when I got married i was making about ten or twelve dollars a week.

Segment Synopsis: Pippin talks about his wages while working at the Bibb Mill and how he got paid for piece work.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; piece work; production quotas; textile mill employees; textile production; textile work; wages

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Money; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers; Wages

Partial Transcript: Helfand: Was that- so there was a lot of pressure on you while you were working.
Pippin: Oh yeah, but I was young, it didn't bother me too much. I was raised on a farm, see.

Segment Synopsis: Pippin compares farm work to mill work, which he claims was easier. He also talks about the beginnings of Social Security and people's reluctance to sign up for it.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; Ozark, Al.; RC Cola; Social Security; farm work; textile mill employees; textile production; textile work

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Farms; Social security beneficiaries; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers

Partial Transcript: Helfand: Did you get one of these blue books that he told me about?
Pippin: Yeah, I got a lot of books...

Segment Synopsis: Pippin discusses workers' evictions from the mill villages if they were fired, and how they were unable to receive their last check until they moved out of the houses.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; dismissal of employees; education; evictions; mill village; replacement of employees; school; textile mill employees; textile production; textile work

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Eviction; Retirement; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers

Partial Transcript: Helfand: Do you think there had not been a strike at the time you would have gotten this job?
Pippin: Yes, I- my brother, he was in there, I would have got in, he would've gotten me in sooner or later.

Segment Synopsis: Pippin talks again about his brother getting him a job at Bibb Mill. He also talks about his pension from Bibb Mill and renovations to his current house.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; Social Security; employment; pension; replacement of workers; strike; textile production

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Pensions; Social security beneficiaries; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers; textile mill employees; textile work

Partial Transcript: Helfand: During the strike... well, so you worked the whole time, so it didn't effect you in terms of money
Pippin: No.
Helfand: You got money.

Segment Synopsis: Pippin talks about how the national strike didn't affect him because he worked at the mill. He also talks about his yearly raise increases and how vacations didn't exist when he started working at the Bibb Mill.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; pay increases; pay raises; textile mill employees; textile production; textile work; vacations; wages

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers; Wage bargaining; Wages

Partial Transcript: Pippin: My wife worked down there thirty-eight years.
Helfand: What did she do?

Segment Synopsis: Pippin talks about his wife who worked under his supervision in the mill at the same time he did, and how she was eventually transferred to the cloth room both because he didn't want her doing heavy work. He also talks about how his children also worked in the mill, though he would have rather seen them go to school. At the end of this segment, Helfand reads a list of names of people who lived around Bibb City and asks Pippin if he knows any of them. Pippin also talks about the lack of community in the neighborhood now.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; cloth room; education; families; slubbers; spousal relations; textile mill employees; textile production; textile work; working conditions

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Education; Families; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers; Working class women--Family relationships

Partial Transcript: Helfand: Now, when did this mill start going so slow? And when did they go on half time, and knocking people off their job?
Pippin: You mean...well...Thomas Foley bought this mill.

Segment Synopsis: Pippin talks about when the mill cut worker's hours to half time, then started laying people off because of the installation of new machinery. He says they started installing new machinery in the mill in the 1950s after World War II.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; Thomas Foley; automated machinery; dismissal of employees; industrialization; lay-offs; textile mill employees; textile production; textile work

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Machinery; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers

Partial Transcript: Helfand: Did this town run like clockwork because of this mill?
Pippin: Yeah, that was a breadbasket down there, that mill. That's what kept Bibb City going... people working in the mill.

Segment Synopsis: Pippin talks about how the town was successful because of the presence of the mill and how, at one point, everyone who lived in the town worked in the mill.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; Hansen Avenue; generation gap; textile mill employees; textile production; textile work

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Community development; Cotton textile industry; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers

Partial Transcript: Helfand: So, you worked there how many years in total?
Pippin: I worked there forty-five years, six months.

Segment Synopsis: Pippin talks about how long he worked in the mill (forty-five years and six months), as well as the role of the church in the community.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; church; retirement; textile mill employees; textile production; textile work

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Church; Church attendance; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Retirement; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers

Partial Transcript: Helfand: Was there a problem that a lot of people had with health problems because of working in the mills, years later?
Pippin: Well, I wouldn't be surprised, with all that dust in there and all.

Segment Synopsis: Pippin discusses workers' health problems due to working condition in the mills. He also talks about what he liked best while working at the mill was the pride he had in doing his job and how he enjoyed working the in the mill until the last 5 or 6 years before his retirement because of changes in the mill.

Keywords: Bibb City Mill Village; Bibb Mills; Columbus, Ga.; health conditions; textile mill employees; textile production; textile work

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Columbus (Ga.); Cotton textile industry; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile factories; Textile industry; Textile workers; Textile workers--Health and hygiene