Vern Farmer Interview

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Can you just count to 10?

VERN FARMER: (Inaudible)

Segment Synopsis: Vern Farmer discusses the labor union movement in the textile industry and writing letters to the government to help the textile workers in their battle for labor rights.

Keywords: National Recovery Administration; mill managers; women mill workers

Subjects: Child labor; Letters; Textile Workers; Textile workers--Labor unions; Unfair labor practices

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Two weeks after you wrote the letter Jack Dyer came?

VERN FARMER: Yeah, right.

HELFAND: What was Jack Dyer like?

Segment Synopsis: Vern Farmer discusses the National Labor Relations Board came to investigate her mill, union organizing and hours and wages.

Keywords: eight hour workday; spinners; union organizing

Subjects: Belmont (N.C.); Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile workers--Labor unions; Wages

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Um, now, do you remember what occurred before that strike in September? How organized was your plant?

Segment Synopsis: Vern Farmer discusses the textile workers' strike of 1934 in Gastonia, N.C., and the aftermath of the strike.

Keywords: aftermath of the strike; picket lines; union organizing

Subjects: Gastonia (N.C.); Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Women in the labor movement

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Does that name ring a bell Albert Hinson?

VERN FARMER: Yes, he's dead.

Segment Synopsis: Vern Farmer discusses Albert Hinson, a local labor leader.

Keywords: union organizing

Subjects: Labor leaders; Textile workers

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Would you say you were as out spoken as Albert was?

VERN FARMER: Yes.

Segment Synopsis: Vern Farmer discusses how she did not recant her position on the union even in light of pressure from the owner of the textile mill she worked at.

Keywords: women mill workers

Subjects: Textile workers--Labor unions; Women in the labor movement

Partial Transcript: VERN FARMER:-- sit around and don't do anything I guess

Segment Synopsis: Vern Farmer discusses her family's jobs in the mills, union organizing, and the aftermath of the strike..

Keywords: eviction from mill village houses; spinners; union organizing

Subjects: Blacklisting, Labor; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile workers--Labor unions; Women in the labor movement

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Now do these women look familiar? No? Their names are on the back.

Segment Synopsis: Vern Farmer and Judith Helfand look through photos of the strike and discusses several incidents during the strike.

Keywords: breaking the strike; picket lines

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

Partial Transcript: VERN FARMER: But it did help the people that's working in the plants now.

JUDITH HELFAND: It did?

FARMER: Yes.

HELFAND: How?

Segment Synopsis: Vern Famer discusses the legacy of the strike and how it still affects the community she lives in.

Keywords: legacy of the strike; mill owners

Subjects: Textile workers; Textile workers--Labor unions