William Ned Hemphill Interview

Partial Transcript: M1: Were you from this community orginally?

WILLIAM NED HEMPHILL: Yeah, I was born and raised right across the river over there.

Segment Synopsis: William Ned Hemphill discusses where he grew up and the jobs he did in and around the textile mill.

Keywords: mill villages

Subjects: Textile workers

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: So what kind of jobs did all the folks do who lived here on this village?

Segment Synopsis: William Ned Hemphill discusses Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the impact of the eight hour work day.

Keywords: eight hour workday

Subjects: Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945

Partial Transcript: M1: Do you remember when they had the big textile strike down here?

WILLIAM NED HEMPHILL: Yeah. (inaudible)

Segment Synopsis: William Ned Hemphill discusses the textile workers' strike of 1934 and the work done by African Americans in the textile mill.

Keywords: African-American mill workers

Subjects: Labor unions--Organizing; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Working class African Americans

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Now what about, you were telling me about that man who was the leader around here?

M1: Mr. Littlejohn?

Segment Synopsis: William Ned Hemphill discusses the importance of the local baseball team to the mill village.

Keywords: baseball team

Subjects: African Americans--Segregation; Baseball

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Now, how did most of the black folks get there jobs here?

Segment Synopsis: William Ned Hemphill discusses the African American and white mill villages.

Keywords: African-American mill workers; eight hour workday; mill villages

Subjects: Segregation; Wages; Working class African Americans; Working class--Dwellings

Partial Transcript: WILLIAM NED HEMPHILL: There used a dummy that come from Pacolet, a train, that pulled cloth.

Segment Synopsis: William Ned Hemphill discusses a train that used to run from the mill, working in the textile mill, and the interaction between the white and black communities.

Keywords: African-American mill workers

Subjects: Railroad trains; Textile workers; Working class African Americans

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: So do you recall at when they -- when the men up at Pacolet and even the women some too, started to organize a union? It was after Roosevelt got into office.

Segment Synopsis: William Ned Hemphill discusses where the union hall might have been, blacklisting, and the impact of the strike.

Keywords: African-American mill workers; aftermath of the strike; eight hour workday

Subjects: Blacklisting, Labor; United States. National Recovery Administration

Partial Transcript: M1: Did they ever have a union just for the coloreds do you remember?

WILLIAM NED HEMPHILL: No, no, (inaudible) no, not in Pacolet.

Segment Synopsis: William Ned Hemphill discusses whether or not there was an African American union at Pacolet Mills, and the work that many African American women did as domestic workers in the white mill village.

Keywords: African-American mill workers; African-American unions; domestic workers

Subjects: African Americans--Segregation; Working class African Americans

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: If any of the black workers, who were working her back in the 1930, '34, '35, if they-- if there was something that they didn't like if they had a problem with something-- if they weren't joining a union like those white people did how did they ... how did they register a complaint?

Segment Synopsis: William Ned Hemphill discusses the African American and white mill villages, why people got fired, why people were evicted from mill housing, and life on the mill villages.

Keywords: eviction from mill village houses

Subjects: Great Depression; Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934)

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Now do you know that at the same time that they had that strike down here at Pacolet, that they were having a strike all over the South and all over the country?

Segment Synopsis: William Ned Hemphill discusses the mill village, the odd jobs he did around Pacolet, the textile workers's strike of 1934,

Keywords: mill villages; stretch-out

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