Mildred Pennington Interview

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Here you talk?

MILDRED PENNINGTON: What do you want me to say?

Segment Synopsis: Mildred Pennington discusses her work as a teacher.

Subjects: Elementary school teachers; Teachers

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: So in 1934, sixity years ago, lets see, you were 26 years old, and you were, you were gonna get married, you had a date to get married?

Segment Synopsis: Mildred Pennington discusses the textile workers' strike of 1934 and her experiences during it.

Keywords: eight hour workday; picket lines

Subjects: Labor union locals; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Wages; Women textile workers

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Did someone ask you to join? How did you even find out about it? Do you remember that?

Segment Synopsis: Mildred Pennington discusses how people in the town percived cotton mill workers.

Keywords: lintheads; union organizing

Subjects: Elementary school teachers; Women textile workers

Partial Transcript: MILDRED PENNINGTON: When I applied for a job, I taught in Albertville first two year I taught, and the only reason there wasn't an opening in the school down here, and I applied for a job in Albertville.

Segment Synopsis: Mildred Pennington discusses how she became an elementary school teacher.

Subjects: Elementary school teachers; Working class women; Working class--Education

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: These meetings that you had in the church, could you desricbe them for me?

Segment Synopsis: Mildred Pennington discusses being the treasurer of her local labor union, the fact that the union was integrated, the blacklisting after the strike.

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

Subjects: Blacklisting, Labor; Labor union locals; Labor union meetings; Labor unions--Officials and employees; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Women in the labor movement

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Now what about these machine guns, were there really machine guns at the mill?

Segment Synopsis: Mildred Pennington discusses why there were machine guns at the mill.

Subjects: Blacklisting, Labor; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934)

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: How was that you, that you were so involved and then during the big strike you just kind of left?

Segment Synopsis: Mildred Pennington discusses why she was not very involved with the union during the strike>

Keywords: women mill workers

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

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND:Were there people in the community-- were there other, was there anyone in the community that gave support to you having a union?

Segment Synopsis: Mildred Pennington discusses the lack of support for the strikers from the townspeople and reads a list of union members noting whether or not she knew them.

Subjects: Labor union locals; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934)

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: He wrote this letter to Washington DC --

MILDRED PENNINGTON: Yeah

HELFAND: -- to complain.

Segment Synopsis: Mildred Pennington discusses a letter written in compliant, the prejudiced in the police force, spies in the mills, and the labor union local

Keywords: African-American mill workers; union organizing

Subjects: Labor union locals; Letter writing; Textile workers

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: But you would say that there were only two black employees or just a handful, and they were in your union?

Segment Synopsis: Mildred Pennington discusses Claude Hundley an African American union member, and why she does not remember seeing the machine guns at the textile mill.

Keywords: African-American mill workers

Subjects: Textile workers--Labor unions

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Now did you even bother going back for your job or just didn't go back?

Segment Synopsis: Mildred Pennington discusses blacklisting, why she didn't go out on the picket line, and the union that organized in Gunthersville after the textile workers' strike of 1934.

Keywords: aftermath of the strike; picket lines

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