Linda Stout and Susan Pyler Interview

Partial Transcript: SUSAN PLYER: Oh well thank you.

LINDA STOUT: Stay a little longer.

JUDITH HELFAND: I would love to.

Segment Synopsis: Susan Plyer and Linda Stout introduce themselves to Judith Helfand.

Subjects: Kannapolis (N.C.); Nonprofit organizations; Textile workers; Women in nonprofit organizations

Partial Transcript: SUSAN PLYER: Well my name is Susan Plyer and Kannapolis is my home town. I was born here.

Segment Synopsis: Susan Plyer introduces her self and gives a little family history.

Subjects: Kannapolis (N.C.); Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile workers

Partial Transcript: LINDA STOUT: Well I grew up in, right outside of Kannappolis, in (Inaudible) County.

Segment Synopsis: Linda Stout discusses why unions where not discussed in Kannapolis.

Keywords: Cannon Mills; legacy of the strike; mill villages; union songs

Subjects: Kannapolis (N.C.); Textile workers--Labor unions

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Now how do you think, (inaudible), how do you think knowing about, let's say the '34 strike,I don't know, I think they might have struck later like you said in the '40s, but how do you think knowing there was a general strike that Kannapolis tried to take part in ,or wasn't even able to, how do you think that knowledge would affect people?

Segment Synopsis: Susan Plyer and Linda Stout discuss how the knowledge of the '34 strike impacted them, and a more recent union organizing attempt in Kannapolis.

Keywords: union organizing

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

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: When did you leave your, when did you decide to leave that job?

Segment Synopsis: Linda Stout discusses why she left Cannon Mills.

Subjects: Cannon Mills Company; Race discrimination; Sex discrimination

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: What did you think when, what did you all think when you saw this footage?

Segment Synopsis: Susan Plyer and Linda Stout discuss their reactions to seeing footage of the National Guard at Cannon Mill during the 1934 strike, and the anti union sentiments in Kannapolis.

Keywords: union organizing

Subjects: Cannon Mills Company; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934)

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Could you introduce yourself and start with " My mother"?

Segment Synopsis: Connie Leaper introduces herself and discusses her mother's response to Charlie Cannon's (the owner of Cannon Mills) death, her father's brown lung, and her work in the textile mills. An unidentified woman discusses her father's work in the textile mill and the impact that it had on his health.

Keywords: brown lung; women mill workers

Subjects: Cannon Mills Company; Kannapolis (N.C.); Working class women

Partial Transcript: LINDA STOUT: What amazed me was how connected Uncle Charlie was to um, to um the military.

Segment Synopsis: Susan Plyer, Linda Stout, and Connie Leaper discuss the connection of the Cannon family to the military and politicians, the education system in Kannapolis, and how fear has shaped local mores and customs.

Subjects: Cannon Mills Company; Museums; Public libraries; Working class--Education

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: And in terms of history, and let's say the textile history locally, what did they teach?

Segment Synopsis: Susan Plyer discusses how history was taught in the Kannapolis public school system, the lack of textile or union history being taught in the local schools, and about the religious education she received in school.

Subjects: History--Study and teaching; Kannapolis (N.C.); Racism; Religion