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HELFAND: -- colored workers before, you said they must have been sweepers.
POLLARD: Mmm.
HELFAND: Could you say that, you know, that you never heard of --?
POLLARD: Really and truly, I'd never heard of a colored person working in the
mill, not until after the union, maybe there were some that came in.HELFAND: But I think -- but you were -- you seemed to be in -- surprised that
there was a black --POLLARD: I was.
HELFAND: -- so (inaudible) local, that they were in the union.
POLLARD: Yeah, yeah, I was surprised.
HELFAND: So could you tell me that, that really and truly, maybe -- you just
said maybe they were as -- you know, local of sweepers, that's what you were saying.POLLARD: They might have been in their -- working in the warehouse, or maybe
00:13:00sweeping, I don't know. I mean, John never did tell me about it. So. [Undoubtedly?] they did have one or two.HELFAND: Could you say -- I -- OK. That's great. And I'm just going to
open up to that page again, where that colored local is.POLLARD: Mm-hmm. That's on Liberty Street, that was a colored street...
Listed in this directory, United Textile Workers of America, Local #2145 -- see, in parentheses, Frank Dewberry, Secretary, meets Saturday at 10:00 AM, at 511 and a half South Liberty. Waste -- is the Union Waste Company.HELFAND: No, wait. Now, what were you saying about Liberty Street?
00:14:00POLLARD: That's where they were to meet on Saturdays.
HELFAND: Now, you told me that -- you said -- now, Liberty Street was in the --
can you tell me -- could you say, "And Liberty Street was..." and tell me what neighborhood?POLLARD: Part, part of it was in white and part was in colored. Black, as they
like to be called.HELFAND: So could you tell me -- so are you suggesting that -- could you say
that, that while they were meeting in a part of town that was black -- while this local union was meeting in a part of town that was black...POLLARD: Mm-hmm.
HELFAND: Could you say that?
POLLARD: They made -- made it 511 and a half South Liberty. There was some
blacks that lived down there, but -- and a few whites, so it could be either one, but it must have been a black that lived there too, somewhere on that street, down below here. 00:15:00HELFAND: And could you -- now, could you say -- now, I know what -- could you
tell me what jobs this, the black people were doing at the time, and could you tell me what jobs this -- the black people were doing at the time, and then imagine that they -- that that's what they were doing? You know, that that's what this local union was?POLLARD: Black people, most of them did washing and ironing and things like
that. And the men were laborers, I guess. But I just never heard of one being in a mill at that time. Plenty in there now.HELFAND: But at the time, you know, they -- you just said that it might have
been that they all worked in the warehouse.POLLARD: It could be.
HELFAND: Could you tell me that again?
POLLARD: I said --
HELFAND: And refer to this local union?
POLLARD: This, this local union on 2145, it could be a warehouse that they
00:16:00worked at or some other place like that. But it says United Textile Workers of America Local. So undoubtedly they must have had a few in there. Kept it quiet. Mm.HELFAND: Quiet because why? What do you mean, quiet?
POLLARD: Well, they had, you know, coloreds back then, and whites, most of them,
didn't [clash?]. Of course, I had a lot of black friends.HELFAND: And your husband was an orga-- was a local organizer. Did he help
organize any of the black workers?POLLARD: If he did he never mentioned it to me.
HELFAND: Could you repeat my question in your answer? Could you say, "Now, my
husband was real active, but if he organized these black workers he never told me?" Could you tell me that?POLLARD: Mm, yeah. Well, John, my husband, was very active in the textiles, and
00:17:00they -- it says Textile Union, I mean, where he worked. But he never mentioned it to me that he worked -- that he organized them. Although he might have.HELFAND: OK. So I'm just going to ask you to say one more thing, and then
we're done. Say, "Now, my husband, being as active as he was, I still never heard of the black workers." Could you say that?POLLARD: My husband, being that -- in the union like he was, in the job that he
had in the union, he never mentioned any Negros in the union. But maybe he didn't think it would be important, I don't know. He didn't have any [regrets of that colored?]. 00:18:00HELFAND: And do you think that the other textile workers in the area, do you
think they all would have joined if it was a mixed local?POLLARD: Probably not.
HELFAND: Could you tell me that?
POLLARD: I don't know. I don't -- just -- back then it was a lot difference
between whites and blacks. But I don't know whether they would have been mixed with the union or not. Of course it has that here in this book. You'll have to ask somebody else.HELFAND: All right, thank you so much.