Pearl Wallace Inteview

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: -- tell me a little bit about how both of you came to work in the cotton mills. Okay?

Segment Synopsis: Pearl Wallace discusses how she met her husband and why they courted for five years.

Keywords: women mill workers

Subjects: Asbestos; Rural-urban migration; Working class--Social life and customs

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Now what were you doing back then for a job?

Segment Synopsis: Pearl Wallace discusses her childhood and going to work in the mill when she was 14 years old.

Keywords: mill villages; women mill workers

Subjects: Belmont (N.C.); Textile workers; Working class women

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Now so, your parents, they started working when they were children in the cotton mill?

Segment Synopsis: Pearl Wallace discusses her father's childhood and why he went to work in the textile mills.

Keywords: loom fixing

Subjects: Textile workers; Working class women--Family relationships

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: How many of you and your siblings went to work in the cotton mill?

Segment Synopsis: Pearl Wallace discusses how and when she and her siblings went to work in the textile mills and how that effected their education.

Keywords: mill villages; women mill workers

Subjects: Belmont (N.C.); Textile workers; Working class women; Working class--Education

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Now you had to have a number of people working in a mill to get a house right?

Segment Synopsis: Pearl Wallace discusses life in the mill village and her mother.

Keywords: mill villages

Subjects: Textile workers; Working class women; Working class women--Family relationships; Working class--Dwellings

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Um, now I'm gonna jump a little. What, how did Roosevelt change your life in the cotton mill?

Segment Synopsis: Pearl Wallace discusses the Civilian Conservation Corps, growing food in the mill village, and life on the mill village.

Keywords: National Recovery Administration; eight hour workday; mill villages

Subjects: Food; Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945; United States. National Recovery Administration; Working class women; Working class women--Family relationships

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Um this footage is from 1934. And in 1934, in September, there was a big strike all over the country. Do you remember that?

Segment Synopsis: Pearl Wallace discusses the textile workers' strike of 1934 and union organizing in Belmont.

Keywords: violence during the strike

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

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Now some people have told me about a stretch out, at that time.

Segment Synopsis: Pearl Wallace discusses the stretch out, the relationship between textile workers and the labor unions, and the textile workers' strike of 1934.

Keywords: legacy of the strike; picket lines; stretch-out; women mill workers

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

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: This, the first thing I'm gonna show you is Labor Day parade--

PEARL WALLACE: Labor Day.

HELFAND:-- in Gastonia.

Segment Synopsis: Pearl Wallace and an unidentified man discuss a Labor Day Parade, the aftermath of the strike, blacklisting, and union meetings.

Keywords: Labor Day; Labor Day parade; aftermath of the strike

Subjects: Blacklisting, Labor; Gastonia (N.C.); Labor union meetings; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile workers--Labor unions

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Um the flying squadrons?

PEARL WALLACE: The flying squadrons, um a little bit about that.

Segment Synopsis: Pearl Wallace and an unidentified man discuss the flying squadrons, violence during the strike and crossing the picket lines.

Keywords: Parkdale Mill; flying squadrons; picket lines; violence during the strike; women mill workers

Subjects: Belmont (N.C.); Gastonia (N.C.); Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Working class women

Partial Transcript: VOICE ON THE NEWSREEL: Already lives have been lost and many wounded. At the first reports of bloodshed in the Carolinas and Georgia--

JUDITH HELFAND: This is a newsreel.

Segment Synopsis: Pearl Wallace and an unidentified man watch a newsreel and discuss their memories of the strike.

Keywords: Labor Day parade; newsreels

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

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Just so I can get it straight, you could tell me which mill it was and how, and what happened.

Segment Synopsis: Pearl Wallace discusses a murder that occurred during the strike that her brother was a witness to, the blacklisting of strikers, and wrapping up the interview.

Keywords: violence during the strike

Subjects: Belmont (N.C.); Blacklisting, Labor; Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934)