Laura Beard Interview 3

GEORGE STONEY: -- all kinds of things that you told us.

LAURA BEARD: Oh, I can't even remember --

GEORGE STONEY: Well, we'll remind you, because we've got --

JUDITH HELFAND: (inaudible) George --

JAMIE STONEY: Speak.

GEORGE STONEY: OK. Remember you were telling me about what it was like when you first went into the mills.

BEARD: When I first went into the mill in '29, well, it was kind of rough and we didn't, uh, what we was doing, and -- but we thought we had a good thing when -- whenever we, uh, got in there, well, they took advantage of us in a lot of ways, and, uh -- and they didn't do the things that we thought they should, and they didn't pay for our labor. Then -- uh, we didn't do what they said do. They would pick especially on the people who had only one worker in the family. There was no way they could quit, but they'd fire 'em every time 00:01:00they started out doing -- and hire 'em back before they got downstairs. And then, uh, they'd put 'em on the dirtiest work there was, sometime we'd make, uh, work 12 hours for 50 cents or maybe a little more. Work 60 hours for 4 or $5 for family of four. And, uh --

HELFAND: (whispering) We have to stop for a sec.

BEARD: -- we just had to do something about it. So some guy came along and told us that, uh, if we pay him a dollar and give, uh -- that he would help us to organize, and get some money for our family, and get, uh, balance with, uh --

HELFAND: (whispering) (inaudible)

BEARD: -- organization of where we could make something for our family. So he took all of our money, walked out and left us, got us post out on strike, and walked out and left us. And, uh --

GEORGE STONEY: Now, I wonder if you could go back and tell us what it was like working in the mill?

BEARD: Well, that's what I'm -- that's what I'm saying.

GEORGE STONEY: Yeah.

BEARD: They put, uh -- they pushed whatever they wanted, uh, us to do, regardless of whether it -- well, made anything, and they didn't do only that, they just talked to us like we were animals, and they called us dirty names, and said, "Oh, these people out there with no clothes, and no shoes on, they'll take your job, and we don't need you." And we (inaudible) and all that kind of stuff until this man came along. And he came along, pulled us out for seven years of course.

GEORGE STONEY: Now let's go back and could you tell us -- you told us that you worked at night and had to keep your children at home. Could you start off telling us about being a single mother and then so forth?

BEARD: Yeah, well, uh, that's -- that's my personal life there from when we, uh, came here and worked 12 hours at night, so I had a 10-months, and a 00:03:00three-year, and a five-year-old child. We'd feed 'em at night, 'cause we could -- it'd be a sleep in. So we'd feed them at night and let 'em sleep, and then the next day, well, if we got any sleep we'd have to, uh, let the babies crawl and look, see where we were, and whether we had, uh, someone to, uh, find in the bed, pull them down, and open their eyes, and say they're not asleep, they awake now. And, uh, so, uh, they went on like that, but then whenever they got caught up with it and all that stuff, and they just pulled out and left everybody with no, uh, no work, and no anything, and they just laid 00:04:00everybody off that they wanted to, and then, uh, they kept 'em off 'til -- trying to force them. And all they went -- stayed. Well, they had to, uh, sign a paper that they would never mention the union again, so us stubborn people just wouldn't take it. So we stayed out seven years before we'd take it. Finally, well, uh, we made it, but we really didn't make it for ourselves, but the thing that we thought about was our starving babies.

GEORGE STONEY: Could you tell us how you made a living during those seven years?

BEARD: Well, with any kind of work you would honestly do, from scrubbing floors, picking cotton, doing whatever it was, and someone from the public -- I have sewed a many a baby dress for a nickel.

GEORGE STONEY: Could you do that again? Tell me that again?

BEARD: I made a many, many baby clothes for a nickel a piece out of flour sacks. And the grown people asked to sew all that I could get, flour sacks or anything, to make for people. So I made -- I made clothes from a nickel for bab-- infants, ten cents for toddlers, 15 cents for women and schoolchildren. And worked as whatever we could get to do.

GEORGE STONEY: Now, why did you join the union?

BEARD: To try to make it better for others. If we didn't get it for ourselves, we would be accomplishing something for the babies we're bettering than them. (crying) So if it doesn't benefit us, we're standing up for them. I have to blubber sometimes, that has to go with it. But the worse thing 00:06:00that they ever did -- and worse thing I think anybody could ever do -- when the thir-- when that strike was over, and they laid off the ones that didn't sign the paper, they took them and they went out in the country, and they hired help to replace them, they throwed everybody in their village -- I wasn't in the village, thank the Lord, but they throwed me out where I couldn't pay rent, and I didn't have no place to go either with three babies -- but the ones that was in the plant houses, they threw 'em out on the sidewalk, clothes and all. One particular family, I'll never forget, they had a little invalid boy 00:07:00(inaudible) they had four little girl-- little children. They sat them on the sidewalk in the rain, with their baby on the cart, and watched him die. (crying) You could go up and down that -- that street there in that cotton vill-- village and all over town, and find the people on the sidewalks, on the streets, and on the shelters, because they had no place to go and no jobs.

GEORGE STONEY: Now you told me something about the way the bosses used to speak to you.

BEARD: Everybody spoke to us just like we was dolts and called us all anything they wanted to. Not reasonable, but unreasonable.

GEORGE STONEY: What did you do in the mill?

BEARD: I worked in a spool room with (inaudible) but we always called winding 00:08:00room to be in, but it was spool room. I stayed in that all 25 years I worked.

GEORGE STONEY: Now you were telling me something about the time when they had child labor in the mill.

BEARD: Well I didn't get here 'til after that. See, they got that all right -- I don't remember what year, but they got it before '29. They had, uh, got that, uh, settled. But it's like I was telling you though over there, if you were -- had a gone, well, I say, I don't believe that this particular girl has been dead five years. That was one of them that the 12-year-old boss man whipped with a hickories on a soap boxes, where they had to put soap boxes down for 'em to walk to reach the machines. And she died with stripes on her legs. And she could'a told you that. And there's a lot of them that was, but, 00:09:00uh, you got too late for them. But maybe it won't be too late for these children that's coming up.

GEORGE STONEY: Now, could you tell me about being on the picket line?

BEARD: Oh. (laughs) No. Now that picket line, we did -- we did everything good, and right, and bad, and everything like that. But we didn't let 'em even know we worried, because we danced, and, well, and sang, and had service, and had singings, and made big wash pot filled with chicken, and dumplings, and all that kind of stuff, and everything was just fine. We didn't have but -- I believe we had three cars. One of 'em got in with three people in it, but we never did see 'em come out. But two of 'em, we turned 'em over on their side and they didn't make it any farther. So we didn't have any pa-- any trouble on the front gate, where I stayed all the time. But we didn't -- we 00:10:00didn't even have a blood shed over that whole days that we were out there, but we had sang all night with them at the same -- inside and just like we was going -- and happy as we could be.

GEORGE STONEY: How long were you on the picket line?

BEARD: Seventy-two days. I was there 71. I missed one day.

GEORGE STONEY: Why did you miss that day?

BEARD: Well, my baby had the sniffles. (laughs) So I decided I better stay home with him, 'cause he had made it from 10 months old 'til then, so he was doing pretty good.

GEORGE STONEY: Now tell us about living in the mill house.

BEARD: I only lived in the mill house three years, so... I -- I lived -- I lived in the mill house, uh, '30, '31, and '32, but things were OK when I 00:11:00left the mill. I just got out of the mill, because I -- houses -- because I wanted to. But, uh, it didn't make much difference where we lived at the time. All of us who was laid off and had to rent, well, there wasn't one out of 100 of them landlords that would take us, keep us in the houses. We had to find some other place to live. We lived outdoors, indoors, under shelters, and just one place and another. My children and I have lived in hay barns, on the side of the road. We made it. (crying) We made it. And with the help of God and the people that's good, we still making it.

GEORGE STONEY: How many children and grandchildren, great-grandchildren, do you have?

BEARD: Oh, Lord, now you'd have to count it from them. I have, uh, three 00:12:00children, six grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, one great-great-grandchild. Then I'm, um, stepmother of two different families and, uh, between my last husband and I, we had 23 grandchildren. And, uh, so we -- we have, of that, we have, uh, six great-great-grandchildren, and after there I don't know. (laughs) They're strewn from here to New York, California, and everywhere. I just talked to 'em this morning and they live in Chicago, and Tennessee, and Florida, and they were work -- but I had, uh -- my boys -- well, (inaudible) you met here -- well, he, uh, he went in service and he went 00:13:00to World War II. And, uh, the other one left for -- and went to Japan and rebuilt what they tore down. So they all have wonderful, grown children and grandchildren coming up.

GEORGE STONEY: How old are you?

BEARD: Eighty-four. I'm only 84. (laughs) So I tell you what. I had a brother that just passed away, uh, less than two years ago, and he, uh, he had a birthday on the 16th of February, his 99th birthday.

GEORGE STONEY: Now do you have any advice for young textile workers?

BEARD: Get acquainted with, uh, land -- the property owners before you get in there, and see if you can cooperate with their rules and regulations. And if you go in there with a heart of uniting, and you can unite with the management 00:14:00and the labor together, and give a honest day's work, and get a honest day's pay, and that way if you start out that way and it don't work, you will get on.

GEORGE STONEY: Did -- would you recommend that people join the union?

BEARD: That's the only way in the world -- the word union covers so much ground. It is not only for labor, it is for our spirit, our lives, and if we unite together, that's a union that'll hold forever. And if we unite as a person and be a -- all be people, we can do that. These -- these that carry the money, and these that carry the weight, if they all consider their people, and 00:15:00otherwise it won't work. So sometimes you have to pull some little tricks on 'em, and give 'em a little excitement, but anyway we got some back on some of them bosses. When we went back in there the point was they still had them bosses and overseers that we had when we stayed out for seven years. That's where we're headed from. They thought they could still do what they did before. So I just got to tell you about the little rats. So, well, they throw back pieces of yarn, you know, it's called -- and then little mice and rats would get in, and there's women that had, uh -- well, there's four of us especially put to own that yarn -- to clean it up. So these guys were still there when they got some yarn with little rats in it. They, uh, they put it 00:16:00right back on their job. We all got us a waste bucket, you know, we had to carry, so we all got us a waste bucket full of them little rats. And this guy was so smart, he put that stuff in our boxes. He had to do some work on the machine and then he wore coveralls over his suit, you know, and we followed him -- one or the other, was there before we went to get a drink of water or something -- it took us eight hours to put one down his back, and we hadn't seen them coveralls yet. (laughter) So, anyway, well, then we began to realize and consider that in the bosses -- the big -- the owners and everything, even from, uh, the 51% Mr. [Littles?] on all the way down, but they gave us time off 00:17:00for lunch and shut down for an hour for lunch, you know, on each shift. We'd bring dinner and eat together. And, uh, they give -- we (inaudible) we was getting a whole week for the 4th of July with pay off. But when this new -- when Mr. [Nichols?] passed on, and this new Mr. Cone and them came in, well, we were just too set in our ways, in the old-fashioned worker, and old-fashioned help, you know, you know, and, um, management, that well these -- they were good-hearted and they believed in union and contract, but they wanted to, uh, put their way of doing it. And that's where we spent the last time. That's 00:18:00when Gadsden died. And if the people of today can get something out of it for the rising generation, we'll turn over in our grave and laugh about it.

GEORGE STONEY: Do you miss the old mill?

BEARD: Oh, we'll always miss that. Uh, one fewer that we got left, I talked to one of the girls two hours and a half last night, and, uh, and we still go back and -- I have one left, the [Cassin?] girl, and she, uh, she was in that march, you know, and we were talking about all those things. And, uh, so she says, "Well," she said, "I miss that old place," but said, "We missed a lot of meals too, but maybe somebody else'll get one on account of it."

GEORGE STONEY: Have you gone over there recently? You know what's over there now?

BEARD: Oh, I know what's over there. I've been over there a few times, but I hadn't been away from the house except to the doctor's office now for four 00:19:00years. I've been, um, shut in here for six years, but I got to go in the morning and get me a ticker for my heart. I (inaudible) other ones. So, uh -- but I don't mind mine. I've live a good, happy life. I've had more than my share of things, and I got a wonderful family, and, um, wonderful friends, and got to keep people that hop in here from (phone ringing) everywhere and I don't even know who they are. It's OK, my hospital's already called. (phone ringing)

GEOGRE STONEY: Maybe that's just us.

HELFAND: I'll get it. (break in video)

BEARD: (inaudible) (laughter)

M1: I'm trying to get some.

GEORGE STONEY: OK, well, try it again.

BEARD: (inaudible)

GEORGE STONEY: Well, we're going to go back and have you talk about some other things. You ready, Jamie?

JAMIE STONEY: Rolling.

GEORGE STONEY: OK, the first thing I want you to talk about is why you think the 00:20:00-- the people needed organization, and when you got out to talk to other people, what did you tell them?

BEARD: Tell them to organize. Organize with the management, and get together and be friends, and find out what each other wants, and, uh, work together. And you cannot do it if you don't -- I don't mean you have to sign a paper for, uh, the contract or thing like that that is a union contract, but a contract with people to be people, poor or rich, whatever, that -- to give each one a chance. And we have people that you couldn't work for to save your life. We have people that wouldn't work to save your life. But at the same time, we have to quote with that and, uh, know that if we want to do the thing that's right, and we can get the management to see that, we can have a good world to live in and a good working place. But otherwise, no matter what we do, it's 00:21:00gonna be always confusing.

GEORGE STONEY: Now I want you to think back to the beginning of the organization of the union. Did you go out around, and knock on doors, and that kind of thing to organize?

BEARD: Oh yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

GEORGE STONEY: Could you tell us -- tell us about it.

BEARD: Yeah, we -- we went out -- we went out and, uh, and had people to sign up, and, uh, and help the organizers see where -- where we got the bum deal was this man that came in here in the first place was a fake himself, and that's where we lost out on and got this '34 strike, uh, because of the fact that, uh, he came along and, uh, and we was trying -- we're starving, really, and the family was. But he come along and said he would, uh, you know, organize us and then get us a union, and united with the company, you know. And we all -- 00:22:00we went out and, uh, done everything that was possible to get that dollar and sign them, you know, and everywhere you went and had, uh -- and they signed, well see that man gets his dollar. Well then when he got all, uh, tied up and, uh, and everything began to, uh -- I don't know, he didn't get enough money or something, we never knew -- we never knew what went with him, but we figured that the company gave him a little more money than we did. He pulled us out on strike and left. Nobody ever knew where he was and never half of us knew his name. We didn't know whether that was it or not. So, uh, that's -- that's the way that went. And then all a -- all this, uh, hit then after the company took so cruel a attitude toward the half that did sign, you know, 00:23:00refused to sign with, uh, them, and then they -- they turned us out and, of course, that made a hardship, and that's why we had to pick beans 'til, uh, for the seven years before they ever called up of what was really holding them in the road. So when they did, then they was gonna lose, all they had put in there since [Dwight?] gave them the land. Just be sure you get caught up with sooner or later.

GEORGE STONEY: Do you remember Mr. Nixon?

BEARD: Nixon? Let's see, uh --

GEORGE STONEY: He was the superintendent, wasn't he? No, I'm sorry, it's the wrong mill. I'm thinking about another mill.

BEARD: (laughter) I'm glad. I thought, but I didn't -- not since the '29, not that. We had, uh, we had lots of, uh, you know, overseers and stuff like that, had quite a few in all departments. See, the best way we handled this organizing and everything like that, see, well, what, uh -- we knew what went on 00:24:00in our department, but if we didn't go to the union hall and hear all the reports, everybody from every department went and they got a report from this, uh, you know, their department, and it would match up with, uh -- they was doing the same thing all over. And they had to find out then after they went out there and, uh, and hired these farmers and replaced us, we had to find out how that they were still selling their, uh, yarn. And, uh, so we finally run across somebody that, uh, wanted to be of help. Now we don't know his name, we never will. We didn't, uh, ask him. But he brought back many hauls and cloth to these places where it was already unionized, and got the tags from there. So 00:25:00that's what broke it down. Then when we lost Nichols and had to pull with another man, we got a little greedy and they grow up. (inaudible)

GEORGE STONEY: Uh, were the women active, uh, on the picket lines?

BEARD: Oh, Lord, yeah. Well, we -- we cooked, and baked, and carried everything we could get a hold of, and everything the neighbors had, and...yeah, we were. They -- we -- we carried our load just like we was on the job.

GEORGE STONEY: OK, Judy, you have some questions?

JUDITH HELFAND: Yeah. Um, I understand that some -- a couple -- or a bunch of organizers came down here to work with you. John [Dean?] and, uh --

BEARD: Well, there was so many of them, I --

HELFAND: Mr. Cox? [Amali Dowd?]?

BEARD: Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm. Well, Mr. Cox was from here, uh -- he was one of our, uh, organi-- our, uh, oh, what are they called? Leader, you know, presidents of the union for a while. Cox and, uh, Stevens, and, Lord, I don't know how many we had. And, uh, we had to re-vote in one every so often, for that so many years that, uh, vote in a new president to do our bossing for us. So, uh...

GEORGE STONEY: Now tell us why you refused to sign the agreement with the -- with the management?

BEARD: My babies were starving to death. I already seen one buried. We had a 00:27:00thousand of us...we couldn't afford to. We had to be in right back where we were and all the rest of 'em too. But see, a great deal -- great thing was a lot of them that really signed and went into work helped us too, you know. We had families, we had neighbors, we had other people that, uh -- yeah, they went in there, and worked, and got a whole lot of stuff we couldn't get from the outside. But we couldn't tell 'em that's what we -- what we was working for. So, uh, it's like I said, most of us is gone, but we hope it'll help the little ones.

GEORGE STONEY: Mm-hmm. OK. Judy?

HELFAND: What else do you want to ask?

GEORGE STONEY: No, do you have some other things?

HELFAND: Well, um, maybe we could, um, why don't -- maybe we could take a break and we could read to her from some of those documents.

GEORGE STONEY: OK, fine. Now, let's stop just a moment, Jamie, and, uh, we'll get the, uh -- turn the fan on and Judy's going to read you some letters that we found.

(break in video)

HELFAND: -- in '33 and '34 stand for?

BEARD: Equalization. Pay for a hard day's work with good pay. Enough to put bread on the table to keep our babies from starving. That's what we stood for. We still do.

GEORGE STONEY: Could you repeat that -- say that again for us?

BEARD: I said, uh, we, uh, we did -- because of the fact to put bread on the table for our children and the children coming up that wouldn't have to do the same thing, otherwise we would'a been still right there where we were in the '30s, because we would have still been drilling like, uh, animals -- not slaves, but animals. And our babies would've still been starving. So now we have a chance, and if the young people today would listen to this, and first 00:29:00unite with the management, and realize that we are human...we'll have a better world to live in and a better payday for our kids.

GEORGE STONEY: OK.

[Tape ends at 29:17]