Irene Brooks Interview 2

 JUDITH HELFAND: Irene, could you tell me about that day? Um, I guess you went from East Newnan to the Old Mill? Is that right?

IRENE BROOKS: Yes.

HELFAND: OK. Could you start from that morning in East Newnan? What happened there? And then tell us about going to the Old Mill.

BROOKS: Well, we -- we went to the East Newnan Mill at 7:00. That's when the people went to work, at 7:00. And, uh, not 6:00. And we walked from there to the Old Mill, which I think they say is three miles. But we were tired and really hungry when we got back to home.

HELFAND: Ok. When you got to -- can you tell me, how many people were with you, 00:01:00if you would -- what you were carrying and what happened when you got to the Old Mill?

BROOKS: We wasn't carrying anything. But, uh, really, I don't know. It's been so long. Uh, we just went to the gates at the Old Mill the same way. But the ones that wanted to work went on in and went to work. But the ones that didn't want to work, uh, stayed on with the crowd. I don't remember how many there was. There was good many. And, uh, we, uh -- we just stayed outside the gate. We were all organized and said always told us not to go inside the gate. But, um, we asked the ones that, um, didn't belong to the union to not go in. But the ones that wanted to work went on in. They didn't pay us any attention. 00:02:00But that's the way it happened.

HELFAND: Now, you were telling me that the National Guards came that day.

BROOKS: Yeah.

HELFAND: Could you tell me about that, what you saw and what the National Guards did to the strikers?

BROOKS: Well, we were there when the, uh, National Guards got there. And, uh, they went inside, of course, and asked us if we would go away. But, the ones that wanted to work went on in. And, uh, we didn't. We all just marched away from there and went back home.

HELFAND: I -- I -- I -- I -- I know that on that day, didn't the -- there were 00:03:00some strikers that were from other mills that were with you.

BROOKS: Oh, yeah. Uh-huh.

HELFAND: Could you tell me about them and what the National Guards did with the strikers that weren't from East Newnan?

BROOKS: They, uh, had a way to go home or the Guards carried them home, carried them back to where they lived and let them out. But, uh, I don't remember how many mills they were from. Sargent and Newnan and East Newnan. I don't know. It seemed like there was some from Hoganville there, too.

HELFAND: Now, I'm going to tell you what I know about this, and maybe it'll help you refresh your memory. OK?

BROOKS: OK.

HELFAND: As I understand it, there were strikers that came from Hogansville and 00:04:00some from LaGrange and -- and Sargent and maybe even Rockmart. And they came down to East Newnan.

BROOKS: Yes.

HELFAND: And they picked you all up, and then you all went down to the Old Mill. And at the Old Mill, they were met by the National Guard.

BROOKS: Mm-hmm.

HELFAND: And the National Guard carted off all the strikers that weren't from East Newnan and brought them to Fort McPherson in Atlanta.

BROOKS: No, they didn't take us to Fort McPherson. I don't remember -- I don't remember the National Guard taking us anywhere from East Newnan. We -- we just had to go back home, so we marched back home.

GEORGE STONEY: When you marched, did you sing?

BROOKS: Oh, yeah. We sang songs as we marched and laughed and told funny things. 00:05:00And enjoyed being with the crowd, you know. But, um, I don't know what the ones that, uh, didn't live in East Newnan did. I really don't know what they did.

GEORGE STONEY: Later on, did you hear about those people getting arrested and taken to Fort Mac?

BROOKS: Oh, yes. We heard about that.

GEORGE STONEY: Tell us about it.

BROOKS: We heard it on the radio and read about it in the papers. But I don't know how long all that lasted.

GEORGE STONEY: When did you get your notice to move?

BROOKS: Beg your pardon?

GEORGE STONEY: When did you get your notice to move?

BROOKS: We got our notice to move right away. They wouldn't let us have a house to live in, so we had to move. We moved a little piece from East Newnan in 00:06:00the country; they called City View. But, uh, that's about halfway between Newnan and East Newnan.

GEORGE STONEY: Well, if your daddy wasn't on strike, why did they make you move?

BROOKS: That was the way they had punished them. They cut their pay all out. They didn't have nothing coming in. Then they formed that WPA and they would let one in the family work, and I was the one that worked in our family. And one even-- one day, it rained and turned awful cold and it started snowing before dark. And, uh, we walked home in that falling snow. Mama made me wash my feet in warm, soapy water and put Vick's salve in it. Try to keep us from being sick. 00:07:00And I didn't get sick from it, but, uh, some of the family did have real bad colds, but I didn't have bad colds.

HELFAND: So, what happened to you and your sister and your family? Could you tell me again? When you went back to East Newnan after this -- after this strike. After that day, when you left the Old Mill.

BROOKS: We went back to work, but they didn't let us work. They finally told us that -- that if we'd move off the village, they'd let us girls work, but they didn't let my daddy work because we were younger than he was and they 00:08:00felt like we would be beneficial to them more than the old ones would.

HELFAND: Could you explain to us why the mill evicted you and your family? And use that word, eviction, or leave the house.

BROOKS: Uh, they, uh, asked my daddy – for us to evacuate from the house. And, uh, he went and found a house for us right away. Of course, we had to get somebody to move us-- we moved more than halfway between Newnan and East Newnan. We was only there two or three years and, uh, um, we worked at Sargent a little 00:09:00while, on third shift. But, uh, it was hard to get to work and back and we, uh, didn't work there too long because we just didn't have a good way of going to work and back.

GEORGE STONEY: Now, we have, uh, a kind of letter that they sent out to people who they wanted to get out of the house. Judy?

HELFAND: Yes?

GEORGE STONEY: Do you have that with you?

HELFAND: Uh-huh.

GEORGE STONEY: Could you read that to her and then see if you got -- remember getting a -- your father getting a letter like it.

HELFAND: OK. This is from the Newnan Cotton Mills, colored and novelty yarns, Newnan, Georgia. And it's dated March 16th, 1935. And it was sent to J.M. Arrington in East Newnan.

BROOKS: Yeah, I knew Mr. Arrington.

HELFAND: Did Mr. Arrington -- was he part of a union along with you?

BROOKS: No. His son and one of his daughters was.

HELFAND: Well, they wrote to Mr. Arrington, "Dear sir, the mill desires to 00:10:00have possession of the premises now occupied by you at 23 Hill Street."

BROOKS: Mm-hmm.

HELFAND: "And you are hereby notified to vacate same on or before Saturday, March 23rd, 1935. Your failure to comply with this notice will necessitate our resort to legal process. Yours very truly, Newnan Cotton Mills," and it's signed, "R.H. Freeman."

BROOKS: Mm-hmm.

HELFAND: Did your family get one of these eviction notices?

BROOKS: No. I don't remember it if we did.

HELFAND: So, how did they tell you that you were going to have to leave your house and your jobs?

BROOKS: I don't remember. Really, I don't remember.

HELFAND: Did all--

GEORGE STONEY: Ju-- Judy, let's move on now --

HELFAND: OK.

GEORGE STONEY: -- to afterwards --

HELFAND: Uh-huh. OK.

GEORGE STONEY: (inaudible) union --

JAMIE STONEY: We need to pause for just a moment.

HELFAND: And they left the mill village. Did the union ever try to help you get your job back, be reinstated?

BROOKS: No. They didn't try to help us get our job back. Uh-uh.

HELFAND: What did the union do?

BROOKS: The union didn't do anything.

GEORGE STONEY: Did you ever hear from them again?

BROOKS: No. We never did hear from them anymore.

HELFAND: OK. Well, how would you feel if -- if you were to know that they had really tried to help you get your job back, or get you in your house again?

BROOKS: Well it would have helped us a lot because there was many of them in the family. We could've made a -- a real good living that way. But as it was, we had our living cut off. And we went to Newnan and picked up commodities like 00:12:00they give now sometimes. Package of Irish potatoes and roast beef and canned milk and salt pork and beans and teas and stuff like that. Anything to help out.

HELFAND: Who did you get this relief from?

BROOKS: WPA.

HELFAND: OK. Could you tell me that again and say the WPA -- we had to resort to getting relief?

BROOKS: We got a card from WTA telling us about getting a relief and what day they would be there. And that was the day that we went. Papa and some of us girls because it takes that many to bring it back to home where we used it. And we fed pretty well on it by having a garden and sweet potato patch and stuff 00:13:00like that because we kept a cow and had our milk and butter. We had a place to keep a cow then, but we didn't have when we lived in East Newnan.

HELFAND: Now I've -- I -- I found a letter when I was in Washington --

BROOKS: Yes.

HELFAND: -- that described the way the union tried to help get the jobs back, and to help protect the strikers who -- who had been evicted. Did -- did you ever hear anything about a case that they tried to bring against the mills to try and help all of you get your jobs back?

BROOKS: No. I never did hear.

HELFAND: Well, I'm -- I'm going to show you this letter. And, in fact, it was through this letter that we found you.

BROOKS: Mm-hmm.

HELFAND: And I wanted to talk with you.

BROOKS: Yes.

HELFAND: It says here -- and this is written by a man named Frankie Coffey, who was the director of the Atlanta Regional Labor Board, and he was representing your local. And he says here -- it's dated October 2nd, 1934, which is just 00:14:00about a week after the strike --

BROOKS: Mm-hmm.

HELFAND: -- was called off. And it says -- and this is written, actually, to Mr. Coffey. I'm sorry. This is written to Mr. Caughey of the Atlanta Regional Board, and it's signed "S.A. Hollahand," who was the director of the textile strike here in the area. S.A. Hollahand -- does that name ring a bell? Mr. Hollahand?

BROOKS: No.

HELFAND: Well, Mr. Hollahand wrote to Mr. Coffey, and he said, "I wish to make a complaint of union discrimination in violation of Section VIIA of the National Industrial Recovery Act against the Newnan Cotton Mill number two in Newnan, Georgia. This company has refused to reinstate a large number of strikers and members of the union that were in the employ of that concern at the time of the 00:15:00strike. Many workers, not members of the union, with less seniority than those refused employment have been employed." And he says here, "Prompt investigation of this complaint will be greatly appreciated." And -- why don't you take a look at this? And you'll see --

BROOKS: Oh, I'm too hot.

HELFAND: -- you'll see that your name and, I believe, your sister's name is listed there.

BROOKS: Hmm.

HELFAND: Do you want to read them out loud?

BROOKS: Sidney Boswell. I know him now. He lives in Hoganville. Zona Chandler. She's dead. Maddie Jones married a tailor the last time, and he's dead and she's dead. And Irene Brooks, and I married Homer Elder, and he's dead. Ruth Arrington, that was Maddie's tailor's sister. And she worked the spinning 00:16:00room. And Margaret Bishop lived across the street from them on Hill Street. And, uh, Maddie Brooks was my sister. She worked in the spinning room. She's dead now. And Louella Bishop worked in the spinning room. Verna Brooks worked in the spinning room. And Alma Spradlin worked in the spinning room. And we knew them when they lived in the country. And Gladys Spradlin worked in the spinning room. And Alma Brooks worked in the spinning room. Rubus Spradlin worked in the spinning room. And Oscar Morris -- it said twister room and I don't really 00:17:00remember him. And Claude Collis, twister room, but I don't remember him. And C.H. Phillips, winder room, but I don't remember him. They worked there before I did and after I did.

HELFAND: Well --

GEORGE STONEY: That sounds like you had a few girls in the spinning room had a kind of group that was all organized together.

BROOKS: Yes.

HELFAND: Tell us about that?

BROOKS: Well, they organized all those -- us girls at the same time, but I don't remember how we all got together when we went on that march. I really don't.

HELFAND: Let me ask you something. What -- a lot of people were frightened to 00:18:00join the union, weren't they?

BROOKS: Oh, yeah. People were frightened to join it. They was afraid they'd lose their jobs, which we did, of course, and they didn't. But, uh, I don't -- I don't remember. It's just been so long.

HELFAND: What gave you and the other girls in the spinning room the courage to join the union and come out together?

BROOKS: Well, the organizers made it sound so good and everything, so that's the reason we joined it.

JAMIE STONEY: Let's do that again.

HELFAND: OK.

JAMIE STONEY: A truck pulled off

GEORGE STONEY: And it's just --

BROOKS: Oh, too hot. Too hot.

GEORGE STONEY: -- organizers said you had to -- you had the nerve to do it.

BROOKS: Yes. We had --

GEORGE STONEY: What gave you the nerve to do it? Just explain to us why you had 00:19:00the guts to do it when other people didn't. What was it about you?

BROOKS: It was just our nerve, I guess, to pay attention to the organizers and join it. And it got us all in at the same time. Oh, I'm too hot.

GEORGE STONEY: I think finally, uh, Judy --

HELFAND: Yes.

GEORGE STONEY: -- um, ask the -- the question we talked about.

HELFAND: Yeah. OK. Tell me. I -- I have a lot of respect for all of you that had that kind of nerve and guts to come out like that, and I want to know, what gave you -- what made it so that all of you could do that? What gave you the n-- the guts to do that and the nerve? Explain -- try and explain that to me.

BROOKS: Well, the organizers made it sound so good and everything, until it gave us the nerve to try. Because we needed more money at that time. We didn't have any furniture in our house except just beds and table and chairs, table -- and we had a long bench on each side of the table to have sitting room at the table. Mom ate at the head of the table, and Papa at the head of the table.

GEORGE STONEY: Boy, that must have been a sight, with all those girls lined up.

BROOKS: Yes.

GEORGE STONEY: (laughs) We had a dozen of them. You don't have any pictures of that, do you?

BROOKS: I have some where I don't know how -- I don't know where I'd find it.

GEORGE STONEY: We'd love to see that picture.

HELFAND: Yes, we would. We would.

GEORGE STONEY: And, Judy --

HELFAND: Yes?

GEORGE STONEY: -- that wasn't the question about her attitude towards the union.

HELFAND: Um, tell me something. After all these years -- I have two questions. One is, how do you feel about the union now, after all these years?

BROOKS: Well, it's a good thing when it's carried out right.

HELFAND: I'm going to ask you that again, and I want you to use the word 00:21:00"union" so we know what you're talking about, OK?

BROOKS: OK. The union is a good thing when it's carried out right, but, uh, the way it was then, they didn't have the right leaders -- they didn't know how to carry it out. Just by instinct and thought. Oh, I'm so hot.

GEORGE STONEY: Do you think the government or the -- your bosses had anything to do with the way the union left you?

BROOKS: No, I don't think the bosses had anything to do with it and about it either. In fact, they was just as much against it as, um, everybody else was that was against it. Turn on the air conditioner, please.

GEORGE STONEY: OK.

HELFAND: OK. Before, we were talking about this. So many people being -- so many people were frightened --

JAMIE STONEY: Are you comfortable?

HELFAND: Yeah, people were frightened to join the union for fear of losing their jobs. And I'm wondering why -- what gave you the courage to join?

BROOKS: Well, they made it sound so good. The organizers made it sound so good. We had the nerve to join because it would've been -- if it had been carried out right, we would've had more money and better living conditions. But, uh, they didn't know how to carry it out. That's the reason it didn't work out.

HELFAND: How did your father feel about you joining the union?

BROOKS: Um, my father -- well, they -- the organizers didn't talk him into joining. And therefore, he didn't join. But all of us girls did, that was working at that time. But my father didn't object to it. He thought we knew what we were doing, but we didn't, really.

HELFAND: I have here ano-- on-- one of those letters where the union was trying to help you get your jobs back. I'm wondering if you could, you know, take -- read -- read just a portion of it, and you'll see your name listed here. And I -- I want to know what you think about that. Why don't you just read this part over here?

BROOKS: On N-- November the 13th, 1934, Mr. R.H. Freeman, president of the mill, stated that the list of 29 complaints o-- complaints -- 20 would not be retired because of rowdiness when the flying squadron interfered with the operation of the mill, those 20 are stated to be: Sydney Boswell, Oscar Morris, Ruth Arrington, Irene Brooks, Alma Brooks, Louella Bishop, Alma Spradlin, Rubus 00:24:00Spradlin, C.H. Phillips, Arthur Duncan -- I know him -- Zona Chandler, Hass Arrington, Millie Jones, Maddie Brooks, Verna Brooks, Margaret Bishop and Gladys Spradlin, Claude Crowley, Hart Roberts, Lennie Adams -- I don't know him. "The above employed nine occupied in the village of their removal will also take Dusty Morris, Lloyd Morris, Maddie Morris, and Myra Putwell of the m-- remaining compliment, Ruddy Morris was fired." Lord.

HELFAND: What do you think about the union having tried to take up a case and trying to help you get your job back?

BROOKS: Well, I don't remember them trying to help us get our job back. I 00:25:00really don't.

HELFAND: Have you ever been back to East Newnan?

BROOKS: Not to live. (coughs) I've been back on visits, of course, but I haven't been there to live.

GEORGE STONEY: Well, if you had known then that the union was trying to help you get your job back, what would you have done?

BROOKS: Well, we would've probably went back to work if we could have because it would've been beneficial to us to have went back to work. But they never did try to help us get our job back.

GEORGE STONEY: Well, when you went to the next mill to work, was there an attempt to get a union there?

BROOKS: I don't know if there was an attempt to get a union here in Grantville 00:26:00or not. I really don't. We didn't even know about Grantville then. (laughs)

HELFAND: Did you ever -- did you ever try and join another union ever since then?

BROOKS: No, I never have tried to join another union because, um, we got bit so bad that time. Only thing I joined is a Methodist Church and, uh, the, uh, senior citizen's club they have here in Grantville. I go there Mondays and Tuesdays. Enjoy being with other people. They bra-- they pick me up here at my home and bring me back here, to my home, and we have lunch up there.

HELFAND: We've met a lot of -- we've met a number of people, all of whom were working at the time, who recall this strike. Some of them were involved in 00:27:00it. And they're afraid to talk about it.

BROOKS: Well, they was afraid to talk about it because they was afraid they'd lose their job if, um, if they did talk about it.

HELFAND: We're meeting people today, years later, who are still afraid to talk about it.

BROOKS: Well, I'm not afraid of it. Many things, I'm not afraid of. So, really, I'm not afraid of it.

GEORGE STONEY: Could you go back and say, "I'm not afraid to talk about it"?

BROOKS: I'm not afraid to talk about it. Some people are.

GEORGE STONEY: Why aren't you afraid to talk about it and some other people are?

BROOKS: I guess I've got more nerve than people -- (laughs) some people have. Have to have a lot of nerve to be doing what I'm doing now. (laughs)

HELFAND: A lot of people were blacklisted in other mills when they went to go get a job after this.

BROOKS: Yeah, they called it blackballing.

GEORGE STONEY: Could you talk about being blackballed?

BROOKS: Well, they just wouldn't give them no job back.

GEORGE STONEY: Could you go back and talk about -- use the word "blackball," and then, "they wouldn't give them the job back."

BROOKS: They were blackballed because they belonged to the union and when they found out they did belong to the union, they, uh, they wouldn't let them go back. They wouldn't take them back to work.

HELFAND: Now, we know -- yeah. Yeah. We know people who, when they would go from one mill to another, they couldn't get a job.

BROOKS: No.

HELFAND: Could you talk about that?

BROOKS: Well, if they went to another mill and tried to get a job, if they would've known that they had belonged to the union, they wouldn't have given them no job. So, they'd just be out of luck. I know one time, my daddy got a 00:29:00job for us at Poorsdale. And we went there and we worked -- of course, we had to board there and work. And it was so, uh, difficult for us to get away to go from where we lived to Poorsdale until we just -- we all quit.

HELFAND: Did you ever go to another mill and they asked you about your participation in the union?

BROOKS: Not at Poorsdale, they didn't ask us anything about the union. But that was a big plant. It was a mile long down one side of the mill. It's a pretty good length. But we worked in the spinning room there just like we did at, um, Newnan and East Newnan.