GEORGE STONEY: Honea Path, South Carolina, was a small mill town near Greenville, Spartanburg, but a remote single mill there was almost no organization around there but some of the workers had the courage to come out on strike. The local sheriff had armed the people who went into the mills. There was a deputy with a pistol and a number of people with shot guns and we have the story from three eye witnesses of what happened -- two eye witnesses of what happened. They were marching around the mill, carrying American flags, singing, 00:01:00"We Shall Not be Moved," "Solidarity Forever," and there were shots from inside the mill. The strikers started running; seven of them got shot in the back, all in the back. Seven of them were killed and a number of others wounded. Three days later they had a funeral for the seven of them and this is the footage of that funeral when something like 10,000 people collected. (the newsreel sound in the background) The singing "Sweet By and By," you know that old song. 00:02:00VOICES ON NEWSREEL: (inaudible)
GEORGE STONEY: See the American flag. Now this is newsreel footage that was
taken. We found it in the archives; we have no proof that it was ever actually used. See the huge crowd; they gathered from all over that part of the cotton mill country. Many prominent people came.MAN On NEWSREEL: It isn't possible for Vice President Gorman to be here as planned. however I have a message singed by him and the members of the strike comittee I want to read at this time.
00:03:00GEORGE STONEY: Reading a message from Gorman who was
warned not to come because it was too dangerous.F1: Oh really?
MAN ON NEWSREEL: The cruel and senseless death of the six strikers at Honea Path
has profoundly shocked and dismayed the members of the General Strike Committee of the United Textile Workers of America. We--(break in newsreel)GEORGE STONEY: Here again you see the huge crowd of people.
MAN ON NEWSREEL: (inaudible) pay no respect to that law passed by our
government. If they would not abide by the law of the federal government. If they would not live up to the spirt of the New Deal, and they would not (inaudible) out departed brothers (inaudible). Their fellow workers in craft and industry. To bargain collectively, to sit around the conference table, and to adjust differences. No they were determined to continue their past feudalistic 00:04:00traditions, where they could be the feudal overlords. Seizing on the solemn unfortunate occasion is because the employers in this industry are determined to go to any lengths, to prevent the workers in this industry from having their rights under the law. Yes a great many of them, too many, but thank god not all of the employers in the textile industry have gone to the (inaudible) of indirectly (inaudible).GEORGE STONEY: This is remarkable footage because it was early sound film.
00:05:00MAN ON NEWSREEL: Of the trade union movement and its friends in America. And
thank God that we have a humane administration of our federal government in Washington. An administration that the President's spokesman, the labor representative in the United States Cabinet, our beloved Secretary of Labor Madame Frances Perkins.GEORGE STONEY. See the almost prophetic trust in the administration. Now here
you see the hearses, the row of hearses here.ROY WADE: The prior footage was before the funeral now this is --
GEORGE STONEY: That's right. That's right.
WADE: This is after.
GEORGE STONEY: You see they're carrying out the caskets. They had to go to
00:06:00three different towns to get enough hearses because it was small town. They had to have this funeral out in a big field because there was no other place that was big enough.WADE: Thousands of people.
GEORGE STONEY: Thousands and thousands of people. So my question to you now is
this: this happened, this was a great tragedy. The news of it spread all over 00:07:00the country but particularly over the South was headlined and it frightened everybody, pro or con, it frightened everybody. This is getting out of hand. This is out of hand so some people thought we ought to hold it down. Other people thought we ought to do something about it. Unfortunately the answer was that Roosevelt thought he had a deal with the textile manufacturers that they would not take retribution and that everybody get back to work then they would talk it over and work out something that was going to be fair for everybody; that did not happen. So what we have here is a picture of failure. How do you as organizers deal with laborers defeats?WADE: That's a tough, tough question, I mean its a tough question, but it's one that we get a lot of
00:08:00questions on because the feats -- you have them. This was a failure; you said that, I mean we all see that it was a failure. It wasn't a failure of the workers, it was a failure of the system, you know. They failed to protect them and the way we have to deal with it we acknowledge it. You can't hide your failures. You acknowledge they happened but you put them in the larger perspective of what it all means, what's the end goal. The end goal of all these struggles from '34 to '91 -- the most recent one here -- is -- the goal is to make things better for the workers, for ourselves, for our families, I mean for tomorrow and you're gonna have failures no matter what you do. Any road you chose or path that you chose for an end goal to make things better, you're gonna have failures so you can't hide them, you deal with them; you discuss them if it comes up, but you keep them in the perspective of the 00:09:00long-term goal.DON RODGERS: And you learn from the mistakes --
WADE: You learn from them.
DON RODGERS: -- that have been made, you know. Even though there are defeats,
you instill in the hearts and minds of the people that work in the plants that, yes there is a way to make things better. Maybe not today, but maybe tomorrow, maybe we can talk to more people and let them see our side of it, you know, give out more information and a lot of the great unions we have today they suffered defeat after defeat and when the time was right, when everybody had basically the same principles in their mind at the same time, that's when they got their unions.LUCILLE THORNBURGH: When we had our strike in 1934, when we first joined -- when
I did and the others first joined the Center Labor Council there in Knoxville, it was composed mostly of the railroad men because they were the ones who were 00:10:00organized and we had several of these railroad men who would come in from their international unions and talking to us there. I have heard it so many times that I can still remember exactly what they said. They were all good orators and they would say, "Now you people remember that men have fought, bled and died to get this eight hours for you."WADE: That's right.
THORNBURGH: That's what they were working toward. And he said, "Now it is up
to you people," and he was talking to us textile strikers, "It is up to you now to get better working conditions for those people who are to come after you."WADE: Right. And it's like this film -- these people were out to change the
status quo at the time. The status quo was that the company had total authority over your working life in the mill; you didn't have any rights, you didn't have any say so in anything that was taking place inside that plant and these 00:11:00people knew in order to change things and make 'em better, they had to take a chance on that. I mean nothing -- no gain that you're gonna get from your struggle is gonna be pain free, is gonna be failure free. Anytime you're set out to change the status quo, which is in this case, have some of the power as workers over our working lives, our lives 8-10 hours or so in the plant, anytime we're out to do that to take some of that power it's going to be painful; it's not going to be easy.THORNBURGH: I think when this -- when these railroad men were talking about that
men had fought, bled and died to get the eight hours for them that what he was saying to us, "If you have to fight, bleed and die to get better conditions, then that's the way it's going to be."WADE: That's right.
F1: I certainly don't --
DON RODGERS: If it's not worth fighting for, it's not worth having.
00:12:00F2: I don't want to trivialize the sacrifices and the martyrs from that
experience, but what I want to do is to say that I think that we need to be realistic and up front about the struggles. There are risks that are involved and I think that hiding this pretty much minimizes that, yes there is a risk and while no one wants to start out being a martyr, no one wants to always be the one to make the sacrifices, it's still important to be realistic with people and you have to draw a balance as an organizer. Not to put more fear and intimidation into people, but to give them the real picture of the way things really are and sometimes violence comes out of that and if you're going to be involved in the struggle there is a risk that you may end up being a casualty of the struggle.THORNBURGH: Well look what a risk Martin Luther King took there to establish the
civil rights.F1: And I certainly don't think that Dr. King started out with the intentions
of becoming a martyr for the civil right struggle.THORNBURGH: No he did not.
00:13:00WADE: You don't ever contemplate being a casualty when you start out to do
something that you think is right. I mean you never -- you don't think about that aspect of it. You know you're doing -- in your heart -- that you're doing the right thing which is best not only for yourself but for a large majority of people or a group of people and you know that there's risks that you're taking. I mean we all know that. Everybody knows that anything you start up -- but you don't contemplate or even it never enters your mind of being a martyr or a casualty. The point is you do the right thing; you're doing what you believe.DON RODGERS: You know one good thing, I think in the '90s now, which is better
than in the 30s when we go organize plants we tell the people if you are out front and the company knows you are for the union, the safer you are now is back in the 30s maybe you weren't so safe because they were going to make an example of you. If the company knows you are out front for the union, chances are they're not going to be messing with you because they're going to be 00:14:00picking on these people that we call them "fence-sitters" -- they don't know which side they want to be on. Those are the people they can take advantage of whereas the leaders and union drive now have got so much protection. We document every meeting they come to, every time they go to the gate to pass out leaflets, we've got documentation of that now where they're doing union activities and for the most part their jobs are safe.WADE: You were a casualty of the '34. You were blacklisted.
THORNBURGH: I was blacklisted.
WADE: You didn't lose your life, you lost your livelihood.
THORNBURGH: That is right.
WADE: That's a casualty. I mean you were a martyr, but you didn't
contemplate that when you started, did you, that that would be the outcome?THORNBURGH: Oh, of course not.
F2: You were just angry.
THORNBURGH: I was mad, yeah. I was just mad.
GEORGE STONEY: OK. That's good.
JAMIE STONEY: Can we get some tone in here?
M1: This is room tone.
JAMIE STONEY: We just need 30 seconds of quiet and normal breathing.
00:15:00M1: Well that ought to do it.
(break in video)
GEORGE STONEY: OK. Wait a minute now, hold it.
BILL WINN: OK. Do you want me to introduce myself? I'm Billy Winn. I'm a
00:16:00journalist. I'm Billy Winn; I'm a journalist from Columbus, which is my home town. I grew up here, actually, and now I'm editor of the editorial page of the local paper and -- although I've had some experience with mills and with textile industry through my family, one member of whom was the owners of Muscogee which I believe y'all worked or have worked in the past. And my father was for many years city physician here and was mill physician for years and so he used to come home and tell us stories. Also my grandfather on my father's side worked in the mills all of his life, started in Concord, North Carolina and came down here.GEORGE STONEY: Sorry. Because of the echo in here, you've got to get a bit
more volume. You're rushing it a little bit. 00:17:00WINN: I'm Billy Winn. I grew up here in Columbus, Georgia, and I now work for
the local newspaper where I edit the editorial page. I've had some connection and experience with the mills because my uncle was one of the owners of Muscogee Manufacturing Company where I believe --DON RODGERS: That's where I worked.
WINN: -- where y'all worked. And I worked there too, in the summers, in the
weave room and I also painted the mill. My father was, for many years, from 1920 I think until the middle of the 30s, mill physician and city physician from time to time and would come home and tell me stories about the mill. So I grew up, to some extent, with a connection in the mills here. I've got some letters which are very, very interesting to me from the '34 strike. They are from all the mills here in Columbus, really, and I'll just read you a couple because I think you'd be interested in what some of them say. This one is from Eagle in 00:18:00Phenix and it is addressed to: Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Columbus. FDR was among the management people, of course not a very revered figure and there's an old joke here about Roosevelt, you'll hear it in almost any mill town in the south that the dream of the mill owners here in Columbus was to go into the Royston Hotel and find Franklin Delano Roosevelt dead in every room. He was universally despised among that class but beloved by the mill workers, of course, who appealed to him for help and this is one such letter: "Franklin D. Roosevelt, Washington, D.C. Sir: for the sake of humanity, won't you have an investigation made of the pay and working conditions of human beings in the Eagle in Phenix Mill in Columbus, Georgia? It is a fact that fine young men and women are working in the mill for as little as $4, $5, and $6 per week. There has been no effort made on the part of Eagle in Phenix Mills to cooperate with 00:19:00you. The only change having been made so far is to increase the work and cut the force." And it's signed by "A committee of half-starved human beings looking to you for help."DON RODGERS: Sounds like a desperate plea.
WINN: Indeed. This is from Regis Mills in Columbus. Didn't you work there or
know something about it?DON RODGERS: I used to work for a big manufacturer who owned it at one time.
WINN: This one is also dated in 1934, March 16, 1934. This is a complaint:
"This complaint is anonymous and says that this plant is falsely classifying negroes working at machines as cleaners and paying less than the code provides. The only negro operating a machine not receiving at least 30 cents per hour is one man on the waste machine in the waste house and he receives 22 and-a-half cents per hour, which is the minimum under the code. There are three negroes in the mill cleaning humidifiers and they are allowed under the code to do this at a rate of 22 and-a-half cents per hour, which is the rate they receive." I 00:20:00remember from my experience working in the mill if you could train a skilled black operator they would often do double and triple duty and in case someone got laid off -- one of the white operatives got laid off, the black operative could probably run the machine just as well, the groups of machines, but then when the trains came in and they came loading time, why the guy would go back to being a loader at the track. I suppose the pay would still be the same as he received as a loader. By loader I mean swinging the cotton bales up on the platforms here; that's what they did. This is to the National Labor Relations Board, dated October 29, 1934 and I'll just read a short one: "As I was asked to write you a letter, I am stating my case. I was discharged from the Bibb Manufacturing Company, the 6th month, the 16th day of 1934 as the result of 00:21:00the boss watching me go to the union meetings every Thursday night. I had in four years and ten months' service at that mill and they will not talk about putting me back to work. I am a widow with four children; one has tuberculosis and I only get $3.75 and $4.50 a week relief to feed five on. And I haven't ever heard anymore. I have to get some, someway. Would be glad if you could please investigate." And this is signed, "Miss Mae Phillips." Um. My father used to say that the incidence of tuberculosis was very high in the mills here; the incidence of tuberculosis was extremely high in Columbus. One of the few towns our size that had our own tuberculosis hospital, which was built to, of course, to accommodate the TB cases and daddy thought that much of the illness was not due to tuberculosis at all but was associated in some way with 00:22:00the environment at the mill. Now whether it was some sort of lung affliction or -- peculiar to the mill, I don't know. This is a letter addressed to Mr. Johnson, who was responsible for receiving the complaints and also the Roosevelt's: "Mr. Johnson, please accept my congratulations for you and Mr. Roosevelt as being the two greatest men on earth. I am writing you in regards to the textile code, please excuse me if I am wrong, but the way I understand it no textile worker was supposed to take on any more work, but my wife was laid off today because she refused to take on four more looms. She works for W.C. Bradley, the hardest piece of humanity on earth at the Eagle in Phoenix Mill, Columbus, Georgia. Now I have woven fixed looms for over three years; I've been disabled to work on account of pellagra. Thank God I didn't have to work much for Hoover. Will you please investigate this matter? I am sincerely looking 00:23:00to you for support. Thanking you in advance for any favor you might return to me." This is dated, "A.L. Williams, Gerard, Alabama." That is to say Phoenix City, Alabama, July the 25th, 1933.GEORGE STONEY: Bill would you do that again and explain to them what pellagra
is? Because the audience won't know.WINN: I was going to do that. I was just fixing to do that. I'm fixing to read
a pellagra (inaudible).GEORGE STONEY: OK. You go right ahead.
WINN: You notice in here the reference to pellagra. Many, many people in the
south had pellagra, which is a dietary disease. For years we didn't know what caused pellagra, but we found out it was related to an improper diet and I thought I would read you this -- an account here of a mill boss in Columbus, Georgia, head of the Bibb Manufacturing Company, giving his employees a lecture on how they should -- how they should eat. This is dated September the 15th, 00:24:001934 and it's headed "Mill boss turns dietician, suggesting food perfectly suited to produce pellagra" which indeed it was. "If one is looking for example of the all-embracing stupidity and arrogance of cotton mill barons, here is a candidate for the position. On Sunday, October the 1st, 1931, William D. Anderson, President of Bibb Manufacturing Company had some 1,200 of his workers assembled at what he called a rally in a schoolhouse in Columbus, Georgia. Anderson had brought these mill workers together to enlighten their minds. They were already on short time and cotton mill wages on full time are pretty scanty. But Mr. Anderson told them they would have no trouble in caring for themselves if they bought the right foods. Here is a list of supplies which he set forth as ample for a textile workers family of four persons, for a week: 24 pounds of flour at 60 cents; four pounds of lard at 35 cents, eight pounds of potatoes at 00:25:0016 cents; one peck of corn mill at 25 cents for a total of here it says $1.36" and that was to feed a family of four for a week, so you can see where pellagra might have gotten from.DON RODGERS: I wonder if his family was on that diet?
WINN: I don't think so. I don't believe Mr. Anderson's family could
subsist on that. That's all the letters.GEORGE STONEY: OK. Very nice, very nice.
JAMIE STONEY: Just let me – let me Dad.
(Break in video)
JAMIE STONEY: Why don't you just start reading.
WINN: "Twenty-four pounds of flour at 60 cents; four pounds of lard at 35
cents, eight pounds of potatoes at 16 cents; one peck of corn mill at 25 cents for a total expenditure of $1.36." You can see where this diet would not be healthy. They don't even suggest which is unusual in the south, some fat back or some collard greens or something. There's no meat, there's no vegetables, 00:26:00there's also no fresh milk of any kind. So this is an impoverished diet by any standards.JAMIE STONEY: Would you pick it up again, Will, without the woof woof of the dog
outside? Just pick up where 24.WINN: Start over? "Twenty-four pounds of flour at 60 cents; four pounds of
lard at 35 cents, eight pounds of potatoes at 16 cents; a peck of corn mill at 25 cents," so this is an extremely limited diet for any standards for a family of four persons for a week. It has no meat, it has no milk, no fresh vegetables; it's obviously well calculated to induce pellagra and other dietary problems, especially imagine a child being brought up on this.ANGIE RODGERS: Bill, where did you get all this great information?
WINN: It comes from the National Archives. All of this information and all of
these letters in fact. Ultimately after this film is finished you'll be able 00:27:00to obtain these letters, copies of these letters and other information developed from researching this film at the local library, the Bradley Memorial Library.JAMIE STONEY: OK.
GEORGE STONEY: OK.
JAMIE STONEY: And you're rolling. This is room tone for Mr. Winn's lecture.
(break in video) OK, Billy, whenever you want to start reading.WINN: I'll start anytime. Are you ready?
JAMIE STONEY: Should he introduce himself again for the hell of it?
GEORGE STONEY: No.
JAMIE STONEY : OK. Fine.
WINN: This is a letter from Franklin Roosevelt -- to Franklin Roosevelt, I'm sorry.
GEORGE STONEY: Start again.
00:28:00WINN: This is a letter to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1934 from a committee at
the Eagle in Phoenix Mill here in Columbus, Georgia. It says: "Sir, for the sake of humanity won't you have an investigation made of the pay and working conditions in human beings in the Eagle in Phenix Mill in Columbus, Georgia. There's a fact that fine young men and women are working in this mill for as little as $4, $5, and $6 per week. There has been no effort made on the part of the Eagle in Phenix Mills to cooperate with you. The only change having been made so far is to increase the work and cut the forces. Signed, A committee of half-starved human beings looking to you for help." This is a letter from another mill here in Columbus, Georgia, [Meritas?] Mill. It's actually in the form of a complaint: "This complaint is anonymous and says that this plant is falsely classifying negroes working at machines at cleaners and paying less than 00:29:00the code provides. The only negro operating a machine not receiving at least 30 cents per hour is one man on the waste machine in the waste house and he receives 22 and a half cents per hour, which is the minimum under the code. There are three negroes in the mill cleaning humidifiers and they are allowed under the code to do this at a rate of 22 and a half cents per hour, which is the rate they receive." This one is from Gerard, Alabama, that is to say Phoenix City, right across the river from Columbus, dated July the 25th, 1933 and it's addressed to one of the men who is responsible for receiving the complaints from the workers: "Dear Mr. Johnson, please accept my congratulations for you and Mr. --"