JUDITH HELFAND: bably be in North Charlotte. And, uh...
BOB FREEMAN: I don't never recall no [kneeling or?] (inaudible), like that.
(break in audio)
(film in background)
GEORGE STONEY: Just let us know when ya -- when ya recognize, uh...
FREEMAN: Those houses there are -- and, uh, Plant 6, across the plant --
STONEY: Uh...
FREEMAN: -- across the railroad track from Plant 6.
STONEY: Hold it. Hold it. Uh, I made a mistake. The volume should be way down.
HELFAND: I can't see it. Uh...
M1: What, the volume?
(break in video)
RAY MELTON: I saw those Wilton brothers.
M1: Uh...
STONEY: Ok, go.
MELTON: He's one o' the Wilton brother.
00:01:00FREEMAN: Yeah. (pause) There's the scabs going in.
MELTON: That's the change of the guard, isn't it?
FREEMAN: No, that's workers going in. That's the shift change
MELTON: (laughs) That's what I'm talking to [or?]...
FREEMAN: (laughs)
STONEY: Where is this?
FREEMAN: That's in Plant 6. That was Gibson Mill. But it's Plant 6 now.
That's at the front of the -- front of the plant.STONEY: Talk about those evange-- street evanglists?
FREEMAN: Yeah. That lady, I don't know. I never -- I never heard her -- or
saw her -- or heard of her.M: Uh...
FREEMAN: The guy with the tie on, that must be the guy that's with her.
STONEY: Could you talk about s -- strret evangelists at that time? Uh, losts of
'em around?FREEMAN: Yeah. Oh, there was a lot of 'em, uh.
MELTON: That's probably her boyfriend.
FREEMAN: Yeah. Yeah, there were a lot of evangelists in -- in Kannapolis. Had
a lotta tents up. That's about the only entertainment that people had, was 00:02:00goin' to church.STONEY: Did they -- uh, did they say anything about the union?
FREEMAN: At that... I don't know. I never went to any o' their, uh, tent
meetin's, so I really don't know.STONEY: What'd the preachers generally --
M1: (coughs)
STONEY: -- uh, feel about the -- the union, here in the '30s?
FREEMAN: Most of 'em were antiunion.
STONEY: Uh, say, "Most of the preacher were antiunion."
FREEMAN: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
STONEY: Just repeat. Uh, "Most o' the preachers were antiunion."
FREEMAN: Yeah, most o' the preachers that I -- that I was around were antiunion.
STONEY: OK. Any more comments about what we're seeing?
FREEMAN: The o-- the only thing there is that that's the old Gibson Mill. It's
Plant 6 now, the largest mill that Fieldcrest Cannon has in Concord. And that's the front o' the mill. And that's the guardhouse there. They've had that guardhouse there for years and years. It was there in '74, when we 00:03:00wa-- was trying to organize Cannon. And the houses across the street those are company-owned houses -- they -- right across the railroad track from there.STONEY: Now --
M1: (coughs)
STONEY: -- how old were you and where were you in '34, when this was taking place?
FREEMAN: I lived in Kannapolis, on Grove Street, in 1934, behind Plant 1,
Cannon Mill Plant 1. Uh, when they had the National Guards, those people, it's there. And they had 'em all over Kannapolis. They had 'em on the top o' the plants, with their machine guns. And they patrolled the city of Kannapolis -- had spotlights on the mill, machince guns mou -- mounted in top of the mill. And they, uh, would, uh --STONEY: Go ahead.
FREEMAN: -- and they would, uh, deputize anybody that wanted to be a deputy.
They would give him five dollars a day to be a deputy. And back then, the 00:04:00workers was making $5 and $6 a week, workin' 10 and 12 hours a day, in the plants. But the people that would shoot 'em, they'd give them $5 a day to wear a gun and shoot those people. It was -- made kinda the millionaire.STONEY: Did you remember any of a...
M1: (coughs)
STONEY: --uh, thing about that?
MELTON: I remember about the National Guards coming in, deputizing some o' the
fellows that I worked in the plant with, Plant 1, in Kannapolis. And, uh, this feller Bob Ford happened to be a deputy, which is a friend o' mine today -- and then. And his brother was -- got to be a police officer later. He was sworn in. And it was... I was only 18 years old, back then, in 1934. So, uh, it looked like war to me, down there, National Guards out there and everything. 00:05:00And you couldn't even walk up to the YMCA. Uh, I don't know if I was a member of the YMCA, at that particular time, or not. I don't think I was. But nevertheless, I went up there. It was a public thing. And, uh, they'd stop -- uh, if you's walking, they'd stop you, see what business you had going up that way or walking or this or that. I don't know if they even allowed-- allowed any vehicles up the-- They had it blocked off, didn't they? But I imagine the -- Mr. Cannon, maybe Mr. Brown, the superintendent, possibly they mighta got through. But they were strict, really strict.STONEY: Bob, do you have anything to say about that?
MELTON: You -- uh, I don't think I had to show any identification or anything
or this or that, when I passed the guards. But, uh, they -- they'd talk to ya, want to know where you're going, what your business was up that way and this or that. 00:06:00STONEY: What about...?
MELTON: I recall telling 'em, uh... I was with a cousin of mind, Ernest
Taylor, at that particular time. And, uh, there was a theater up there. We coulda been goin' to the theater. Or we coulda been going to the YMCA. (knocking on the door) That was a big hangout there.STONEY: Come in!
M1: (coughs)
MELTON: Uh, tha--
STONEY: Let him come on in.
MELTON: -- that's probably William. (crash) Yeah, that's William.
(break in video)
FREEMAN: Time I was, uh, around 11 an-- between 11 and 12 years of age.
M1: Uh...
FREEMAN: -- uh, they never stopped me or talked to me, uh, about it. But I saw
'em talking -- stopping and talkin' to workers at that time, uh, wanting to know where they's going, what they were gonna do. Uh, it was the same thing, I imagine, that we went through in Kannapolis that the people in Germany went through in the concentration camps. I -- I can't s-- Well, I don't belive Germany was as rough as... I think we'd have been off, and under Germany, (laughs) w-- with under Cannon.STONEY: Uh, who brought the troops here?
00:07:00FREEMAN: Charlie Cannon. Charlie Cannon.
STONEY: Uh, just, uh, the -- I want you to repeat, when I say, "Well, Charlie
Cannon brought the troops."M1: (coughs) Uh...
FREEMAN: Yeah. Charlie Cannon brought the troops here. Uh, Charlie Cannon
controlled everything in Cabarrus County, the county commissioners, the sheriffs. So whatever Charlie Cannon wanted, Charlie Cannon got. All he'd have to do is just (scraping) tell the sheriff to call in the National Guard and he would order 'em to come in.MELTON: Chances are the governor of North Carolina sent the National Guards in,
as you possibly know. And Cannon and those, they pretty well run not only the county and the textile plant but they pretty well washed the state, didn't they? Well, they were -- uh, they played heavy politics. Put it that way. Whatever they wanted, they usually got.STONEY: Could you tell us where you were --
M1: (coughs)
STONEY: -- uh, Bob?
FREEMAN: Where was I at, at that time?
STONEY: Mm-hmm.
00:08:00FREEMAN: We -- my family lived in a mill house, over there on Grove Street,
which was about, uh, oh, 2,000 feet behind Plant 1. So, uh, everything that went on, as far as the guards were concerned and the spotlights and the machine all guns, we could stand there in the yard, uh,and see' em. The whole vil-- the mill village, the mill village surrounded the -- Plant 1 and Plant 4. And they were in both of those plants. So we could observe everything that was taking place -- as -- as kids -- and, uh, see what --M1: (coughs)
FREEMAN: -- the guards were doing. The spotlights was on at night, making
circles around the village, to see if there was any movement in the mill villages. All of the mill villages, at that time, had outdoor privies. So if you went to an outdoor privy, you could bet your boots a spotlight would be followin' ya, there and back.STONEY: Uh...
M1: (coughs)
STONEY: Do you think all that was necessary? What caused all that?
00:09:00FREEMAN: Well, the -- the workers, a group of 'em, was trying to form unions.
And the reason that the -- Cannon had called in these guards, had 'em sent in, and harassed and coerced these people was because the people were trying to throw off the chains of industrial slavery. They were trying to live as human beings. And, uh, they weren't about to let that happen, if they could help it -- just like they're not about to let it happen today, if they can help it. Uh, there's not -- as far as the union is concerned, in North Carolina, it's hated just as much in 1991 as it was hated in 1934. There isn't any difference in the hate. And their goal in North Carolina is to keep the workers in this state ignorant and working for nothing. And that's what they're doing.STONEY: OK. Let's go ahead with, uh, some of the --
M1: (coughs) Uh...
STONEY: -- see if any more of this, uh, brings anything to your mind.
HELFAND: We didn't get to the guards yet.
STONEY: He talked about the National...
M1: (coughs)
HELFAND: [You must have, uh, to?]...
00:10:00STONEY: OK, well, uh... OK. Uh, you want to...?
HELFAND: Want me to fast-forward?
STONEY: Yes, fast-forward to... 'Cause this is...
HELFAND: Uh, you want to go back to the Guard swinging in?
(break in video)
FREEMAN: No, it isn't Plant 1.
WEE: That's, uh, not really...
FREEMAN: Uh, there's no tower at Plant 1. There -- there's not a plower at
Plant 6 -- not a tower. But there's one in Johnson. But that -- that front there, that's definitely -- the front of that mill was Plant 6 b definitely Plant 6.M1: (coughs)
STONEY: OK. Are you fast for?
HELFAND: I'm rewinding.
STONEY: OK.
(break in video)
M1: (coughs) Uh...
MELTON: You all right, [Wee?]?
WEE: [Yeah, I'm?] fine. Uh, that's, uh...
(break in video)
M1: Uh...
HELFAND: Uh, I'm taking...
WEE: Uh, a lotta those people coming to work --
STONEY: Uh, OK.
WEE: -- might do some work for me.
MELTON: That was, uh, [Muriella?] Hall.
FREEMAN: Yeah, that's Kannapolis there. That's Muriella Hall.
00:11:00MELTON: Muriella Hall.
FREEMAN: Yeah, and that that's Plant 1, the main office. Man, they brought
'em in here on Allied trucks, didn't they --M1: (coughs)
FREEMAN: -- Allied Van. They didn't think too much of the National Guard back
then, did they?MELTON: They made 'em stand up to ride.
WEE: Well, if they had orders, they've got to -- uh, they have to go, just
like you're in the Army. And they ordered you to go to Germany just to fight a war, you got to go.FREEMAN: Yeah, look how many people they had in that little truck.
MELTON: They had to stand there --
FREEMAN: Had a --
MELTON: -- pack 'em in, uh.
HELFAND: -- had a company in there, didn't they?
WEE: Richard [Dancey?] did guard up there.
MELTON: Boy. I'd 'a'...
WEE: Do you remember Richard? Uh...
FREEMAN: Richard who?
WEE: Richard Dancey.
MELTON: Richard Date?
WEE: Dancey.
FREEMAN: Dancey.
MELTON: Uh...
WEE: He's ab -- he would be -- he would be your age or a little older.
MELTON: Yeah. I don't recall if I --
WEE: [And me might, uh?]...
MELTON: -- remember him or not.
WEE: Uh...
FREEMAN: Yeah, that's Plant 1 there. That's in front of the main office --
WEE: Yeah.
00:12:00FREEMAN: -- in Kannapolis.
M1: C
MELTON: That's --
M1: -- could you say that one more time, please?
MELTON: -- that's where they was working.
FREEMAN: That's in Plant O-- That's Kannapolis. That's Plant 1. there's, the
main office, in Kannapolis. And that's Plant 1 there, coming out, beside the office there.WEE: Yeah. That old house is still there, little guardhouse.
FREEMAN: They look just like they did today, no difference in 'em.
STONEY: Do you recognize any of the people?
M1: (coughs)
WEE: That's, uh...
MELTON: I'm, uh, taking a good look, see if I can recognize anybody.
(pause)
FREEMAN: Yeah, you can always hire half of the working people to kill the other
half. That's a good example of it, right there.WEE: Well, that was -- uh, that was National Guard. You're under orders. They
didn't have no choice -- whether they like it or not. I was in Chicago when 00:13:00they called out the National Guard to protect the blacks going into Cicero. They -- whether they liked it or not -- they didn't have no choice but to block the streets and let the blacks march.STONEY: Do you recognize where this is --
M1: (coughs)
STONEY: --Mr. Freeman?
FREEMAN: No. Uh, I don't recognize that one.
WEE: That looks like they were open, uh, Plant 1, from that guardhouse on the
left. But you never know. Nah, that ain't it.FREEMAN: All the plant -- all of Kannapolis always had a fence around it. I
don't see a fence there.WEE: Well, that's, uh -- they made those inside the fence.
M1: (coughs)
WEE: That's, uh...
FREEMAN: Yeah, there -- there it is. That's -- that's Gate #2 there --
WEE: Yeah, that's #2 gate. Right.
00:14:00FREEMAN: -- in Plant 1. And still -- I don't-- they still-- I think they still
got them old guardhouses, right there.WEE: Yeah, them old guardhouse still there, same one. I did security work, uh,
after I retired, for a while. (rooster starting to crow) That's Plant 1. (laughs)MELTON: Uh...
STONEY: What was going on, Mr. Freeman, that, uh, you think, uh, caused them to
make this great, expensive effort?FREEMAN: The employees. The employees was working and starving. They were just
existing. Back at that time, uh, most of the employees was making $6 and $7 a week. And they only got paid every two weeks. Their take-home pay, for weavers back then, was around $15 every two weeks, $14, $15.STONEY: Well, this was after the NRA, though.
FREEMAN: Well, there wasn't no change in the s--
WEE: No, the --
FREEMAN: -- in pay.
00:15:00WEE: -- before the NRA. NRA was in the latter part of the '30s.
STONEY: No. NRA came in in thirty, uh, summer of '33.
M1: (coughs)
WEE: I might --
STONEY: Yeah.
WEE: -- maybe, uh... You know, uh, WPA and all that --
MELTON: You see them airplanes flying there?
WEE: -- they worked for a dollar a day.
FREEMAN: Yeah.
STONEY: Now we're into the -- this is the funeral at Honea Path. Do you re--
do you remember hearing about, uh, all those deaths at Honea Path?FREEMAN: No.
WEE: Uh...
FREEMAN: No, uh, I'm not familiar with that.
WEE: [Jim?], I got to keep working. I got to...
STONEY: OK.
M1: (coughs)
STONEY: I'm sor-- sorry
WEE: I can't be... No, its just--
M: [Hold it just, uh?]...
FREEMAN: All right. [We'll?] come back to see ya.
WEE: Uh, and, uh, [also?] them talkin' about [it?]. I come up here [doing?]
Hoskins. When I was in Hoskins, I'd come up here during the summer and work, and go back.MELTON: Uh...
STONEY: OK, well..
STONEY: OK, thank you!
WEE: That's, uh...
MELTON: Be good, Wee.
WEE: Glad to help ya.
MELTON: Come to see ya.
M1: OK.
(door?)
HELFAND: No, the last time I was here, they -- they did identify someone that
didn't --M1: (coughs)
HELFAND: -- identify this time.
STONEY: OK.
HELFAND: So I'll go back to it.
STONEY: OK. You may be able to spot this fella this time.
FREEMAN: Who was it? Uh, who -- who identified 'em? Do you know? (break in
00:16:00video) In, uh, Kannapolis, in nineteen and thirty-seven, is when it went up to a quarter --STONEY: Uh...
FREEMAN: -- 25 cent. (rooster starts to crow on film) And, uh, they -- uh,
Cannon had a petition going around, uh, and the people were signing it, saying they didn't want the 25 cents, that, uh, it would bust Cannon, Cannon would go broke. And hundreds of 'em signed that petition, saying they didn't want 25 cents an hour. So I know it didn't come until '37.STONEY: Uh...
HELFAND: Uh...
FREEMAN: That's the Muriella Hall, there.
MELTON: Yeah.
FREEMAN: That's down near, uh, 10.
MELTON: That was the mill office, right there.
STONEY: Could you tell us more about what happened in Muriella Hall?
FREEMAN: Well, the Muriella Hall was what Cannon had set up for people that
didn't have -- uh, that li -- didn't live in a Cannon home -- a Cannon house, that they'd brought in here from Georgia. They was paying $10 a head to bring 'em in to go work in Cannon Mills. So they had two. They had the Muriella Hall and another Hall. And one of 'em was for men and one of 'em 00:17:00was for women. They didn't have the men and women in the same, uh, place -- unless they was man and wife. So they had one down near Plant 4, then they had this one up here at the -- Plant 1 --MELTON: And, uh...
FREEMAN: -- the Muriella Hall. So that -- that was all controlled by Cannon.
And the purpose of it was to provide housin' for his employees he'd brought in here, until he could provide housing for 'em or till they could find housing. There wasn't too many rental houses in Kannapolis, at that time. Most all of it was Cannon Mill houses.M1: (coughs)
HELFAND: Should I fast-forward to that stop?
STONEY: Uh, d -- Uh, yeah, it's coming up, I think. And just let us know if
you recognize any people. (clears his throat) Notice these girls are pretty well dressed. What do you say about that?FREEMAN: They would be, uh, most likely timekeepers in the plant --
MELTON: Yeah.
FREEMAN: -- since they're coming out at the same time the employees are. They
wouldn't be in the main office. There'd be timekeepers inside -- each one 00:18:00o' the departments had a timekeeper. Those officers there, the officers in -- got 'em the light uniforms... Uh, they didn't have a National Guard in Kannapolis, at that time. So chances are that National Guard unit was out of Mecklenburg County. They all -- notice they all got on World War I helmets.STONEY: I'm just trying to figure out why they had those packs --
M1: (coughs)
STONEY: -- uh, packs on their backs.
FREEMAN: Well, they probably was camping out. They set up -- I imagine they
were campin' out inside the plant there and on top o' the mill. And those were probably pup tents. Each pup tent carries a half. And be two soldiers put their halves together and make a pup tent, where they can sleep in. And I would imagine that's what that is. Cer -- they certainly didn't have no place here for 'em to sleep. They didn't have no hotels. Wasn't no such thing 00:19:00as a motel, back then. And there wasn't a hotel in Kannapolis. The only thing they had was the YMCA and the Muriella Hall. So there was no place for 'em and they had to camp out. So chances are those are pa -- backpacks.MELTON: That man standing there, with that tie on, looks like old man
[Holsalvert?] -- was a overseer, over in the Spinning Department --FREEMAN: Chances are...
MELTON: -- superintendent.
FREEMAN: Yeah. I remember him. Yeah, that's -- chances are it was.
STONEY: And what was the relationship between...?
M1: (coughs)
STONEY: Uh, you notice those fellows got, uh, bayonets on their guns? Did you
remember that they had fixed bayonets like that?FREEMAN: Oh, yeah. Yeah, they were combat -- readiness, just like they were
going into combat. But the people there themselves didn't have anything. They had no guns, no knives, no weapons, or anything. They were just like you see 00:20:00coming outta that plant. Uh, people is in there working. Uh, the strike here was not no success. They never did get these people out. They stayed in there. And they never was a threat to anyone. As you can see by coming out there, those ladies, uh, they have no weapons on, uh... And the men have nothing. As a matter of fact, they look to me like some of 'em, uh, would hardly get home.MELTON: Uh...
STONEY: But, uh, the present administration has been using the --
M1: (coughs) Uh...
STONEY: -- of the mills has been using this an -- and other things like that to,
uh -- to say that, uh, the union always brings strife.MELTON: Uh...
FREEMAN: Well, the --
STONEY: Look -- uh, look at me when you talk about the...
FREEMAN: -- yeah, the, uh, state of North Carolina is dedicated to the
proposition that all people are born ignorant. And they're dedicated to keep 'em that way. So the only way that you can -- when you can't see something, 00:21:00they have to dream up a story. They draw up monsters -- such as the union is monsters. They -- the people that are saying that, they don't know what a union is. They've never worked in a union. But they're just talking... People that comes in there is hired by the company to come in there and put all the -- all these lies, so they can keep these people in industrial slavery. The amazing thing about it is the people themselves never figure it out. That's the amazing thing. Just like here -- Cannon, in this last campaign, where they stole their money, their pensions, double and triple their work assignments, cut their wages $50 and $60 a week. They were the thieves that was robbing the people. But they turned it around and made like the -- made the people think it was the union that was robbing 'em. And that's -- that's strictly ignorance. And they appropriate billion -- millions of dollars every year for education in North Carolina, and under the pretext of educating 'em, but our 00:22:00SAT scores go down every year. We're the next to the most ignorant state in the nation. Georgia's ahead of us. So the s -- uh, the thing is -- uh, here is not more money to pour down the hole for education. What we need is to change the complete educational system. The people that's over education should be changed. Because the ones that they're trying to teach are more educated than the people that's been paid to teach 'em. And until the people wake up and realize that they're -- they're nothing but just a bunch of industrial slaves, there'll never -- nothin' happen here.STONEY: Now, both of you were --
M1: (coughs) Uh...
STONEY: -- both of you went to school in -- in, uh, Kannapolis. Uh, so, uh...
MELTON: No. Uh, I never did go to school in Kannapolis --
STONEY: You di--
MELTON: -- other than the textile school, with Cannon Mill.
STONEY: Uh, tell about where you went to school and...
MELTON: I went... Uh, I'm from Chesterfield County, South Carolina. I went
to a school named Black Creek. That was the school I come up in. Finished the 00:23:00seventh grade at Black Creek. And, uh, worked on the farm for my father, down there, till I was 18 years old, and came to Kannapolis in August of 1934 -- and was hired in #5 weave room, to go to work by... The overseer's name there was Vic Chisholm. And the foreman's name was Jim Brinkley.STONEY: Now how did you get that job?
MELTON: Uh, superintendent M.M. [Paine?]... He was superintendent over
weaving, at that particular time. And you could get a pass off of him. You couldn't get in the gate without you having a pass. And if you got a pass off of the superintendent, you could go inside the mill and see the overseers, in each department -- and the Weaving Department. That's the only place you could go with that, uh -- with tha -- I don't know. You coulda went other places, maybe, with that pass. But I went to the weave room. My cousin was 00:24:00with me. And he took me to the #5 weave room. And, uh, Vic Chisholm asked Jim Brinkley, which was the foreman, if he could use, uh, me in any way. And he said, "Yes. But I need him on the second shift, for a filling boy." That's the way I got hired. I was hired then. And put the -- put the -- rolling a filling box from spinning room to the weave room, hauling filling, and laying up in the boxes for the weavers to use.STONEY: Now, you'd had no training, had ya?
MELTON: Had no training whatsoever. But I become, so Jim Brinkley stated it six
months later, the best filling boy ever went in a weave room. Jim Brinkley stated that. Uh, in fact, I thought I had made superintendent. He appointed me -- he appointed me to head fillin' boy. But he didn't raise my pay any. Uh, 00:25:00I still made the 30 cents a hour. I believe that was correct. And, uh -- but Ji -- I became Jim Brinkley, the foreman, my foreman's, pet. He said I was the best... Come off of the farm. I didn't know nothing but to work. That's all I knew. I was about half wild, when I come here. I'd never been to town but about a dozen time. And when I got to Kannapolis, I was almost wild. And, uh, things really excited me, around.STONEY: Well, now, when --
MELTON: S --
STONEY: -- when you got into a mill --
M1: (coughs)
STONEY: -- and that August and then there's a strike came on in September,
tell about that.MELTON: Well, uh, I recall going with my cousin up to the -- to the theater or
the YMCA. They was all right there next to the Muriella Hall, as we have talked about previous. And, uh, we were going up there. And as we started up there from downtown, everybody was walking. Nobody had much to ride on, back those 00:26:00days. We started up the sidewalk up there and -- and, uh, the guards asked us where we was a-going. And, uh, I well recall. It looked dangerous to me, the guard, armed guard. Nobody was putting up a fight of any kind. But the guards acted like, uh, there's something bad going on. But there really wasn't anything bad going on. Uh, they just wanted to know where you's going. And we told 'em going up to the YMCA or the theater up there. Uh, and, uh, that was something like maybe eleven o'clock in the day or 12:00. And went to work at -- we went to work at three o'clock, I believe it was, uh, something like that. And, uh, so we come on up there, uh, to fool around up at the YMCA and this and that, the only place you had to go that... They didn't have 00:27:00bathrooms in the houses. They had a bathroom in the YMCA, a big bullpen, they call it. Every man would go in there and take his bath and this and that -- and catch athletic foot -- and on his way. And, uh, so that's all we knew, back then. And, uh, that went on for several years.STONEY: Did you know anything about there being a strike --
M1: (coughs)
STONEY: -- when you came up to that place?
MELTON: Uh, about the strike, you say? Uh, I didn't know anything about the
strike, other than I just was told that -- that some of the people was trying to pull a strike -- and, uh, they was wanting the union, uh, a very few people, that... In fact, I had a uncle to get involved with the union -- and got fired, run off outta Cannon Mill. His name was Kite Woodard -- and my mother's brother. He, uh -- he favored the union, uh, but later on, uh, he had to put 00:28:00the house in some -- his daughter's name or something another. It was in his name, it. They woulda made him move but his whole family was working in the mill and they needed 'em. And, uh... But I don't think he ever worked anymore for Cannon Mill. No, they blackballed him.STONEY: Now di --
M1: (coughs)
STONEY: -- what did you know about unions, when you came to this town as a boy
of 18?MELTON: Uh, know about what?
STONEY: Unions.
MELTON: Nothing. Never heard of a union before, in my life. I di -- didn't
know what a union was. I thought it was some Satanism or something. (laughs) Tha --HELFAND: George, we need to repeat it.
M1: (coughs)
STONEY: Uh...
MELTON: Uh...
STONEY: Could you say that again?
(laughter)
MELTON: W -- I didn't know anything about the union, at that particular time.
I was only 18 years old, fresh off of the farm. But I thought this union thing was some sort of Satanism. And, uh, I -- I thought it was against everything 00:29:00that was right. Other words, I just didn't know.STONEY: Where'd you get that idea?
MELTON: Uh, I just thought it up. I mean, uh --
FREEMAN: (laughs)
MELTON: -- I thought the union was wrong. Yeah. That's... I thought they
was wrong. They was trying to, uh -- to stop us from going to work and this and that. But nobody -- nobody bothered anybody. I didn't know of anything. Uh, I don't know if anybody caused any trouble over there, whatsoever. The people were so poor. Three-fourths of 'em was, uh -- you know, they was in favor of Cannon Mill. I doubt if it was a fourth of 'em that was in favor of the union, were they, Robert?FREEMAN: Mn-mn.
MELTON: There wasn't a fourth of the people. My uncle happened to be one of
'em, though, Kite Woodard. And, uh, he lived in Maple Street, in Kannapolis, over there, down... 00:30:00STONEY: Do you know where he got --
M1: (coughs)
STONEY: -- his ideas from?
MELTON: I don't know. Uh, he's deceased now, been dead a long time. And
but, uh, he was a good man -- a good man. And, uh, I don't know where he got his ideas from. Other words, I was afraid to let -- even let anybody around Kannapolis see me talking to him, after then. I was afraid of him. Because he got in trouble, lost his job and I didn't want to lose mine. Yeah, I was afraid of the union. Yes, sir.