Joe Jacobs, Lucille Thornburgh, and Union Organizers Interview 6

Partial Transcript: JOE JACOBS: I wanted to comment on this young man (inaubdible) those of us who worked in mills, we came in--

GEORGE STONEY: Rolling Jamie.

JAMIE STONEY: Speed

Segment Synopsis: Jacobs, Thornburgh and the union organizers discuss the portrayal of unions in the media and how the textile workers' strike of 1934 shaped that portrayal.

Keywords: Cherokee Spinning Company; aftermath of the strike; legacy of the strike; newspapers; television

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

Partial Transcript: JOE JACOBS: George you know I could talk a long time about this, but you raised the question of why is it that people are afraid. I've tired to analyze it because, in the work that I did trying to organize textile workers in the South for as many years as I did, I was trying to find the key.

Segment Synopsis: Jacobs discusses why mill ownership was afraid of the unions and why the mill owners worked to suppress the union.

Keywords: Calloway Mills; conflicts between mill workers and management; labor legislation; legacy of the strike

Subjects: Bibb Manufacturing Company; Blacklisting, Labor; Columbus (Ga.); Textile Workers' Strike (Southern States : 1934); Textile workers--Labor unions

Partial Transcript: JOE JACOBS: They discriminated against him, oh they didn't day that the discriminated against them, excuse me. The reason they would not hire somebody who was on a strike, who Cannon wouldn't hire back, or Bibb wouldn't hire back, lets talk about Columbus, Bibb wouldn't hire back, they wouldn't hire them over at Calloway's mill, not because of the strike.

Segment Synopsis: Jacobs and the union organizers discuss how workers were blacklisted after the strike and how the aftermath of the strike affect perceptions of unions in the South.

Keywords: aftermath of the strike; blacklisting; legacy of the strike; legal action after the strike

Subjects: Alabama; Blacklisting, Labor

Partial Transcript: M1: That's what gets me. I've worked on campaigns in my own hometown, in Lawernceville, Virgina.

JOE JACOBS: And your the outsider.

Segment Synopsis: The union organizers discuss what motivates them to campaign to unionize their plants even though it may cost them their jobs

Keywords: legacy of the strike; mill villages; paternalism; prejudice; racism

Subjects: African American women; Labor unions-- Organzing; Textile workers; Textile workers--Labor unions; Working class--Education

Partial Transcript: F1: You know though, even though we are oppressed, be it sexual, racial or whatever there is a method where by we can rise above that.

Segment Synopsis: Jacobs and the union organizers discuss how unions create opportunities for working class people to fight the oppressive status quo.

Keywords: labor legislation

Subjects: Cannon Mills Company; Columbus (Ga.); Labor Unions; Textile workers