Nanny Leah Washburn, Anne Romaine, and Clara Smith Interview

Partial Transcript: JUDITH HELFAND: Nanny why don't you tell me where we are right now and what your address is.

Segment Synopsis: George Stoney and Judith Helfand look through photos with Nanny Leah Washburn.

Subjects: Photographs; Working class women--Family relationships

Partial Transcript: (autoharp playing)
ANNE ROMAINE: (singing) She was born a Georgia woman, in a tiny river town.

Segment Synopsis: Anne Romaine sings a song about cotton mill women and the union.

Keywords: union songs

Subjects: Strikes and lockouts--Textile industry; Textile workers; Working class--Songs and music

Partial Transcript: NANNY LEAH WASHBURN: Yeah that was a hard time.

Segment Synopsis: Nanny Leah Washburn discusses being imprisoned due to work with the labor movement.

Subjects: Prisons; Working class women

Partial Transcript: (autoharp)

ANNE ROMAINE: (singing) The government and the company, tried to keep them down but that old time union spirit was born to win.

Segment Synopsis: Anne Romaine and an unidentified woman sing a union song.

Keywords: union songs

Subjects: Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union; Working class--Songs and music

Partial Transcript: ANNE ROMAINE: Let's do the "Cotton Mill Girl".

Segment Synopsis: Anne Romaine and an unidentified woman sing "Hard Time Cotton Girl". Nanny Leah Washburn signs part of a song about the Brookside Mill.

Subjects: Working class--Songs and music

Partial Transcript: F1: What are some other good old cotton mill songs?

Segment Synopsis: Anne Romaine and an unidentified woman sing "Baby's in the Mill" and discusses the other songs they sang.

Subjects: Child labor; Working class--Songs and music

Partial Transcript: ANNE ROMAINE: I was doing this concert in Charlotte in 1983 in conjunction with a traveling exhibit on textile machinery.

Segment Synopsis: Anne Romaine disucsses the Firestone Plant in Gastonia, N.C. unionized and her connections to Gastonia and Kannapolis.

Keywords: Cannon Mills; union organizing

Subjects: Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union; Gastonia (N.C.); Textile workers--Labor unions