H-0190_Audio |
Previous | 1 of 2 | Next |
small (250x250 max)
medium (500x500 max)
Large
Extra Large
large ( > 500x500)
Full Resolution
|
Object Description
Interview no. | H-0190 |
Restrictions | No restrictions. Open to research. |
Project | H.6. Piedmont Industrialization, 1974-1980: Durham, N.C. |
Project description | Interviews, 1976-1979, about industrialization in Durham, N.C., chiefly documenting experiences of workers in the city's tobacco, textile, and hosiery industries. Some interviewees discuss farming, sawmilling, or domestic service jobs they held in addition to factory work. Tobacco workers focus on work conditions, processing tobacco, the division of labor by gender and by race, labor policies, labor unions, and strikes. Textile and hosiery workers cover similar topics, plus speedups and time studies. Some discuss factory owners William Erwin and Kemp Plummer Lewis. Other topics include race relations (many of the tobacco workers were African American), including segregation and discrimination in the workplace and elsewhere; family life; living conditions; education; music and other forms of recreation; and health concerns. Interviews were chiefly conducted as part of the "Perspectives on Industrialization: The Piedmont Crescent of Industry, 1900-1940" project. |
Date | 28 May 1979 |
Interviewee | Barbee, Annie Mack, 1913?- |
Interviewee occupation | Factory workers |
Interviewee DOB | 1913 |
Interviewee ethnicity | African Americans |
Interviewer | Jones, Beverly Washington, 1948- |
Abstract | Ann Mack Barbee's family lived as sharecroppers in South Carolina for much of her childhood. Barbee describes her parents' values and how they passed those along to their children. She relates how her life changed following her mother's death as she assumed greater responsibility in the household. When Barbee was an adolescent, the family decided to leave the countryside and go to Durham to work in the factories. In Durham, Barbee went to work in the Liggett & Myers tobacco factories. The overall environment of the tobacco factories harmed the women's health, but Barbee explains how segregation and racism worsened conditions even further. She lists the reasons she did not strongly support the unions and then reflects on the many differences race made in her life, even affecting the color of uniform she wore. Using an illustration from her own work experience, Barbee insists that African American women must learn to stand for themselves, refusing to give up their rights even when the white men in authority demand it. Because her father feared that she would be sexually assaulted on the walk to and from school, he forced Barbee to quit school before she wanted to do so. She describes how she tried to continue her own education even after she stopped attending classes. She reflects on the opportunities African American children had to further their education and the pressure they felt to succeed. Barbee did not marry until she was in her early forties; she bore a daughter, Louise, a short time later. She describes how being an older mother made her a different parent and explains her basic parenting philosophies. |
Subject Topical |
Durham (N.C.) Women tobacco workers--North Carolina--Durham. African American women--North Carolina--Durham. Farm life--South Carolina. |
Subject Name |
Barbee, Annie Mack, 1913?- Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company. |
Citation | Interview with [interviewee name] by [interviewer name], [interview date] [interview number], in the Southern Oral History Program Collection #4007, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Description
Interview no. | H-0190_Audio |