H-0235-2_Audio |
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Object Description
| Interview no. | H-0235-2 |
| 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 | 7 June 1976 |
| Interviewee | Turner, Josephine, 1927- |
| Interviewee occupation | Textile workers |
| Interviewee DOB | 1927 |
| Interviewee ethnicity | African Americans |
| Interviewer | Sindelar, Karen. |
| Abstract | Josephine Turner was born in Durham, NC, in 1927. At an early age, she experienced the sacrifices forced upon the poor, exemplified in her mother, who sought to impress upon Turner the value of education though she herself never made it past the third grade. She succeeded, but Turner followed in her mother's footsteps when her father died, leaving school and inheriting her father's job as a chauffeur at age fourteen. Turner's ambition placed her in unique positions: a black female chauffeur, a businesswoman, a political aspirant. However, her willingness to experiment with different jobs, her devout religious faith, and her determination to succeed earned her more respect than wealth. In this interview she reflects on the fruits of her ambition, her background, her children, her working life, and her hopes for the future. This interview is more of a personal portrait than a window into labor, but it will be useful for researchers interested in life and work in North Carolina. |
| Subject Topical |
African American women--North Carolina--Durham. African American women political activists--North Carolina--Durham. African Americans--North Carolina--Durham. African Americans--North Carolina--Durham. African Americans--North Carolina--Durham. |
| Subject Name | Turner, Josephine, 1927- |
| 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-0235-2_Audio |
