Oral history interview with Jessie Lee Carter, May 5, 1980
Subtitle: interview H-0237, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Tullos, Allen, 1950- interviewer; Southern Oral History Program; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project); University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library
Edition: Electronic ed.
Publisher: University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill
Published: 2007
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; Women textile workers; Textile workers; Social life and customs; Child labor; Labor unions; Families; Pellagra; Brandon Mills (Greenville, S.C.)
Other titles: Interview H-0237, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Jessie Lee Carter, May 5, 1980; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Jessie Lee Carter grew up in rural South Carolina and spent years working in a textile mill before marriage interrupted her working life. In this interview, she recalls her employment at Brandon Mill--where she began work at the age of twelve--and her life in a mill town. This interview offers some insights into the rhythms of rural life and work, including family life and recreation; the workers' daily schedule and the atmosphere on the factory floor; gender and racial segregation; and attitudes toward unionization. Like many of her peers in this interview collection, Carter enjoyed her work at the mill and took advantage of a relaxed work environment, chatting with her coworkers, many of whom were her relatives, as she worked. Carter complements these recollections of her working life with memories of a somewhat self-sufficient upbringing in a mill town.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on June 3, 2008).

Interview participants: Jessie Lee Carter, interviewee; Allen Tullos, interviewer.

Duration: 01:13:36.

This electronic edition is part of the UNC-CH digital library, Documenting the American South.  It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.

Text encoded by Jennifer Joyner.  Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 163.6 kilobytes, 134.8 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series H, Piedmont industrialization, interview H-0237, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Dorothy M. Casey. Original transcript: 37 p.

Funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this interview.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements:  Web browser with Javascript enabled and multimedia player.