Oral history interview with Roy Lee and Mary Ruth Auton, February 28, 1980
Subtitle: interview H-0108, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Hall, Jacquelyn Dowd, interviewer; Auton, Mary Ruth, interviewee; 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; Blue collar workers; Women textile workers; Social life and customs; Employment; Attitudes; Families
Other titles: Interview H-0108, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Roy Lee and Mary Ruth Auton, February 28, 1980; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: "I've had a hard life, " Roy Lee Auton remarks in this interview. Auton moved through a number of jobs, fought in World War II and the Korean War, married three times, and was still working at the time of the interview at age sixty-seven. Auton's violent relationships with his first two wives dominate the stage in this interview, but the supporting cast includes reflections on a long laboring life, descriptions of the rhythms of mill and factory work, opinions on unions, and Auton's commitment to maintaining his dignity and independence at the factory or in his love life. This is an engaging interview with a self-reliant white southern laborer. Auton's wife, Mary Ruth, makes a very brief appearance at the end of the interview.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on June 4, 2008).

Interview participants: Roy Lee Auton, interviewee; Mary Ruth Auton, interviewee; Jacquelyn Hall, interviewer.

Duration: 03:04:29.

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. 205.3 kilobytes, 337 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series H, Piedmont industrialization, 1974-1980, interview H-0108, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Jean Houston. Original transcript: 53 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.