Oral history interview with Joseph D. Pedigo, April 2, 1975
Subtitle: interview E-0011-1, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Finger, William R., interviewer; Pedigo, Jennie, 1907-1988, 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; Labor unions; Officials and employees; Textile workers; Organizing; Labor leaders; Strikes and lockouts; Textile Workers Union of America
Other titles: Interview E-0011-1, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Joseph D. Pedigo, April 2, 1975; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Born in 1908, Joseph D. Pedigo was raised in Roanoke, Virginia, by a father who championed liberal ideas about race and class. In the late 1920s, Pedigo went to work for American Viscose--a synthetic fiber plant--where he soon brought his liberal ideas to bear. In 1931, he was among a small cohort of workers at American Viscose that began working towards the establishment of a union for the company's 4500 workers. Emphasizing the grassroots nature of their endeavors, Pedigo describes the challenges they faced in garnering a support base and how they succeeded in earning recognition of the local's collective bargaining power from the company. Pedigo worked at American Viscose until 1939, and over the course of the 1930s he remained an active participant and leader in the local union and became a member of the Socialist Party. He talks about the appeal of socialism and his adherence to radical politics; however, by the end of the decade, he had become disillusioned with the Party's singular focus on dissociating itself from the Communists, and he eventually cut ties with the Party. Pedigo also describes in detail his activities in the labor movement during these years, paying particular attention to his efforts at including African American workers in the union (an endeavor that ultimately brought him into contact with his later wife, Jennie Pedigo, who was also an active member of the movement) and his participation in flying squadrons during the 1934 general textile workers strike. In 1939, Pedigo was laid off from American Viscose and went to work for the newly formed Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA). Because of his active role in the local Roanoke union, he was well versed in the formation of national coalitions, such as the TWUA and the Textile Workers Organizing Committee (TWOC). Pedigo worked for TWUA as an organizer until 1952. In this interview, he focuses on several of his organizing endeavors, namely in Winchester and Danville, Virginia, and in Rome, Georgia. By the time he left the TWUA, he had developed a sophisticated organizing strategy that had been very successful in numerous areas. Pedigo concludes the interview by discussing how the Bandanzi-Rieve split affected the work of the TWUA and led to his being fired. Throughout the interview, he focuses on strategies and tactics in organizing textile workers and the role of various leaders in the movement.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on November 21, 2008).

Interview participants: Joseph D. Pedigo, interviewee; Jennie Pedigo, interviewee; William Finger, interviewer.

Duration: 02:05:37.

This electronic edition is part of the UNC-Chapel Hill 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. 232 kilobytes, 230 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series E, Labor, interview E-0011-1, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Joe Jaros. Original transcript: 61 p.

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

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

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