Oral history interview with George Perkel, May 27, 1986
Subtitle: interview H-0281, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Raub, Patricia, 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; Economists; Labor unions; Research; Textile workers; Organizing; Company towns; Textile industry; Social conditions; Government policy; Industrial relations; Collective bargaining; Textile Workers Union of America
Other titles: Interview H-0281, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with George Perkel, May 27, 1986; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: George Perkel began his career as an economist on the National War Labor Board during World War II, after which he took his expertise to the Textile Workers Union of America. But this interview does not focus on Perkel's experiences; instead, it distills Perkel's research, giving him an opportunity to describe his conclusions about unions in the South. Perkel seeks to explain unions' lack of strength in southern states, citing factors such as a mill town culture that made textile workers suspicious of organizers and resistant to outside influence; legislation intended to protect the right to organize that lost its teeth; and effective opposition from political and industrial interests. This dense, rich interview is a primer on the failure of unionization in the South, with a nod to some of the movement's successes in the region. It will make an excellent starting point for scholars interested in mill labor and the role of unions in the South.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on May 8, 2008).

Interview participants: George Perkel, interviewee; Patricia Raub, interviewer.

Duration: 01:05:19.

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. 90.7 kilobytes, 119.6 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series H, Piedmont industrialization, interview H-0281, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Patricia Raub. Original transcript: 32 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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