Oral history interview with Betty and Lloyd Davidson, February 2 and 15, 1979
Subtitle: interview H-0019, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Tullos, Allen, 1950- interviewer; Davidson, Lloyd, 1910- 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; Textile workers; Women textile workers; Employment; Social life and customs; Strikes and lockouts; Textile industry
Other titles: Interview H-0019, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Betty and Lloyd Davidson, February 2 and 15, 1979; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Betty (Parker) and Lloyd Davidson both grew up in Danville, Virginia, during the 1910s and 1920s before settling in Burlington, North Carolina, in 1932. The interview begins with a focus on Betty Parker's family experiences while growing up. She describes how her parents shared a loom at the Dan River Cotton Mill, which her mother operated during the summer months while her father farmed. Like many other young people of her generation, Betty left school at the age of sixteen out of economic necessity in order to go work in the mills. While working as a weaver at the Dan City Silk Mill, Betty met Lloyd Davidson. In 1932, they moved to Burlington, North Carolina, to seek employment at the Plaid Mill. By that time, Jim Copland had moved from Danville to become superintendent of the Plaid Mill, and the Davidsons were able to get a job because of Betty's father's friendship with Copland. Betty and Lloyd were married shortly thereafter. They describe some of the leisure activities they enjoyed as a young married couple of limited economic means. Both worked as weavers at the Plaid Mill throughout the Depression years. At the time of the interview in 1979, Betty had worked as a weaver for nearly five decades; Lloyd, meanwhile, left the profession in 1956 to work for Melville Dairy. The Davidsons devote considerable attention to discussing their work as weavers, focusing primarily on the 1930s and 1940s, when technological advances drastically increased the number of looms individual weavers operated. In addition, they describe their day-to-day workplace experiences, explaining how working "on production" differed from working for hourly wages; the difficulty of working long hours with few breaks; their interactions with other workers and with their employers; the role of the Copland family in the Burlington textile industry; and their perception of labor unrest in the Piedmont during the Depression years.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on Nov. 10, 2008).

Interview participants: Betty Davidson, interviewee; Lloyd Davidson, interviewee; Allen Tullos, interviewer.

Duration: 01:59:13.

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 Mike Millner.  Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 232 kilobytes, 218 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series H, Piedmont industrialization, interview H-0019, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Mary Steedly. Original transcript: 59 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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