Oral history interview with Mattie Shoemaker and Mildred Shoemaker Edmonds, March 23, 1979
Subtitle: interview H-0046, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Edmonds, Mildred Shoemaker, interviewee; Murphy, Mary, 1953- 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; Strikes and lockouts; Textile industry; Depressions; African Americans; Employment; Religious life and customs; Race relations; Burlington Mills Corporation
Other titles: Interview H-0046, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Mattie Shoemaker and Mildred Shoemaker Edmonds, March 23, 1979; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Sisters Mattie Shoemaker and Mildred Shoemaker Edmonds discuss their experiences at a textile mill in Burlington, NC. This interview includes discussion of their work routines, striking, the impact of the Great Depression, and the integration of the mill. The sisters' recollections are particularly interesting when they discuss the place of African Americans in their community (they were unbothered by integration and fail to understand the persistence of racism there) or share a few words on party politics. This interview will be useful for researchers interested in mill life in the early 20th century, but is more a portrait of two personalities than a history of an era.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on May 30, 2008).

Interview participants: Mattie Shoemaker, interviewee; Mildred Shoemaker Edmonds, interviewee; Mary Murphy, interviewer.

Duration: 01:39:10.

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. 228.8 kilobytes, 181 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series H, Piedmont industrialization, 1974-1980, interview H-0046, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by David Knudsen. Original transcript: 51 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.