As part of its Centennial Celebration, Rowan Public Library presents a program on North Carolinaís rich textile heritage as told through the stories, songs and images of the people who worked in the mills.
Thanks to funding from the N.C. Humanities Councilís Roads Scholar program, Dr. Roxanne Newton will present the program at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the South Rowan Regional Library in China Grove, a town with its own mill history.
The history of N.C.ís textile industry includes jobs migration, labor unions and globalization, all of which parallel manufacturing industries throughout the world today.
While some mill owners practiced so-called welfare capitalism and took care of their employees, others were more motivated by profits. Mill villages existed either as family-oriented communities or as high-rent company houses. Inside the mill, work was often low-paid, difficult and dangerous.
Child labor was common in the early years, and racial discrimination and sexism were rampant. Managers often implemented ěstretch outs,î efficiency systems that forced employees to work more for less money. In some desperate situations, workers organized unions and went on strike, often dividing family members and co-workers in bitter, violent disputes.
The daughter and granddaughter of mill workers, Newton grew up in a small North Carolina textile town. She is director of the Humanities and Fine Arts Division at Mitchell Community College, and is the author of ěWomen Workers on Strike: Narratives of Southern Women Unionists.î
This Centennial Celebration program is free and open to the public, with refreshments.