A Legacy of Community

A Legacy of Community. . Following the labor turbulence of the 1930s and the strain of the Great Depression, World War II brought relative calm and increased productivity to the mill communities. Immediately after the War, however, mill owners revived a movement that had begun during the Depression Era: the sale of the mill villages. By 1958, owners had sold off 73% of the textile mill villages in the South. Though a few mill towns remained as late as the 1970s, today the mill village community is largely a memory., Several factors drove owners to sell the mill houses. With affordable automobiles available, many mill workers could buy cars allowing them to live farther from the mills. During this period, new labor laws limited working hours, and most mills adopted shift work to boost production. Increasing the numbers of employees would have required owners to provide additional, expensive housing. Also, laws prohibiting young children from working caused family housing to be less cost effective. Finally, fearing that the villages fostered delinquency and promoted a distinct white lower class, regional leaders encouraged integration into the larger community., Ironically, while the sale of mill villages ultimately eroded unique communities some mill workers benefited from the change. Owners often sold houses directly to workers who lived in them. During a period when home ownership rose nationwide, many mill employees also switched from renting to owning., People misses a lot by not having a community. I believe it made you more secure or something. But now you’re scattered. You work maybe one place, then work way over yonder, and you don’t get close to nobody. , Mary Thompson, draw in hand in a North Carolina millV, With the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the increasing number of higher-paying jobs available to whites outside of the mills, owners began employing African Americans in greater numbers. Still mills did not offer them equal wages and opportunities for advancement. Not until African Americans began to unite and voice their grievances in the 1960s and 1970s did their experiences in the textile mills begin to improve., The sale of the houses did not break down mill communities overnight; rather, the process was gradual. The villages remained overwhelmingly white, and most homeowners still worked in the mill or held other blue-collar jobs. The end of mill-owned institutions, however, slowly wore away the sense of community. Town stores closed, county school systems incorporated mill town schools, mills no longer formed baseball teams and clubs – ultimately mill workers became part o the larger community., Today, the whirring spindles and banging looms are but an echo. The textile mills that once formed the Piedmont’s economic backbone are moving to Mexico, India, and China in search of cheaper labor. As the mills close, they leave behind a legacy of cities and towns – from Burlington to Gastonia – born during the height of Southern industrialization. The unique communities of people who lived and labored in these mill towns made a lasting imprint on our social, cultural, and physical landscape. Though most North Carolinians no longer live by the rhythm of the factory, the lives and stories of those who did form an integral part of our shared heritage.