Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Spring/Section24/Wade Hampton Taylor

Overview


Wade Hampton Taylor, as known as Miles Thornton in the article "The Cotton in the Blood", was interviewed by John H. Abner. Taylor was a cotton man and hotel manager.

Early Life
Wade Hampton Taylor was born in Shelby, Tennessee on July 24, 1883. His childhood was enlightened by his father Fletcher Taylor who was a physician and owned a few farms. His father loaned his farms to tenant farmers including both white and African Americans. Taylor went to school at 6 and ended his education at 15 when he finished eighth grade. He wished to attend medical school and become a physician. He started to work as an apprentice under his father. When his father went to Philadelphia for medical training, Taylor served as a physician without a license. His first patient was a girl from an African American family who rented his fathers’ farm. Eventually his father came back and criticized his action of serving without a license. Afterwards, Taylor gave up his childhood dream.

Adult Life
In Taylor’s adulthood, he shifted his interest toward cotton. Taylor learned the cotton business for 10 years when his uncle McSpadden offered Taylor a job in his warehouse and Taylor became McSpadden’s assistant. After McSpadden closed his warehouse, Taylor went to another warehouse and served as a supervisor for six years. He saved some money during that time and began his own business in cotton with his uncle. In 1922, he received an offer from Mexico Cotton Association in California. By accepting the offer, Taylor served as an inspector whose job was checking the quality of the cotton. In 1929 when the Great Depression happened, the Mexico Cotton Association fired him. He moved to Gastonia, North Carolina and worked for his brother’s cotton business. In 1935, due to an unknown reason, he became a manager for the Textile Hotel in Gastonia. Taylor did not marry his whole life and died on May 18, 1943, 4 years after his interview.

Democratic Party Through 1850s to 1930s
In the late 1850s, Democratic party split into Northern Democrats and Southern Democrats. Northern Democrats opposed slaver expansion among the United States and Southern Democrats wished to extended slavery which caused Democratic party to disperse their votes between two candidates that Stephen A. Douglas who represented Northern Democrats and John C. Breckinridge who ran for the Southern Democratic party. The conflict within Democratic party led to the victory of Republican party’s candidate Abraham Lincoln who was strongly opposed to slavery issue. Since many southerners believed Abraham Lincoln would end slavery, Southern American states decided to seceded from the Union which further caused Civil War between north and south. Even after the Civil War, the division between Northern Democrats and Southern Democrats still existed. Northern Democrats supported industry, commerce and tried to expand human rights around the nation. Compared to Northern Democrats, Southern Democrats opposed industrialization to protect rural and agricultural interests and continued to deny the rights of African American.

Health Care System Under the New Deal


New Deal created by Franklin D. Roosevelt solved the lack of the care experienced by American citizens from the government. Before the Great Depression, the county and local government took care of the so-called “poor relief”. Even though some of the companies offered pensions in the late nineteenth century, most of the companies were overwhelmed by the Great Depression. When Roosevelt served as president, he introduced the Passage of the Social Security Act in 1935. The act built a strong foundation for the modern welfare program including the old age pension system, a disability program, an unemployment program and a program to assist families with dependent children. Passage of the Social Security in 1935 was the most lasting response to this crisis. As a result of the New Deal, the modern welfare states expanded over the next thirty years with the creation of a health insurance program for elderly and poor in 1965. A revised version of welfare programs opened to disabled in 1972. Welfare programs further increased to cover categories such as chemical dependency.

Cotton Business in Memphis


City of Memphis in Tennessee was known for trading cotton. In 1837, buyers, sellers and cotton farmers together created Cotton Exchange and in the mid-1920s Cotton Exchange buildings moved to a 12-story building at 65 Union Ave. It was known as Cotton Row which is the strip in downtown Memphis between Monroe and Gayoso avenue which contained 28 buildings and 2 vacant lots, was simply called by cotton traders as “the street” as a comparison to Wall Street. The Great Depression brought huge impacts toward the agricultural economy including cotton. Farm prices and gross farm income dropped dramatically during the years 1928-32. Most farmers are unable to sustain their daily lives which led to massive protests occurring in places like San Joaquin Valley, California. The floor of Cotton Exchange in Memphis remained empty even after the Great depression due to technological advances and the flourishing of the silk during 1978 to 2006. Eventually, it closed down and served as the Cotton Museum.