Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Spring/105/Section 88/Betty McCoy

Overview
Betty McCoy, from Charlotte, North Carolina, was a textile mill worker during World War I and the Great Depression. She worked in the mill her whole life and continuously experienced financial struggles. In 1939, McCoy was interviewed for the Federal Writers' Project.

Early Life
McCoy was born in 1902 in Charlotte, North Carolina. After the death of her grandmother when McCoy was a child, the family was left with a house that they could not afford. The McCoy family made a living by renting out their house to boarders and working in the textile mill. McCoy started working in the spinning room at a young age and made $0.25 a day. She enjoyed working because she got to be around all of the other children.

Adult Life
At the time of her interview for the Federal Writers' Project, McCoy continued to work in the mill, and had just met her husband. She worked hard to get an education by studying at both Central High and night school. She challenged her mind intellectually by reading and doing crossword puzzles. McCoy belonged to the Methodist Church and believed that everyone should learn about Christianity. During World War I, production of goods skyrocketed, and McCoy made between $25 and $30 a day. Her main job was spinning cotton from the doffing cylinder into thread that created textiles. The Great Depression heavily impacted McCoy's family and forced them to start taking in boarders again. After a negative experience, McCoy’s mother stopped allowing boarders for good and the family continued to struggle financially. The mills began to lay off their employees. Fortunately, McCoy kept her job, but she continued to disagree with the changes that occurred within the textile mill. She was grateful that she was able to maintain her job position and did not have to work in an office job that required her to dress up for work each day.

History of Textile Mills in Charlotte, North Carolina
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Charlotte, North Carolina transformed from a cotton trading center to a powerful textile mill center. By 1900, Mecklenburg County housed 16 large mills and remained the state’s top textile county. Charlotte’s access to an abundance of natural resources and land space contributed to the city’s success as a textile powerhouse. The emergence of Charlotte as a mill town caused the population to increase by more than a tenfold between 1880 and 1920. World War I significantly increased the demand for textiles. Textile mill production in Charlotte and all of North Carolina reached an all-time high. However, when the Great Depression began in 1930, Charlotte’s development as a booming new mill town came to a standstill. Mills were forced to reduce production and, in some cases, even shut down entirely. Even after multiple negative changes, textile mills continued to offer some of the steadiest employment in the state, attracting a constant influx of rural and poor workers. Most mills continued production after the conclusion of the Great Depression, but never regained a comparable status to that of the early 20th century. By the late 1970s, all of the textile mills in Charlotte had closed.

Child Labor in Textiles Mills in the 20th Century
Throughout history, child labor provided a cheap and economically feasible option for labor. Financial situations required children to take on the responsibility of helping their families survive. Many children left school in order to find part-time jobs such as working in factories and delivering or selling goods. In extreme cases, children left their homes aboard railroad trains in search of work. In regard to the textile mill industry, children rarely left the field of industrial labor once they entered. A commitment to this industry was lifelong. In the mill, children spent long hours performing tedious work. Conditions were dark, damp, and dangerous, taking a toll on the physical and mental health of young workers. Child labor practices in the textile mill industry began to decrease during the peak of the Great Depression. In his fireside chat, President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke his views about the plan to abolish child labor: “[it] makes me personally happier than any other one things with which I have been connected since I came to Washington … Child labor was an old evil”. Years after beginning the process of abolishment, the 1940 census showed a great decrease in child labor with only a quarter-million children in the labor force. More adults were able to find a greater variety of jobs due to an increase in availability of positions. As fewer children became involved in the work force, an increase on the importance of education emerged.

The Impact of Unions in the Textile Industry
As conditions in the textile industry worsened throughout the Great Depression, mill workers began to become frustrated. Wages continued to decrease, and more and more workers were laid off. A sticky wage channel strongly impacted the economy and monetary policies of the United States. In 1934, four hundred thousand southern, textile workers walked out in strike. This demonstration was notably the largest labor walkout in United States history and occurred with little organization by a union. Wealthier individuals witnessed the tension between employees and employers, and an increased amount of labor unions were formed to encourage workers to fight for their rights. Labor unions were able to take advantage of irritated textile mill workers. Leaders of particular unions would visit mill towns and encourage workers to join their cause, promising better conditions and improved rights. However, these individuals often left town after receiving money from workers and never returned. This left textile mill workers during the Great Depression even worse off than they started. The lack of worker protection and silence from union leaders intensified the negative status of unions. During the rest of the Great Depression and the years that followed, labor unions had a reputation of being inherently corrupt.