Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Summer II/Section 10/Joseph A. Micheals

Overview

Joseph A. Michaels was born in 1868 in North Carolina as part of a poor working family. He was married and raised twelve children during his lifetime. Michaels spent the majority of his life employed as a cotton mill work and tenant farmer across both North Carolina and South Carolina. As a low wage worker, he faced continual systemic oppression by the market capitalists. Their exploitive actions made it difficult for Michaels to get ahead financially in life. Despite such adversity, he worked incessantly hard at arduous jobs to support his family. Unfortunately, he was hit hard by both the Great Depression and initiation of the Social Security Act. At the age of 61, he was left unemployed and fully dependent on his family for care and financial support.

Biography

Michaels started working in the gold mines at a very early age, crushing rock by hand to extract gold for very poor wages. After twenty years in the mines, he moved on with his father to build mills for the cotton industry of South Carolina. Over the next ten years, he floated from one low paying job to another, working in the cotton mills, monzonite cleaning plants, and gold mines. After marrying in 1895, he settled down to the hard life of a cotton mill worker – a job paying very low wages for extremely long days of work.

As a mill hand, Michaels led a financially difficult life as he “...could never earn more than forty-five cents a day.” (Abner 1938) The mills operated under a form of systematic oppression, trapping people into poverty their entire lives. They took great advantage of workers such as Michaels, who desperately needed employment to survive. He and his family were confined to a mill village run by corrupt capitalists. They were pressured to trade at the company store, which charged outrageously high prices for their goods; they faced discipline or discharge if they purchased supplies from anywhere else. Michaels was consigned to this position -- “having no money, and being heavily in debt, the family was dependent on the company store for supplies.” (Abner 1938) In place of paycheck, his wages were simply deducted from his ever-growing financial obligation to the mill. As a result, Michaels was interminably tied to his low-paying job -- “the debt was the chain with which they bound their workers to the mills.” (Abner 1938)

In an attempt to escape the cotton industry, Michaels pursued life as a tenant farmer in Spartanburg, South Carolina. In this job, he paid the landowner for the right to live and grow crops on a certain piece of property. However, tenant farming operated in a style similar to the mills; often enough, the crops did not bring in enough money to pay off his farming liabilities, leaving Michaels again strapped with ongoing debt to the landowners. To supplement his farming efforts, he continued working as a mill hand to earn additional income.

Over the years, Michaels bounced between jobs with cotton mills and tenant farming, in an effort to support his growing family. Relentless economic struggle forced him to move around the Carolinas, never settling into one place for more than a few years at a time. Throughout his life, Michaels was the textbook representation of the hardworking blue-collar sector of our nation – the majority of the American population at the turn of the century. He was a diligent father and husband, willing to do whatever was needed in order to support his family.

After the death of his wife in 1932, Michaels relocated his family to Burlington, North Carolina, where they lived out their lives together. Michaels attempted to continue working into old age; however, with economic collapse of the Great Depression and the institution of the Social Security Program, he was left both jobless and unemployable by the cotton mills. In a discriminatory manner, capitalists leveraged the Social Security Act as a way to eliminate employment opportunities for the elderly; instead, they offered available jobs to the younger workers. Despite his ability and desire to work, Michaels was left unemployed at the age of 61. He lived the remainder of his life under the care and financial support of his sons.

Social Issues

Exploitation of the Poor

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, many people worked low paying jobs in the cotton mills, coal mines, steel mills, slaughterhouses, and other grueling occupations. Across these industries, market capitalists actively exploited the poor. They provided jobs that encompassed long strenuous days where employees were expected to work 12 or more hours a day, six days a week – for very low wages. The cotton industry exemplified the systemic oppression created by the capitalists of this period. During this time, the cotton business grew exponentially, offering low wage employment opportunities to struggling workers and their families. The cotton mills targeted individuals who had no other options of work, taking advantage of those in dire financial situations or who needed a lifeline in order to survive. The capitalists created mill villages where their employees could work and live. On the surface, this seemed to offer a beneficial opportunity for the workers; however, rather, it provided the companies with greater control over their employees. According to the United States Bureau of Labor, “All the affairs of the village and the conditions of living of all the people seemed be regulated by the mill company. Practically speaking, the company owns everything and controls everything, and to a large extent controls everybody in the mill village.” (Leloudis, N.D.) The cotton mills, “operated company stores and often sponsored a variety of other small businesses such as barber shops and pool halls [which] were a convenience to workers, but they could also serve to keep millhands in debt to their employers.” (Leloudis, N.D.) Their corrupt actions established an exploitive system where mill workers were left with perpetually growing of debt and a continual need for employment. In turn, the cotton mills maintained an endlessly stocked labor pool of low wage workers. Unfortunately, similar acts of exploitation occurred across all areas of industry during this turbulent time period.

Age Discrimination

Established in 1935 by Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Social Security System was established as a means for providing a continuous “paycheck" to retired citizens; it provided "insurance for Americans who encounter difficult financial situations" (Grabianowski N.D.) in their older age. With this system, individuals pay a percentage of their salary, often 6% from the worker and 6% from the employer, to the Social Security Trust Fund. These funds are then invested in public projects around the nation every year, and returned to the individual when they reach the age of 62. Unfortunately, in its infancy, the system created employment issues for the elderly. Some employers viewed social security as alternative income stream for older individuals; as such, they laid off older employees and allocated their jobs to younger individuals – despite the knowledge, experience or financial needs of the elders. This resulted in a form of age discrimination against older workers, who often sought industry employment to supplement the limited income provided by social security.