Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Fall/Section018/William Batts

Overview

William Batts was interviewed in 1939 by Mary A. Hicks for the Federal Writers' Project. Batts was born and raised in Wilson, North Carolina and worked as a tobacco packer during the Great Depression.

Biography

Early Life

William Batts was born and raised in the predominantly rural and agrarian region of Wilson, North Carolina. As the child of two farmers, his development was vastly influenced by the crops and animals surrounding his home. By the age of five, Batts, along with his ten siblings, began work on his father’s farm where he gained skills of endurance and motivation. Additionally, he garnered his passion for agriculture and outdoor work through time on the farm. As a teenager, William witnessed the increased salaries of other occupations and attempted to locate a work scene where upward mobility was a legitimate possibility. On the farm, there were no promotions and therefore, no methods of making more money. In fact, to complement this desire to find a more supportive job, he felt compelled to look into pursuing school. His immediate family was severely impoverished and at the time, African-Americans were essentially barred from quality teachers and resources. Therefore, schooling was not an option.

Work Life

Batts’ first job outside of his family farm was in the rail industry, which was growing exponentially at the time. He operated trains on the railroad making $12 a week, which translates to approximately $165 present day considering inflation. However, the emergence of the Great Depression and subsequent drop offs in business pressured the railroad company to release him from his duties. One year later, William found a job working as a packer for a tobacco warehouse. Industrial work, such as this, was common during the Great Depression. As a packer, he “unload[ed] de farmer’s tobacco and pack[ed] it in baskets on trucks in de warehouse.” William continued working for the warehouse for around ten years. During the tobacco offseason, William partnered with his wife to conduct day-to-day jobs for wealthy white families around the area. This included washing clothes, cooking food, and doing outdoor work.

Personal Life

William Batts was approximately six feet tall. He was described as having “broad shoulders, thick lips, and round jolly face.” Since he never received schooling, William couldn’t read or write throughout his lifetime. In 1919, he married his current wife, a devout Christian. In 1924, she persuaded him to convert to Christianity. Soon after, Batts became a member of the Disciples Church and faith and trust in God became a critical part of his life during the Depression. William’s wife had high blood pressure, which forced him to make supplemental income when his wife wasn’t able to work. Ultimately, he said that his true goals in life were to obtain his own farm, purchase a mule, and work towards a more faithful existence.

Social Context

The Great Depression

The Great Depression was initially catalyzed by the catastrophic events of Black Tuesday. On October 29th, 1929, the stock market crashed and sent Wall Street investors into a frenzy. All of this coupled with exorbitant amounts of debt and already high rates of unemployment created the worst depression the country has even seen. For the next ten years, people were forced out of work and the unemployment rate topped 25%. Citizens suffered drastic economic adversity like never before, finding it difficult to obtain food, housing, clothing, and other basic essentials. From an international standpoint, large countries like Britain, Germany, and France suffered just as much as the United States. The number of exports and imports contracted, forcing a global decline in the international trade market. To combat the unemployment rates, the U.S. government implemented numerous welfare policies, like the Works Progress Administration and the Tennessee Valley Authority, to bring jobs back to Americans and reinvigorate the global economy.

The Labor Force

The Great Depression made it exceptionally difficult to locate work. Employers didn’t have the funds to offer many new labor opportunities and those that were available were immediately given to white men. The intersectionality of race and gender made it exponentially hard to find work during this time, as the effects of slavery were still omnipresent throughout the country and racist tendencies by employers in the South made working for African-Americans almost impossible. Black unemployment rates were almost triple that of whites during this time period, especially in the agrarian South, in which small farmers were hit hardest. William Batts felt the direct impacts of this issue, as he was laid off from his job working on the Norfolk Railroad. President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs brought back work to many unemployed African-Americans, and made it possible for folks like William Batts to retrieve labor-heavy jobs once again.

“ The unemployment gap tended to widen for unskilled service workers and to narrow for workers likely to have more formal employment relationships. ” — William Sundstrom

Education

Since the abolition of slavery and the establishment of African-Americans as full U.S. citizens, white southerners worked diligently to ensure segregation persisted in school systems. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, education for Black people, especially in the South, was far less advanced than schooling for whites. School buildings, resources, and teachers were profoundly inequitable when compared to all-white institutions. In fact, a 1930 survey found that the worth of schools for African-American students were one-ninth of the value of schools for white students. Exacerbated by the economic instability of the Great Depression, education was virtually unattainable for Black children during this era, as less governmental funds were directed to schools in general. African-American children, like William Batts, around the nation felt the direct impacts of the superficial “separate, but equal” doctrine, which plagued the majority of school districts in America.

“ The colored school is run and governed by the town council. They are to furnish the school, but do little. We have a very small house with seven windows and one door. The furniture, 1 table, 2 chairs, 1 stove, 3 common size blackboards, 1 clock, and a chart. ” — Michael Fultz

Bibliography

1. "African American life during the Great Depression and the New Deal." Britannica. Accessed October 7, 2021.
2. Fultz, Michael. “Teacher Training and African American Education in the South, 1900-1940.” The Journal of Negro Education 64, no. 2 (1995): 196–210.
3. "Great Depression." Britannica. Accessed October 26, 2021.
4. Jensen, Richard J. “The Causes and Cures of Unemployment in the Great Depression.” The Journal of Interdisciplinary History 19, no. 4 (1989): 553–83.
5. Price Davis, Anita. "Public Schools in the Great Depression." NCPedia. Last modified 2010.
6. Sundstrom, William A. “Last Hired, First Fired? Unemployment and Urban Black Workers During the Great Depression.” The Journal of Economic History 52, no. 2 (1992): 415–29.