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Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2023/Fall/Section33/Hazel Wicker

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Overview

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Hazel Wicker grew up in rural North Carolina until she moved to Durham to try and work at a mill or factory in the early 1930s. She instead ended up marrying and having a child, but after her husband was sent away, she came to depend on another capable man to provide for her and her daughter.

Mother and Child during the 1930s[1]

Biography:

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Early-life

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Hazel Wicker was born on a farm in Angier, North Carolina in 1914. During the time of her interview, she was 24-years-old and lived in Durham, North Carolina. She worked on the farm until seventeen, but left for Durham to try and get a job at a mill or factory. She never ended up getting a job because she met and married Ray Wicker. About a year after they got married, the two had Juanita. Ray was adamant on Wicker never working, so he worked as a Taxi Driver. While he didn’t make a lot of money, the three got along well at home; consisting of only a kitchen and bedroom. However, after three years of amicable living, Ray unfortunately had an on-going feud with another man and the two had gotten into several altercations. Then one day, the two ran into each other at the bus station, and Ray punched the man into the curb and subsequently killed him. Ray was then taken to jail and found guilty of manslaughter, and was still in the penitentiary at the time of the interview. Hazel was left in a tough position as a single mother, because finding work as a woman at the time was near impossible. Along with having very little money, her sister who lived nearby had moved to Philadelphia, which gave Hazel nowhere to live.

Time of the Interview

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In 1936, Hazel and Juanita Wicker moved in with Willie McBroom. Because he was a carpenter, McBroom had been able to take care of them both. Along with paying for the rent of their home, light, and utilities, McBroom gave Wicker money regularly. This allowed her to give Juanita, who was five at the time of the interview in 1938, the support she needed to go to school through cloths, food, as well as education insurance[2]. During the interview, Wicker expressed how her biggest priority in life is giving Juanita the support and opportunity she never got to have; a thorough education which allowed her to have financial stability as she grew older. At the time, Wicker was unable to acquire a job that paid what was necessary to care for a child, so she noted the difficulty of their situation and living off McBroom, but it was better then letting Juanita starve. She talks about moving to a newer and nicer apartment, as she wants to familiarize Juanita with a posher lifestyle that allows for greater ambition.

Social Context

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Women Working in the 1900s

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Woman upholding household duties during the Great Depression[3]

The early 1900s was a very unique period for women working in the United States. While introduction of the 19th Amendment and other movements pushing fourth women's rights were occurring at this time, there was still a very large disparity of women in the working world. Societal norms within America during 1900 to around 1940 placed a hard norm on the ideal of women's main focus being their family and caring of their home. Men dominated almost every field of work, which created barriers for both single and married women looking for work. During the early 20th century only twenty percent of all women were 'gainful workers,' which was the Census Bureau's then categorization for labor force participation outside the home, and only five percent of married women were categorized as such[4]. It was typical for women to work at the disposal of their husbands and family requirements, so their participation within the labor force at the time was significantly lower. Along with that, there was a greater ambition for women to produce families and marry earlier on, which inhibited many factories in order to work, including an education [5]. With lesser opportunities and visibility within the labor force, it ensured the "fact that many women left work upon marriage reflected cultural norms, the nature of the work available to them, and legal strictures”[4]. There was also a significant contributing factor to women's ability to get jobs at the time: The Great Depression. The acceleration to introduce women into the working field was slow, and with the contribution of economic instability, the hardship became much more indicative[5]. The societal norms at the time of the Great Depression added to how women "lost jobs at a higher rate than did men in the early years of the collapse, were often unable to find other sources of income, and were routinely discriminated against in public employment” [6]. While everyone during the time was exposed to hardships within finding work, it added to the struggle of creating stability of women within the workforce.

Textile Strike of 1934 in the Southern United States

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High Point Mill Crew Company 1926[7]

The Textile industry was one of the largest and most prominent fields within the economy during the early 1900s, and had very significant relevance within the Southern United States . The industry had originated in New England, but by the early 1930s about 70 percent of all factory production had been relocated to the south[8]. Many men and women would move to areas with mills or factories as it was an accessible form of work, if they were able to secure it. Manufactures regularly took advantage of their workers; who were typically disposed farmers and unemployed laborers that "were willing to work for less"[8]. Because jobs were scarce at the time, as nearly 1 out of every 4 North Carolinian being jobless in the early 1930s, workers were willing to spend 50-60 hours at the mills and make barely $10 a week[9]. Their limits began to be pushed as manufacturers started enforcing "stretch-outs," which included paying reduced "piece rates," limiting breaks, and hiring more supervisors to discipline workers and speed up production [8]. For example, the women who were Spinners and able to work in the mills had their looms stretched from 24-48 then to 48-96 without additional compensation[10]. These conditions became unbearable and in early September of 1934, almost 30,000 North Carolina mill workers unionized and staged a walkout[9]. This then continued through September where The United Textile Workers (UTW) formed and members traveled across the North and South to organize workers and help close down mills, and soon 300,000 to 500,000 textile workers had gone on strike to fight for fair working conditions and rights[9]. However, the strikes duration was rather short due to management and government backlash, which therefore led to the National Guard getting involved. Interference and retaliation from manufactures and others led strikers to understand that the odds weren't in their favor, and untimely by the end of September 1934, the UTW called off the efforts [8]. While they didn't emerge victorious, the Textile Strike of 1934 was an integral movement in the fight to establish workers rights, which included forming unions and striking if necessary.

Footnotes

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  1. ↑ Lee, Russell. “Mother in the Great Depression.” The Library of Congress, April 1939. https://loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8b21427/
  2. ↑ Travis, Jordan “Hazel Wicker.” North Carolina, Federal Writers’ Project, November 10, 1938 https://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/03709/id/390
  3. ↑ Hollem, Howard R. "Housewife Working in Kitchen." The Library of Congress, January 1942. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/fsa/item/2017690154/
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "The history of women's work and wages and how it has created success for us all". Brookings. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Degler, Carl N. (1964). "Revolution without Ideology: The Changing Place of Women in America". Daedalus 93 (2): 653–670. ISSN 0011-5266. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20026849. 
  6. ↑ Abelson, Elaine S. (2003). ""Women Who Have No Men to Work for Them": Gender and Homelessness in the Great Depression, 1930-1934". Feminist Studies 29 (1): 105–127. ISSN 0046-3663. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3178478. 
  7. ↑ Kinsey, Clark. "Lumber mill crew and staff outside mill buildings, High Point Mill Company." Wikipedia, 1926.https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Lumber_mill_crew_and_staff_outside_mill_buildings%2C_High_Point_Mill_Company%2C_ca_1926_%28KINSEY_265%29.jpg
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "1934: Southern Workers Spark Massive Textile Strike". American Postal Workers Union. 2019-05-28. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "Textile Strike of 1934 | NCpedia". www.ncpedia.org. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
  10. ↑ Roscigno, Vincent J.; Danaher, William F. (2001). "Media and Mobilization: The Case of Radio and Southern Textile Worker Insurgency, 1929 to 1934". American Sociological Review 66 (1): 21–48. doi:10.2307/2657392. ISSN 0003-1224. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2657392. 

Work Cited

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