• What are some reasons that people haven't talked about the textile strike of 1934? In what ways can silence about the past affect the present? Who determines what history is part of our common experience and what history is taught in classrooms?

• Is the South different from the rest of the country? What motivated the actions of the cotton mill owners and the cotton mill workers? What can the rest of the United States learn from these Southern experiences? How have working people in other industries and in other parts of the country experienced strikes, defeats, and life in the "factory town"?

• How does race affect our workplaces? What happens when working people are divided along color lines? Who benefited and who lost from the racial divisions in the cotton mill world of the 1930s? How do some of these lessons apply to the modern work world?

• How would a union victory have changed the cotton mill worker's lives? What advantages (or disadvantages) do working people experience when they form a union? Have the events of 1934 affected working people's feelings about their ability to organize collectively to improve their lives and the welfare of their communities?

• How does the past influence our present? What are the stories of your own community or family that aren't told? How might your community document and share little-known pieces of your collective history?

Robert Korstad, Professor of Public Policy, Duke University

Next Page

Guide Index