Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Fall/Section009/Lelia Bramblett

A family of former Mill Workers in Hartwell, Georgia, 1937

Biography

Early life

Lelia Bramblett was born January 1st, 1878, in Athens, Georgia. As a young girl she was practically forced to quit school as they refused to let her use her dominant left hand to write. After leaving school Bramblett began work in the local textile mill at the age of just 10 years old, something very common for that time. As a child working a full-time job she matured quickly and experienced many heavy things such as fellow workers dying suddenly and often from illness. Bramblett and almost everyone else’s life in the town revolved around the mill. Christina Jenkins describes the logistics of a mill town saying: "Mill villages were built around the mills and provided housing for the workers and their families, either free or at a low rent, along with grocery and dry goods stores, doctor’s offices, schools, churches, and recreation facilities" (Jenkins, 2020) Bramblett met her husband Joe at work and lived in a house rented from the mill.

Later Life

The Princeton Mill where Bramblett worked shut down and her and Joe had to move with their kids to a different nearby mill village, Southern mill. Bramblett settled down there happily and raised her children as well as her grandchildren when one of daughters died. She became very involved in the community in her later life, attending church regularly and helping start a friendly neighbors club. The club aimed to raise money for those in need and provide services such as childcare. Family was always very important to Bramblett, and she strived to be surrounded by them throughout her life.

Social issues

Women and Children in Textile Mills

During the late 19th and early 20th century textile mills drastically changed life in the south. Many families moved away from a life of farming and became employed at these mills. For many of these families all members including children had to work to make ends meet. Children as young as 7 years old were employed full time, at often dangerous positions in the mill. Working in the mill usually meant these children were not able to receive an education or learn any other useful skills. A study published in The Journal of Human Resources states: "The mean level of child labor leads to about a 46 percent reduction in the proportion of children attending school" (Beegle, Dehejia, Gatti, 2009) Women would also work yet often were still tasked with taking care of the home. As Patricia Hill explains: "The combination of textile work, traditional gender roles, and poverty exposed working women in the south to a particularly deadly form of what is now termed the 'double day'" (Hill, 1996) Women would work a full shift and then return home to spend hours cooking, cleaning, and raising children.

Healthcare

The new deal brought many advances to medicine and healthcare with things like increased health insurance and funding for health awareness campaigns. The effects of these medical advances were not fully felt in all parts of the country, however. In more isolated places such as the rural south there was very little medical infrastructure. The nearest hospital or even practicing doctor might be more than a day’s travel away and many people suffered because of this. Employee healthcare was also something that suffered during this time in the rural south. Self-employed farmers had no healthcare at all, and those working in factories and mills often had no union to advocate for their health. Unions were able to establish regulations and worker safety laws to protect employees. As the 20th century progressed workers’ rights and workers health started to receive more attention and progress was made but women were still left out of this. Advocacy focused on work related injuries but ignored issues such as childbirth and overworking in the home. (Hill, 1996)

References

Hill, P. E. and PE Hill. "Invisible Labours: Mill Work and Motherhood in the American South." Social History of Medicine : The Journal of the Society for the Social History of Medicine 9, no. 2 (1996): 235-251. doi:10.1093/shm/9.2.235.

Beegle, Kathleen, Rajeev Dehejia, and Roberta Gatti. “Why Should We Care about Child Labor? The Education, Labor Market, and Health Consequences of Child Labor.” The Journal of Human Resources 44, no. 4 (2009): 871–89. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20648923.

Walters, Pamela Barnhouse, and Carl M. Briggs. “The Family Economy, Child Labor, and Schooling: Evidence from the Early Twentieth-Century South.” American Sociological Review 58, no. 2 (1993): 163–81. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095964.

"Public Health 1929-1941 ." Historic Events for Students: The Great Depression. . Encyclopedia.com. (September 22, 2021). https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-and-education-magazines/public-health-1929-1941

Jenkins, Christina. 2020. "Southern Women Mill Workers: How Poor Southern Women’s Lives were Changed by Employment in the Textile Industry." Order No. 28002019, Southern New Hampshire University. http://libproxy.lib.unc.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/southern-women-mill-workers-how-poor-s-lives-were/docview/2424770068/se-2?accountid=14244.