Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2022/Fall/Section087/Mrs. J.C. Helms

Overview

Interviewed by Mary P. Wilson, Mrs. J.C. Helms recounts her key moments of her life as a white woman growing up in North Carolina. Mrs. J.G. Horne is Helms’ alternative name in the interview. While Helms' birthdate is unclear, it is assumed she lived through the 1920s and the Great Depression as the account was recorded 1939.

Biography

Early Life

Mrs. J.C. Helms was born into an impoverished family in Huntersville, North Carolina. As a child and well into her teenage years, Helms worked on her father's tobacco farm. She was one of eight children, meaning she was quite accustomed to sharing and never having an abundance of wealth. Furthermore, Helms recalls her father not taking a particular liking to herself nor any of her other siblings but their youngest sister. Helms remembers the rare sight of seeing a doctor one time, which proved to be so surprising because her family was unable to provide and pay for adequate healthcare.

Due to their financial restraints, Helms' father heavily discouraged her from pursuing a university as he believed knowledge would prevent Helms from helping with their farm. Nevertheless, Helms was taught to refrain from complaining and she shows content with dying while wanting more.

Later Life

When Helms had one year of high school remaining she married and was able to put distance between herself and her family. She recognized that the labor her father required of her proved to be too unreasonable. Instead, she focused on her family--her husband and five children--and the housework that accompanied. Because of her work on her father's tobacco farm as a child, she was quite uneducated on how to care for a house and had to turn to her husband's family for assistance. Helms' husband provided for the family by working at a Ford plant up until the point in which he was injured. While he received a settlement, her husband had difficulties finding work after--and his long-term injuries made it even more challenging. Therefore, Helms was forced to pick up more duties in order to help their family survive. She began working at a textile mill, much to her mother's dismay, which allowed her to support her family. Helms wished to send her children to school as she believed educations were very important for making a decent living. Though never wealthy, Helms worked to continue providing and creating a better future for her children.

Social Context

Millwork in the South

During the Great Depression, millwork rose in popularity within the South. The occupation did not provide extraordinary benefits nor quality working standards, but it did provide a bit of stability to those who seemed to need it most–women. In fact, “Mill work attracted large numbers of married women who worked alongside widows and girls as the southern enclosure movement of the early twentieth century displaced large numbers of farm families…” This rise in millwork was further extrapolated by the miseducation and misinformation regarding contraception during the time. Women and their partners were uneducated on methods to prevent becoming pregnant, and this increase in children required women to shoulder more financial responsibility. Though popular, millwork received a negative reputation and connotation within communities as it required labor for ten to twelve hours a day, no medical care, and paid measly low wages.

Education During the Great Depression

During the Great Depression, many people began to turn to pursuing an education. Because so many people were out of a job, it was thought that an education could create distinguishing qualities, “Given this decision rule, the reason some individuals invest in more education than others must arise from factors that either raise the rate of return they receive or lower the cost they must pay for funds.” It was found that females with a high school graduate degree make significantly more money than their counterparts who did not receive a high school graduate degree. High school education, especially for white women, rose dramatically during the 1930s. As for a college education, it was widely known that not receiving a college education reduces employment opportunities, “Many occupations, in fact, are closed to men who have not had a college training.” However, university tuition rose during the Great Depression and prevented many from having the opportunity. In North Carolina particularly, fees were added onto tuition (as pictured). While high school educations were highly desired during the Great Depression, university tuition increases made a college education less attainable for many.

References

Davis, Kingsley. 1935. Youth in the Depression. United States: American Council on Education. https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-and-education-magazines/education-1929-1941#PrimarySources.

Hall, J.D. 1986. “Cotton Mill People: Work, Community, and Protest in the Textile South, 1880-1940.” The American Historical Review 91 (2): 245–86. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1858134.pdf.

Hill, P.E. 1996. Invisible Labours: Mill Work and Motherhood in the American South. https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/9.2.235.

Kisswani, Khalid. 2008. “Did the Great Depression Affect Educational Attainment in the US?” Economics Bulletin 9 (30): 1–10. https://ssrn.com/abstract=1907942.

Schild, Darcy, "50 Nostalgic Photos of what the World Looked Like in the 1920s," Insider, Inc, last modified Jan 17, US edition.

Wilson, Mary P. 1939. “Federal Writers’ Project Papers #3709.” UNC University Libraries. https://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/03709/id/1284.

1939. “State College Tuitions in North Carolina, 1938.” The News and Observer, January 12, 1939. https://museum.unc.edu/exhibits/show/student-life/item/1405.