Oral history interview with Paul and Pauline Griffith, May 30, 1980

About this book

Paul and Pauline Griffith were married in 1927 in Greenville, South Carolina. Paul's family moved from Mauldin, South Carolina, to the area in 1905 in search of work. Initially, his father worked as an overseer on a cotton plantation, but in 1912, when the Judson Mill was built, he became a machinist for the mill while his mother went to work as a weaver. Pauline's family moved to Greenville in 1915 from Hendersonville, South Carolina. She and her family found that it was increasingly difficult to survive as farmers, so they moved to Greenville so that her father could work in the Judson Mill. Both Paul and Pauline describe growing up in Greenville as well as the conditions they faced in the Judson Mill, where both spent their entire working careers. They also describe the changes in technology and work strategies in the mills from the 1920s to the 1970s; how life in Greenville changed during the Great Depression and World War II; and the importance of religion in their lives.