- Collection:
- Working Lives Oral History Project
- Title:
- Interview with Clarence Darden
- Contributor to Resource:
- Darden, Clarence
McCallum, Steve - Date of Original:
- 1983-05-24
- Subject:
- Darden, Clarence--Interviews
- Location:
- United States, Alabama, Jefferson County, Birmingham, 33.52066, -86.80249
- Medium:
- interviews
transcripts - Type:
- Sound
Text - Format:
- audio/mpeg
image/jpeg - Description:
- At the time of this interview, Clarence Darden had been president of the local USW (United Steelworkers) union for 26 years. Darden recalls living in a company camp when he was young. He explains company housing, company doctors, commissaries and general working conditions in the interview. In his description of mining camps, he explains that companies would leave the company houses unfinished to prevent paying taxes on them. He also describes "shack rousters" (or company deputies). If a man sent word that he was too sick to go into the mine, the shack rouster would go to his house and if the deputy didn't think he was sick enough, the employee would be forced to go into the mines. The men would often have to grab the tail of the deputy's horse and follow him into the mine. He explains that workers were often eternally indebted to the company, as the commissary charged high prices and the workers were also required to purchase their own mining equipment. He also said that if a worker did not do enough business with the commissary, he'd be laid off for this reason. If an employee had a debt with the commissary and left the company, he'd be blacklisted and would be unable to get a job anywhere. He adds that men were being paid $1.25 per day and working 14-16 hour days. Employees had to furnish their own electricity and were charged 50 cents to use the bath house. A trip to the company hospital would often take five or six years to pay off. He says these conditions led to the organized labor movement in the 1930s. He recalls multiple strikes and "wars" between workers and employers. He also suggests that mining operators would often try to increase racial tension so that employees would be less united. He goes into detail describing working conditions in the mines during the 1930s and later. He discusses medical conditions that afflicted miners, the physical conditions in the mine, and the multitude of accidents that could befall miners. He adds that during this time, once a worker entered the mines, they were expected to live only 15-20 additional years.
The digitization of this collection was funded by a gift from EBSCO Industries. - Metadata URL:
- http://digitalcollections.libraries.ua.edu/cdm/ref/collection/u0008_0000003/id/182
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- Images are in the public domain or protected under U.S. copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code), and both types may be used for research and private study. For publication, commercial use, or reproduction, in print or digital format, of all images and/or the accompanying data, users are required to secure prior written permission from the copyright holder and from archives@ua.edu. When permission is granted, please credit the images as Courtesy of The University of Alabama Libraries Special Collections.
- Original Collection:
- Working Lives Oral History Project
- Contributing Institution:
- William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library
- Rights:
-
