- Collection:
- Working Lives Oral History Project
- Title:
- Interview with Willie Haley
- Contributor to Resource:
- Haley, Willie
Hamrick, Peggy - Date of Original:
- 1984-07-23
- Subject:
- Haley, Willie--Interviews
- Location:
- United States, Alabama, Jefferson County, Birmingham, 33.52066, -86.80249
- Medium:
- interviews
transcripts - Type:
- Sound
Text - Format:
- audio/mpeg
image/jpeg - Description:
- Willie Haley was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and moved to Birmingham when he was two. He recalls various jobs he had in Birmingham, including ore mining. He later moved to Memphis and worked as a bricklayer. He was a member of the Steelworkers Union while in Alabama and the Bricklayers Union in Memphis. Haley describes working in the mines and the dangers associated with mining. He also describes seeing many men hurt and killed in the mines. In one accident Haley discusses, a 32-ton rock fell on a man. Because they were unable to remove the rock, the company doctor gave the man an injection that "finished killing him." The doctor would never tell the workers what injections he was giving them but this particular type of injection was called "black bottom." Haley also describes living through The Depression. He says his family survived because they raised their own food. He said his family never had to accept any type of aid during this period and he's proud of this fact.
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/205
- 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:
-
