- Collection:
- Working Lives Oral History Project
- Title:
- Interview with Curtis Maggard
- Contributor to Resource:
- Maggard, Curtis
Hamrick, Peggy - Date of Original:
- 1984-07-13
- Subject:
- Maggard, Curtis--Interviews
- Location:
- United States, Alabama, Jefferson County, Birmingham, 33.52066, -86.80249
- Medium:
- interviews
transcripts - Type:
- Sound
Text - Format:
- audio/mpeg
image/jpeg - Description:
- In this interview, Curtis Maggard recalls the organization of the Steelworkers' Union in Birmingham, and he describes living through the Depression. Maggard talks about organizing a union for steelworkers at the TCI plant in Ensley. He recalls being laid off for up to a week sometimes because he was trying to get people to join the union. He says people were scared to join for that very reason, so the union took two years to get off the ground. He recalls that blacks and whites were both in the union. The union was good for blacks especially, because it helped regulate the process for advancement so that it followed seniority. He also talks about "scabbing," which meant working in a plant where a union was on strike. He says he almost scabbed once at the Sloss plant because he badly needed the money, but he was afraid to. One of his friends was badly beaten for scabbing. He also reminded himself that he should support the union; they were on strike for a reason. Maggard discusses his work in the steel plant. He was a common laborer but he eventually moved up to other jobs on the furnace side of the operations. He says the steel plant was better money than some other industrial jobs and believes it was easier to "dodge" work. The only drawback was the work could be dangerous, but he believes the company had good safety protocols in place, so that most accidents were from people not following protocols. Maggard also recounts living through the Depression. He says it was hard, but a person could do it without having to steal. He explains how he worked on the WPA for a time, loading dirt and working on roads. Maggard believes the Depression was in general harder on blacks than whites because it was easier for whites to find work and receive aid. He tells the story of dealing with a difficult woman at the Red Cross, Ida Shepherd, who continued to deny him aid. He claims that he wrote the president of the United States twice and nearly got Shepherd fired, and in the end, he received his check for aid. He calls the Red Cross workers "mean" and "rough folks.
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/60
- 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:
-
