Change from Crisis

As I mentioned previously, the strike in Honea Path was one of many. It is estimated that there were close to 1,900 strikes in the United States in 1934 alone. Almost 1.5 million workers were involved. The strike at Chiquola Mill would have just been a tiny pebble thrown into a vast ocean, but the tragedy that struck instead turned that ripple effect into a giant tsunami of change.

The Roosevelt Administration saw what was happening across the country as troublesome but saw the massacre as a pivoting point. It became clear that the country could wait no longer for changes in the working environment. The Wagner Act was passed in 1935, giving workers the legal right to join unions and bargain with their employers, a massive step towards more effective communication. It also prohibited unfair labor practices that had plagued almost every mill at the time. The Fair Labor Standards Act was passed shortly after in 1938, and it created more massive changes. Beyond simply establishing minimum wage, the Fair Labor Standards Act also limited the workweek to forty hours, with overtime coming with increased wages. Another significant change in this act was the prohibition of child labor. Suddenly, children were able to stay in school instead of being forced to work in unsafe conditions for hardly any money to help support their families. These changes may have resulted out of the textile strikes, but they helped every industry across the country.

So, what happened to the mill? I knew it was no longer in operation, but I did not realize that its close brought the close of Honea Path’s only large industry. In 2008, the remains of Chiquola Mill were purchased by a North Carolina company. Evidently there were plans to demolish it and build a nursing home where it once stood, on the land that holds an overwhelming amount of heartache and history. The demolition was started, but never finished.

The strikers who lost their lives on that fateful day did not die in vain, they died for a cause and their sacrifice inevitably shaped the way that workplaces operate today. We have safeguards in place because of them. Because of everything they stood for, and everything they died for. Does this excuse the fact that they were gunned down? Of course not. But it is at least a little bit of light shining out of the dark, and sometimes that is all you can really search for.

Memorial in Honea Path