Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers (Part 2)
Reinventing Charlotte and the Carolina Piedmont in the New South (Explore how the Piedmont became the largest cotton manufacturing region in the US.)
Bring Mills to the Cotton, 1880s - 1930s
In Part 2, we discuss how railways expanded the cotton
industry across the Carolina Piedmont and shaped a region. The opening of textile mills and mill villages drew many
farmers from the field to the factory, where they hoped for better
wages. Children worked in the mills, often completing the same
jobs as adults. In many cases, Jim Crow laws prevented African
Americans from working the same jobs as whites.
Replica of the railroadLevine Museum of the New South
This is a model representing the important role trains and the railroad system played in bringing cotton from the farms to the mills.
Cotton MillLevine Museum of the New South
Once the cotton reached the mill by train, it would go through a carding machine that would separate the fibers so the cotton could be spun into thread and woven into clothe.
Mill Child LaborLevine Museum of the New South
Entire families worked in the mills, just as they had on the farm. Children as young as 6 years old would work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. Education often came secondary to work.
Mill Village HomeLevine Museum of the New South
Mill villages were developed with mill hand houses for families who worked in the mills to live.
Mill Village PhotographLevine Museum of the New South
Most mill workers were white and were like a family - living together in the mill village and working in the mills.
