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The Voice of Southern Labor chronicles the experiences of southern textile workers and provides a unique perspective on the social, cultural, and historical forces that came into play when the group struck in 1934. The workers’s grievances and solidarity were reflected in the music they listened to and sang, and this book offers a context for this intersection of labor, politics, and culture.

Worker resistance to textile industry paternalism in the southern town of Cooleemee, NC, is explored, drawing on oral & written accounts from former workers to expose it as an internal, parochial struggle whereby workers challenged the mill's power in terms of moral accountability based on shared identity. A shift from worker passivity to activism, 1934-1937, is identified, & it is argued that this shift was motivated by the community's interior dynamics (eg, kinship & neighborhood networks). The local rise of unionism is analyzed, concluding that it emerged in a preexisting context of worker resistance. 4 Photographs. Adapted from the source document.