Chatham County Roundup: Chatham Mills & 'Millworker'

Aaron and Aaron are joined by lawyer/storyteller/actress Brenda White, who shares her memories of a theatrical production to tell the story of Chatham Mills and the people who worked there.

Aaron Keck, Brenda White, Aaron Hall

Brenda B. White is an attorney, a historian and a grandmother – and a lifelong Chatham county resident. She worked for Chambers, Stein, Ferguson & Becton (today known as Ferguson, Stein, Watt, Wallas, Adkins & Gresham), the first integrated law firm in North Carolina, before enrolling in classes to earn her law degree at UNC-CH.

“Part of what I did [while working for Charles Becton] was when cases were appealed, the briefs and the company exhibits would be delivered to the judges, to the offices of the judges on the panel that would hear them. And I would look over the cases and write a summary for him of what the case was about,” said White. “… This particular case was delivered, and I tried to read the brief and understand it, but it appeared to me that it had been cut and pasted paragraphs out of a textbook. It just made no sense. So, I took it into his office and I said ‘I can’t, I can’t write you a digest of this because it doesn’t make any sense to me. I can’t tell what’s being appealed. And if this person is a lawyer, I can be a lawyer.’ And he didn’t even look up from his desk. He just nodded his head and said, ‘I was wondering when you’d figure that out.’”

White graduated from UNC’s law school in 1990, while in her 30s and with a teenage daughter at home. But it’s her interest in history – specifically the history of her home – that led her to working to chronicle the life and times of millworkers at Chatham Mills.

Photo via Chatham Mills

“Chatham Mills has been inactive now for probably about 20 years,” said White. “But it had been active, I would say, at least for 50 years, because my father worked there. And so did my mother, and they married in 1933, so I know at that time the mill was active.”

According to White, Chatham Mills produced woven silk labels, and her father worked as a “smashhand” – someone who untangled threads and reset patterns in looms that had become inoperable. White also participated in the production of – and wrote a song for – the original production of “Millworker.”

“Millworker” was first developed as a play produced in lieu of a final exam in a class led by Central Carolina Community College professor Ellen Bland. But the play’s first one-night-only showing elicited such a response that it went on tour for performances across North Carolina. Based on the book “Like a Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill Worker,” the play connected with audiences from mill towns across the state, won awards and even spawned a documentary about its subject matter and production.

You can listen to the full conversation between Aaron Keck, Brenda White and Aaron Hall below, and find more Chatham County news and happenings here.

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Chatham County Roundup: Chatham Mills & ‘Millworker’

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