Lowcounty Digital Initiative Features Online Exhibit on The Cotton Factory (before it was the Cigar Factory)

The online exhibition, Charleston's Cotton Factory, 1880-1990, traces the history of the cotton factory in Charleston, South Carolina, from 1880 to 1900, and examines how mill workers—black and white, male and female—struggled for better working conditions in the contentious political, social, and economic contexts of the late nineteenth century. The author of the exhibition is none other than Palmer's own Dr. Susan Millar Williams.

Dr. Williams explains: “This exhibit started as a series of posters Phoebe Williams and I developed for Eastside Day 2013. In researching the early history of the Cigar Factory, I discovered both LDHI’s groundbreaking online exhibit about the famous strike that sparked the birth of “We Shall Overcome” and traces of another, earlier, story about the origins of the building, one that put Charleston at the epicenter of a major controversy over the role of African Americans in the textile industry.  Just as the posters were about to go up, I discovered that Booker T. Washington had visited the factory, and that discovery led me to another year of research. 

By working with the Avery Research Center and the Lowcountry Digital History Initiative, I was able to share this important piece of Eastside history with the world. Now that the factory building has been renovated and reopened, I hope that visitors will want to know more about the people who once worked there.”