North Carolina Community College System
For Immediate Release
“Norma Rae” donates her papers to Alamance Community College
Alamance alum Leslie Thompson helps catalog donation
By Peggy Beach, System Office, Public Affairs
Crystal Lee Sutton, the real-life inspiration behind Sally Field’s character in the film Norma Rae, has donated her unionization papers and memorabilia to Alamance Community College. Sutton was fired from J.P. Stevens in 1974 for trying to unionize the plant in Roanoke Rapids, and her story was told in the 1979 Oscar-winning film.
At a June reception in her honor, Sutton, who now lives in Alamance County, said she made the donation because of the college’s efforts in retraining laid-off textile workers. "Thank God for Alamance Community College, where even the working poor can come, get financial assistance, and get a new start in life," she said. Sutton took nursing courses at Alamance in 1988. Her daughter-in-law, Cathy Jordan, is a secretary in the college’s literacy department.
Leslie Thompson, an Alamance graduate and rising senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will catalog the new collection. She attended the reception along with Sherri Singer, head of the social and behavioral sciences department at Alamance, Dr. Sam Powell, college trustee and Dr. Martin Nadelman, college president.
Powell officially accepted the Crystal Lee Sutton collection on behalf of
the college. "This collection will inspire current and future students,
many who themselves have had direct or indirect connections to the
textile industry," he said.
Thompson presented Sutton with a framed, handwritten letter from
women's activist Gloria Steinem, with whom Sutton became friends in
the 1980s during the latter's speaking engagements.
"We admire her courage, we admire her convictions, and we admire her spirit," said Nadelman. "She is a champion not only of the working class but also of all who inspire to improve the lives of others."
In the early 1970s, Sutton was 33 and working at the J.P. Stevens plant where she was making $2.65 an hour folding towels. The poor working conditions she and her fellow employees suffered compelled her to join forces with Eli Zivkovich, a union organizer, and attempt to unionize the J.P. Stevens employees.
"Management and others treated me as if I had leprosy," said Sutton. She received threats and was finally fired from her job. But before she left, she took one final stand, filmed verbatim in Norma Rae. "I took a piece of cardboard and wrote the word UNION on it in big letters, got up on my work table, and slowly turned it around. The workers started cutting their machines off and giving me the victory sign. All of a sudden the plant was very quiet..."
Sutton was physically removed from the plant by police, but the result of her actions was monumental. The Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) won the right to represent the workers at the plant and Sutton became an organizer for the union. In 1977, Sutton was awarded back wages and her job was reinstated by court order, although she chose to return to work for just two days. She subsequently became a speaker on behalf of the ACTWU and was profiled in interviews on Good Morning America, in The New York Times Magazine, and countless other national and international publications during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Crystal Lee Sutton Awards, established in her name and presented by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, recognizes individuals and organizations whose efforts have contributed to presenting positive images of working people to the American public.
Thompson, who is working closely with Sutton while cataloguing the collection, said that she took a lot of history courses with Singer while studying at Alamance.
“When the collection came in, she (Singer) called me and asked me to look at it,” said Thompson. “I was very excited. It fell in with what I studied about the workers rights movement.”
Thompson plans to interview Sutton for an oral history to include in the collection. Sutton said that she began collecting material since 1973, when she began her crusade for unionization. “She documented everything and I do mean everything,” said Thompson. Included in the collection are letters, videos, awards, certificates, newspaper articles, and calendars. “There are photos of her with Gloria Steinem and also a copy of the documentary she did with Ms. Steinem and PBS in 1974,” said Thompson. “She was very thorough.”
Thompson said that when the catalog is complete, it will likely be available not only at the library at Alamance Community College but also on NC ECHO. NC ECHO, Exploring Cultural Heritage Online, is the state’s Internet doorway to the special collections of North Carolina’s libraries, archives, museums, historic sites and other cultural institutions.
Thompson received a grant from the university to catalog the collection and is planning to write her honors thesis on the project. She is planning to go to graduate school at UNC-CH and eventually hopes to teach at a university or a community college. “Community college is a great place to get a start on your education,” she said. “I am 33 and I have four kids so Alamance Community College was the best way for me to begin my education.”
Contact: Peggy Beach, North Carolina Community College System, Public Affairs, 919-807-6964, beachm@nccommunitycolleges.edu
