Musings with Wilson

Project:  Growth and Exploitation: Child Labor and Economic Expansion in Postbellum North Carolina Textiles. 

By Miriam Izbicki-Wilson 

Introduction:  

After the Civil War, the South had to rebuild its economy from the ground up.  Replacing an economy that was reliant on slave labor with a new system.  While agriculture, especially cotton, remained important under the new sharecropping and tenant farming systems, the region slowly began to shift towards industry.  One of the biggest areas of growth was in textile manufacturing, and North Carolina quickly became a major player in that shift. 

On paper, this looks like progress.  Mills were being built, capital investment was increasing, and the region seemed to be modernizing.  But when looking closer, that growth tells a more complicated story.  Much of it depended on cheap labor, and a large portion of that labor force consisted of children. North Carolina’s textile industry is a strong example of how economic growth and exploitation often went hand in hand in the postbellum South. 

Methodology and Sources 

This study uses both quantitative and qualitative sources to get a fuller picture of what was happening.  On the quantitative side, U.S. Census manufacturing data provide clear evidence of growth.  For example, North Carolina had 33 cotton mills in 1870, but by 1880 that number had grown to 49, with spindle capacity more than doubling during the same period. That kind of increases how quickly the industry expanded 

To put North Carolina in a broader context, this study also examines regional data.  By 1880, southern mills were using about 12 percent of the nation’s cotton, but by 1900 that number had jumped to one-third. That shift shows that textile production was moving south in a major way.  At the same time, numbers alone do not tell the whole story. Scholarly research helps explain what those numbers meant for people actually working in the mills.  Historians like Cathy McHugh examine how families depended on mill wages and how children became a key part of the workforce. These sources are important because they connect economic growth to the lived experience, not just production totals. 

Analytical Comparison of Economic Conditions

North Carolina’s textile industry grew rapidly in the decade after the Civil War.  More mills, more spindles, and more capital all point to a region that was industrializing quickly.  Investors saw opportunity in building mills close to cotton sources, and North Carolina offered cheap land, available labor, and improving transportation.   

When compared to South Carolina, a similar pattern appears.  South Carolina expanded from just 18 mills in 1880 to over 50 by the early 1890s, becoming one of the leading textile producers in the country. This shows that North Carolina was not unique; it was part of a larger regional trend toward industrial growth. 

However, what really stands out is how that growth was achieved. It was not just about machines and investment; it was about labor.  The factories needed employees.  Specifically, it was about cheap labor. By 1899, about one-fourth of the workers in southern cotton mills were under the age of 16. In North Carolina, it would be a common practice to employ children ranging in age from 10 to 15. These child workers often worked long hours under difficult conditions for lesser wages than adults.  This was not a part-time or summer job for these children. Families often relied on every available wage earner, including children, to make ends meet. This allows mill owners to keep wages low while still maintaining a steady workforce. In that sense, child labor was not just a side effect of industrialization; it was a key part of how the system operated. 

When comparing North Carolina to the broader southern textile economy. It becomes clear that this was not an isolated issue. The same patterns show up across the region. Industrial growth depended on keeping labor costs low, and one of the easiest ways to do so was to employ children. This created a system where comic progress was tied directly to the exploitation of child labor.  Child labor has consequences, including the loss of childhood, education, and opportunities for upward mobility. 

Cleveland County, North Carolina: A Local Case Study of Textile Growth

To better understand how the system worked on the ground, Cleveland County, North Carolina, provides a strong local example of how textile expansion and labor practices developed together. The County began industrializing shortly after the Civil War, and like much of the Piedmont region, it quickly became tied to cotton manufacturing.  The First major textile mill in Cleveland County was established in 1871 in Double Shoals along the First Broad River. By the nineteenth century, textile mills were spreading across the county, including areas like Kings Mountain, where a major mill opened in 1888 and helped launch what became a full “mill era” in that community.  Over time, entire mill villages developed around these factories, providing housing and basic services for workers and their families.  This pattern mirrors what was happening across North Carolina and the broader South.  Cleveland County’s mills were often located along rivers to power machinery, and they were built in rural areas where families were willing to work for lower wages than their northern counterparts. 

Like elsewhere in the southern textile industry, labor in Cleveland County mills was typically family-based.  Entire households worked in the mills, and children were a key part of that labor system.  Across North Carolina, child labor was both legal and common in the late nineteenth century, with children often entering mill work around the age of twelve or even younger.  By 1900, about one-fourth of all textile workers in the South were under the age of sixteen.  And North Carolina employed more children ages 10 to 15 than any other state in the country.  In the mills in Cleveland County, children worked as officers, spinners, and sweepers, performing essential but low-paid tasks that helped keep production costs down.  Their labor allowed for missiles to operate efficiently while keeping wages low across the workforce.

Cleveland County serves as a clear example of the larger argument of this study: that postbellum economic growth in the South, while real and measurable, depended heavily on labor systems that included the widespread use of child labor.  The expansion of mill sites in places like Shelby, Lawndale, and Kings Mountain was not just a story of progress; it was also a story of who bore the cost of that progress. 

Conclusion 

North Carolina’s textile industry is often used as an example of how the South began to industrialize after the Civil War.  And in many ways, it does represent economic progress: production increased, investment grew, and the region became more connected to national markets. But that growth came at a cost.  It depended heavily on low-wage labor, especially children, who worked long hours with limited protections.  When placed in the broader regional context, it becomes clear that this was not just a North Carolina issue, but a defining feature of southern industrialization as a whole.  In the end, this study will show that economic growth in the postbellum South cannot be separated from the labor system that supported it.  The rise of the textile industry brought opportunity, but it also exposed the limits and inequalities of that progress. 

Bibliography

Cecelski, David S. “On Cotton Mill Hill.” David Cecelski Blog. Accessed March 27, 2026.

Cleveland County Historical Society. “Manufacturing and Trades.” Accessed March 27, 2026.

“Cotton Manufacture.” Encyclopedia of Economic History. Edited by Joel Mokyr. Accessed March 27, 2026.

Holleran, Pennie M. “Family Income and Child Labor in Carolina Cotton Mills.” Social Science History 21, no. 2 (Summer 1997): 245–269.

Lawndale Historical Article. “Early Cotton Factories in Cleveland County.” Accessed March 27, 2026.

McHugh, Cathy L. “Child Labor in the Postbellum Southern Cotton Textile Industry.” Business and Economic History 11 (1982): 136–146.

National Park Service. “Double Shoals Cotton Mill.” National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination Form. Accessed March 27, 2026.

NCpedia. “Child Labor.” Accessed March 27, 2026.

South Carolina Digital Academy. “Textiles on the Rise.” University of South Carolina. Accessed March 27, 2026.

United States Census Bureau. Report on Manufacturing Industries in the United States at the Tenth Census (1880). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1883.