Now retraining many former mill workers, community colleges should be encourage to become active in this effort. Their departments of history, literature and technology can have a key role to play. The Initiative will need many community college student volunteers.
Classroom teachers K-12 will also want to get involved. Several
elementary schools already partner with local textile historical
associations to teach children their community roots. At the April 2005
Reunion there will be a curriculum workshop to compare notes.
Professor Gary Freeze takes his class on the road
Buddy" who assists community elders to record
their stories with a camcorder, scans in local photos & documents and create
databases. Using the modern computer technology you can help cotton mill
people preserve and organize local collections and eventually contribute
copies to our regional website & gallery.
To see how the work was done in
Danville,
Virginia to learn the story of Danville's mill workers to their
web site.