Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | September 28, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 13 Continued on Page 14 Valley but in cities from Holyoke to Fall River to Lawrence. Many Massachusetts' towns began as mill towns along rivers, Klyberg said. Mill owners oen had direct con- nections to slavery and slaveholding, Hardesty said, as they depended on buying cotton from the South grown by enslaved people. e Crown and Eagle Mills in Ux- bridge, for example, imported nearly 240,000 pounds of cotton from South Carolina each year, while the Douglas Manufacturing Co. obtained nearly an identical amount from Georgia, Rock- man wrote. e abundance of cotton and rise of textile mills came together to create a strong textiles industry that furthered the demand for cotton. While those mills became successful because of the cost advantages of slave-grown cotton, manufacturing plants in the Blackstone Valley supplied them with machinery. Whitin Machine Works – whose owners' family gave Whitinsville its name – made machinery used to prepare slave-grown cotton for manu- facturing. e Draper Corp. manufactured looms for textile factories before slavery was abolished. It then sold looms to cotton mills that were, in turn, buying slave-grown cotton to use on Draper's looms. "You might think of yourself as a machine maker that has nothing to do with that process, and yet, of course if your machines are processing cotton, then you are," said Klyberg. e Draper Corp. – whose roughly 1-million-square-foot mill still towers over the center of Hopedale – was at one point the largest maker of power looms in the country and operated for more than 130 years. What would become Crompton Loom Works of Worcester was started by William Crompton, a British immigrant who received a U.S. patent in 1837 for his new loom allowing for fancier clothing, more patterns and was easier to use. Crompton's loom business began then, profiting off of the success of textile mills and the high demand for textiles. His son, George, took the business from his father when his father retired. George Crompton then perfected and popularized the Crompton loom. He established Crompton Loom Works in Worcester in 1860, five years before the abolition of slavery. e building still stands today on Green Street, hosting a mix of commercial businesses. "It is an abstraction … but it still rests on slave labor," Hardesty said. "What's driving the demand for those machines in cotton mills? e access to cheap cotton. And how is that cheap cotton produced? Slave labor." e growth of the textiles industry benefited others, too. Looms needed materials like wood and brass, growing to a large network those who profited off of slave-grown cotton, said Joanne Pope Melish, an associate professor emerita in the history department at the University of Kentucky and author of "Disowning Slavery: Gradual Emancipation." U.S. cotton factories 1,074 Spindles in use 76 million Bales of cotton (in pounds) 641,240 Bales of cotton (in value) $38 million ($1.3 billion in 2020 dollars) Value of manufactured product $66 million ($2.2 billion in 2020 dollars) "Hands employed" 32,295 men; 94,956 women U.S. cotton good manufacturing in 1850 Much of the ties of Central Massachusetts to slavery in the period immediately preceeding the Civil War came from the cotton industry. This data from the U.S. Census in 1850 shows how pervasive the industry was at that time. Source: US Census Data from 1850 Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in Maryland, escaped, and then untook missions to free slaves via the Underground Railroad. PHOTO | COURTESY OF THE SMITHSONIAN OPEN ACCESS INITIATIVE Visit our COVID-19 Legal Resources and Response Team to get the facts for your business: • Labor & Employment • Business & Finance • Contracts & Supply Chain • Insurance, Dispute Resolution & Litigation • Real Estate & Construction • Estate Planning & Business Succession • Bankruptcy & Restructuring • Family Law BOWDITCH.COM/COVID GET THE FACTS FOR YOUR BUSINESS BREAK THROUGH WITH BOWDITCH Commercial loans customized to fit the needs of your business.

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