Campbell’s Johnson publishes article on big labor strike

May 16, 2005 | Leave a Comment

In 1958, International Nickel Company (INCO), a major employer in Canada went on strike with crippling effects on the regional economy. The local churches even led food drives for the company's 15,000 employees. Dr. Lloyd Johnson, associate professor of history at Campbell University, examined the strike in an article that appears in "The Fifties in America," a three-volume publication surveying the events and people of North America during the 1950s, published by Salem Press. During the late 1950s unemployment in Canada had reached levels previously reached only during the 1930s with more than 600,000 people out of work. Increases in the cost of living led some major industries to go on strike, threatening Canada's railroads, shipping, brewing and mining industries. Among the largest of those industries was INCO. The INCO strike remained unresolved throughout the fall, causing the government and local residents to take emergency action. An agreement was finally reached in December 1958, resulting in a 10 percent pay increase in hourly wages for INCO employees. Johnson, who is an associate professor of history and director of historical studies at Campbell, received a bachelor's degree in history and a master's degree in counselor education from Campbell University. He went on to obtain a master's degree in American history from East Carolina University and earned a doctorate from the University of South Carolina. A resident of Erwin, N.C., he is the author of a book on Welsh settlers in the South, "The Frontier in the Colonial South: South Carolina Backcountry, 1736-1800," and has made numerous presentations on his research in Wales, Britain and the U.S. He has also appeared in the BBC documentary, "Roots in Wales." In addition he has published entries in the "Encyclopedia of North Carolina History," the "African-American Encyclopedia of History," and the "Encyclopedia of South Carolina History." He has been a book review contributor for scholarly publications, including the "Journal of Southern History," "North Carolina Historical Review," the "William & Mary Quarterly," "Baptist History and Heritage" and the "Georgia Historical Quarterly" His article on Welsh in the Carolinas was published in "Western Mail," a national newspaper of Cardiff, Wales. In addition, Johnson recently received the Archie K. Davis Fellowship from the North Carolinian Society, a private nonprofit corporation dedicated to the promotion of increased knowledge and appreciation of North Carolina heritage through the encouragement of scholarly research, writing and teaching and other means. Johnson will use the fellowship to continue researching the Upper Cape Fear Valley in the 18th century.

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