Campbell’s Johnson publishes
article on big labor strike
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.
Bulletin 0122-5/17/05
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