Richard Ray oral history interview, September 22, 1995

Interviewed by Christine Lutz: Ray talks about his family background growing up in Durham, NC during the 1950s. He openly discusses the segregation and prejudice he encountered and the integration of his high school. Ray explains how he joined the labor movement during an apprenticeship in a machine shop at Owens-Illinois as a member of Local 6 of the American Flint Glass Workers Union. He discusses his friendship with Wilbur Hobby, then President of the North Carolina AFL-CIO and his own position as head of the Durham Labor Council. Ray states his views on Jesse Helms in the 1950s as follows: “He was a racist individual who never talked positively about anything he talked about.” He mentions race relations in unions and the workplace, strikes, moving to Atlanta, his Atlanta Labor Council presidency, and his work with the Georgia State University Labor Studies Program and classmate/friend Charlie Key. Ray also discusses relations between various unions, the Communications Workers strike of 1986, Atlanta mayors and labor, and Georgia politics, especially Congressman Buddy Darden, Zell Miller, and Bob Barr. Union Represented: American Flint Glass Workers; Georgia State AFL-CIO