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March, Lillian (audio interview #2 of 3)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the second interview with Lillian March conducted in the living room of her modest Lakewood (California) home, which she and her husband bought in 1960. She was more comfortable in this interview than the first, perhaps because it was the least personal and the most directed. 2/25/1980
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- 2021-07-07
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- Notes
- *** File: rrrlmarch4.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-1:07)... March names her parents and her siblings, and says that her sister Pearl was the second born. (In the first interview with March, she placed herself as the second child born in her family. She lists her birth date as April 1, 1894). (1:07-6:58)... March discusses her parent's upbringing. Both sets of grandparents settled in Le Mars, Iowa and March recalls visiting them. She describes their homes and talks about how their personalities and styles of living differed. All of her grandparents, however, were strict. (In the first interview with March, she said that she never visited her grandparents, but apparently she recalled more during this interview). (6:58-7:40)... Although March's mother did not have any miscarriages, her second child died in infancy. (March did not mention this child in earlier segments when she named her siblings. Her mother had a total of five children). (7:40-8:17)... There were good doctors in Le Mars. Other than typical childhood illnesses, March and her siblings did not contract any serious ailments when they were children. (8:17-10:08)... When March was a young girl, she earned .10 cents and a sandwich whenever she baby sat a neighborhood woman's daughter. She remembers using her money to buy licorice at the local grocery store. (10:08-12:51)... Before March married her first husband, she worked at a dime store and as a cashier at a department store. She stopped working after she married. By the time she married the second time, she was working as a beautician and continued to work after she married. Although she says that she and her husband shared household responsibilities, she admits that she did most of the housework and decorating in their home. She was happy during her second marriage because her husband owned a home and she was allowed to decorate it as she pleased. (12:51-16:09)... March learned about job opportunities in the aircraft industry through newspaper advertisements. She contacted the Douglas plant in Long Beach because it was the closest plant to where she was living at the time. She was interviewed and sent to a training school. She put in ninety-six hours riveting and received a training certificate. Neither her husband nor her family objected to working in a defense plant. (16:09-17:43)... When March began thinking about defense work, she was not sure that she would be hired because she did not have any skills. Once she started training, however, she realized that the women around her were just as unfamiliar with the equipment and the type of work as she was. After the first week, she felt more confident. She never imagined that the plant would be as large as it was. She stayed in her own department for fear of getting lost in the plant. (17:43-22:39)... The training school she attended was located at Compton Junior College. Classes were held from 8:00 a.m. to noon, five days a week. There were approximately thirty-five women in her class. Most of the women in her training class were of the same skill level as her. Some gave up quickly and quit about the third day of training. March logged in ninety-six hours of training. She believes that about three-fourths of that time was spent riveting sheet metal. After she finished training, she was free to pursue job opportunities at any of the defense plants. She chose Douglas and was not interviewed until after she finished training school. She started working at the plant about two weeks later. (22:39-24:41)... When she went to the Douglas, Long Beach plant, she was interviewed by two men. They asked her if she though she could handle the job and whether or not she had any transportation or children. The interview process was relatively short and she remembers that there were long lines of people waiting to be interviewed. (24:41-25:51)... She did not have to take any tests the day she was interviewed. When she got to her assigned department in the plant, a leadman showed her what to do and explained what type of equipment to use to ensure that a proper sized rivet was drilled into each part. When she was finished with a part, she took it to an inspector, who was a woman. If her work passed the inspection she moved on to another part, but if it did not pass she had to re-do her work. (25:51-27:25)... During the initial interview at Douglas, March was told how much she would be making as a riveter; however, she could not recall what her starting wage was. She believes that each department in the plant paid their employees a different wage. She started working in the plant a couple of days after she was interviewed. She thinks that she was assigned to a department during that interview. (27:25-28:11)... When she was hired at Douglas she was a little insecure about whether she would be able to handle the work because it was completely different than anything she had done before. She thought it would be a challenge and would help the war effort. (28:11-28:58)... To prepare for her new job, March went out and purchased a pantsuit and some low-heeled shoes. She also had to wear a bandana on her head to keep her hair back. End of tape. *** File: rrrlmarch5.mp3 (0:00-1:23)... March continues to discuss her work attire at Douglas, indicating that she had never worn pants before she went to work at the plant. She liked wearing pants and not "having to fix up a lot." (1:23-2:23)... She purchased a lunch pail and a thermos before she went to work at Douglas. Her lunch pail was inspected by security guards every day and she had to show her identification badge before she entered the plant. During lunch breaks, she conversed with co-workers and they occasionally exchanged sandwiches. (2:23-2:56)... She describes the type of shoes she wore to work. (2:56-5:18)... She was required to purchase a few tools before she went to work in the plant. Most of the tools she used, however, were furnished by the company. When her shift started, she went to the tool crib in her department and checked out a rivet gun and returned it at the end of her shift. She purchased her tools and her work attire at a store that was not associated with Douglas. (5:18-7:56)... March describes what her first day was like at Douglas. She did not sleep the night before because she was anxious about starting a new job. When she drove to the plant she was confused about where to park. She was later provided with a parking pass that corresponded with Building 12, which is where she was assigned to work. She wondered whether she would be successful at her job. (7:56-10:37)... She describes Building 12. She entered the plant off Lakewood Boulevard and recalls that she had to walk through several departments just to get to her department. She was overwhelmed by the size of the plant and all the machinery and the people. The noise level was extremely loud because of the rivet guns. She recalls that the lighting and the ventilation in the plant was satisfactory. She remembers that riveters had to have good eyesight in order to see the small holes in which they drilled rivets. Even people with eyeglasses had a difficult time seeing those holes on occasion. (10:37-13:50)... When she reported to Building 12, she was sent to Department 535 where she met her leadman. She went into the department with about five other women who also were new to the plant. The leadman showed them around and tried to acclimate them to their new surroundings. He then illustrated the different parts they would be working on and demonstrated their job responsibilities. March was assigned to work on the spoiler. She believes that there were about seven or eight women working on her crew. (13:50-15:31)... March felt like the more experienced workers in her department were experts. They were supportive towards the new employees and understood that they did not have mechanical backgrounds. Some of the men who worked in the plant knew just as little as March. All the people in March's department were women except for the leadman. March began to feel confident about her skills about a week after she started working in the plant. (15:31-16:18)... She worked the day shift from 7:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. five days a week. Employees were paid overtime for working on Saturdays. She worked a lot of overtime. They also were eligible for time and a half. (16:18-18:24)... She cannot recall receiving any raises or promotions while she was employed at Douglas. Employees received periodic performance reviews. Occasionally, employees were fired or transferred to other departments when they could not do the work properly. (18:24-21:22)... The leadman demonstrated her job her first day in the department. She practiced for a few days on sheet metal before she started riveting the big parts. Her first priority in the department was getting organized and finding her station. She performed the same type of work the entire time she was employed at Douglas. (21:22-22:58)... The women in her department were similar in age to March with a few younger and older women mixed in. She was considered middle-aged in her department. She liked all of her co-workers and became close friends with two women with whom she corresponded for many years after she left Douglas. She mentions the strain on her body from standing all day. When she worked on the lower section of her part, she sat down on a bench until she finished. (22:58-26:57)... March was responsible for drilling the holes and riveting the spoiler panel. She worked with a riveting machine equipped with an arm that was located in back of the panel and bucked her rivets as she went along. She provides a detailed description of her job responsibilities. After she finished a spoiler, it was approved or rejected by an inspector. If her work was approved, she returned to her station and began working on a new spoiler. Each spoiler was approximately 2' x 4' and it took half her shift to complete one spoiler. If she did not finish a spoiler by the end of her shift, it was set aside and she resumed working on it the next day. The next shift was not responsible for finishing her work. (26:57-28:13)... It took awhile for March to become accustomed to the noise in the plant. Some women had to take aspirin when they got a headache from the noise. Besides feeling tired after standing on her feet all day, March's muscles were sore from holding a drill and operating a rivet gun. When she got home at night her arm ached for the first few weeks, but she eventually got use to it and developed muscles in her arm. (28:13-29:32)... She could not recall having any other work breaks other than her lunch hour. At lunch time, she ate with her co-workers in her department. The plant was equipped with a cafeteria but they rarely had time to go there and eat. (29:32-30:31)... March had a time card that she punched in and out before and after her shifts. She did not have to punch out for her lunch hour and she was free to go to the restroom at any time during he shift. End of tape. *** File: rrrlmarch6.mp3 (0:10-1:07)... Employees were allowed to use the restroom whenever they wanted. Occasionally, women stayed in the restroom longer than necessary and if they made a habit of it, they advised that they were staying away from their department for too long. March cannot recall if there were restroom matrons who supervised the restrooms. (1:07-2:34)... She was never restricted from going into other departments in Building 12. She never went into the other buildings at Douglas, so she does not know if there were any security measures that forbade employees from entering other sections of the plant. She did not worry that if she made a mistake she would be accused of sabotage. She did not hear people talk about sabotage in the plant. (2:34-3:30)... On occasion, people who worked in the office at Douglas toured the plant with special visitors. (3:30-4:54)... When asked about loyalty and camaraderie in the plant, March comments that she was loyal to Douglas, Although she read the Douglas newspaper; however, she does not elaborate on its contents. (4:54-7:08)... Although she worked at her own pace, she was expected to fulfill the production expectations in her department. However, she could not remember if there were specific production quotas set by the company. She recalls that the pace of production stayed relatively the same and there were no speed ups while she was there. March felt proud whenever she saw a finished airplane, stating, "I thought without me they'd never made it! I felt kind've like I added a little something to it." (7:08-8:16)... March was close with a few of her co-workers. Many of the women March worked with had never been employed and were somewhat lackadaisical about their workload. (8:16-9:57)... There were several men employed in her department and in other sections of the building where March worked. The men treated women with respect and she never heard of any cases in which a woman was sexually harassed by a male co-worker. (9:57-11:40)... Most of March's co-workers came to California from all over the country, including Oklahoma and the Midwest. There were no minorities in March's department; however, there were a few Black women employed in Building 12. She was not friends with these women. She never heard of any problems related to racial discrimination while she worked at Douglas. (11:40-14:39)... March discusses the safety precautions in the plant, indicating that employees were advised not to talk while they worked unless it was to their leadman or "leadlady." None of the machines in her department were labeled with caution signs. She recalls the time she injured her fingers when operating a drill. She received medical care for her injuries in the plant dispensary. (14:39-15:25)... She cannot recall any of the company services offered at Douglas. Although services may have been available to employees, she never used any of them. She was never involved in any recreational programs sponsored by the company. (15:25-16:53)... There were both Black men and women employed in Building 12. They were scattered throughout the building and were not segregated in one department. Although everyone on her crew was a woman, there were other sections in the building in which both men and women worked along side each another. (16:53-17:16)... She explains that there was no union at Douglas and no one talked to her about joining the union while she was employed at the company. (17:16-20:40)... March cleaned her house and shopped for groceries after she got off of work. Her husband also helped shop for groceries when he had time. During the war, however, he had a busy schedule working as a barber during the day and at Douglas in the evenings. The rest of March's family moved to California during the war, but they lived in separate residences and did not help each other manage their housework and shopping responsibilities. March remembers that there were food shortages during the war; however, she could not recall any specifics related to this issue. (20:40-24:22)... March describes the homes she lived in while she was employed at Douglas. She notes that going to work at Douglas was a turning point in her and her husband's economic status.
- SUBJECT BIO - Lillian March was a full-time homemaker before going to work at Douglas Aircraft, Long Beach. Born in South Dakota, March was the second of eight children. The family moved to Le Mars, Iowa when she was one years old. After she graduated from high school there, she attended college for one year in Sioux City, until she married in 1913. After her husband died in 1915, March attended beauty school and started to work as a beautician, continuing, even after her marriage in 1922 to a barber. When March and her husband moved to California in 1933, she became a full-time homemaker, until she went to work at Douglas. At forty eight, she was among the older women who became defense workers, and worked for only one year, resuming full-time homemaking. Even though March's assembly work was short-lived, she felt that the experience built her self-confidence and she did more after she returned home. Three interviews were conducted with March in the living room of her modest Lakewood (California) home, which she and her husband bought in 1960. She was very soft spoken, even somewhat shy. The interview seemed to make her nervous and she was always more relaxed and animated when the tape recorder was turned off. She was not accustomed to talking about her life and often commented that she felt filly relating certain anecdotes. March took a long time to gather her thoughts before responding to a question; and she sometimes became so absorbed in her thoughts that she forgot the interviewer was there. TOPICS - family background and history; childhood; baby sitting; second husband and marital relationship; domesticity; advertisements for defense work; training school; impressions of plant; interview process at Douglas; jowork clothing; plant security; tools; first day of work; description of the plant; leadman; hours; performance reviews; working conditions; work force demographics; job responsibilities; effect of work on physicalrestroom facilities at Douglas; plant security; plant activities; production pace; work place relationships; men's attitudes towards women at Douglas; gender relations; work force demographics; safety precautions i
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