Labor conflicts, arrests, espionage—it was all there at the once-ubiquitous mills of Fulton County, where hardworking people scratched out an unsteady living on the back of king cotton. Very little remains of these mills, but Atlanta’s Cabbagetown and Whittier Mill Village have discovered new, vibrant purpose. During the heyday of mill life, though, impetuous mill bosses wielded ruthless control over workers’ lives. The mills sustained blue-collar families, but industrial exploitation would snatch it away in an instant. Workers who didn’t toe the line were made to suffer, strikes were put down and payday envelopes weren’t guaranteed to contain a dime. Author Lisa M. Russell unearths the stories of work and struggle from the lost mills of Fulton County.
Lisa M. Russell is a writer, instructor and academic assistant dean. She writes micro-history books about “lost things.” She guested on several local television/radio programs and podcasts, including the History Channel. She is a speaker and delivered a TED Talk about historic preservation. Russell earned her Master of Arts degree in professional writing (MAPW) from Kennesaw State University. In 2020, the university gave her the Distinguished Alumnus Award. Lisa teaches English full time at Georgia Northwestern Technical College and serves as the assistant dean of English. She is a part-time professor of communication at Kennesaw State University. In her “spare time,” you can find Lisa exploring North Georgia with her micro-historic lens to discover her next “lost” story.