ProfTroySmith

 Troy D. Smith On July 29, 2021, I gave a presentation at the Sparta Rotary Club about the Sparta Shirt Factory Strike of 1947. I prepared a powerpoint, which was mostly newspaper excerpts, but it was way too bog to actually give- so at the meeting I merely told the story, promising the slides would be available online for those who wanted more detail.  Here it is- in between newspaper excerpts I have written some explanatory text so that, even if you did not hear the presentation, you can follow the story. Some of the newspaper articles are in small print. You should be able to enlarge the on your phone or, if working on a computer, click on them and enlarge them. Incidentally, the county had paid Bassine and his partners $5,000 to bring the factory to Sparta to begin with, in 1936-37.   Bassine left Sparta and never came back. It is not likely he went through with the sale of all the equipment in the factory, but he did sell his home on Gaines Street (it is the large white house acro