Stahlé B. Vincent

Cone Mills Employee | Director of Human Resources

My father, Aubrey W. Vincent, moved to Greensboro from Caswell County when he was a teenager. He enlisted in the Army after graduating from high school. Returning home after World War II, he started working at the Cone Mills, Revolution Plant in the mid 1950’s. He initially worked a third shift job in order to help his father with his saw mill business. My two brothers and I would often accompany my father on Saturdays when he would work in the warehouse staging cotton for the upcoming work week. In the early 1960’s my father left the Revolution Plant and began working in the Cone Transportation Department. He was one of the first African American long distance truck drivers to work for Cone.

My middle brother, Aubrey D. Vincent, also worked at the Revolution Plant. He started in the late 1960’s after graduating from high school. He later transferred to the White Oak Plant when the Revolution Plant closed.

I worked at the Olympic Products Plant during the summers of 1966 and 1967. This plant was located across the railroad tracks from the Revolution Plant. I would ride to work with a neighbor who worked at the Revolution Plant. After parking, I had to walk through the plant to get to work. I remember the noise, huge equipment and the large number of people who were coming and going at shift change.

I grew up in the Mt. Zion Community, which is about three miles from the East White Oak Community. East White Oak was the mill village for the Black employees that worked at the Cone plants. Quite a few men from Mt. Zion worked for Cone Mills. I remember there was a lot of social, civic and athletic interaction between the two communities.