Floyd Virgil Hayes

(1900-1969)

Floyd was born in 1900 to Thomas Hayes and Ludie Lomax, sharecroppers in Rockingham County, North Carolina. His mother died when he was eight years old, so he was raised by his older sister. His uncle, Robert Donnell, who worked as a janitor at White Oak Cotton Mills in nearby Greensboro, helped Floyd to gain employment there sometime around the year 1925, two years after marrying Minnie Graves and moving into the East White Oak neighborhood. Floyd only had a fifth grade education, and his wife Minnie taught him how to read.

At White Oak, Floyd found himself in the Dyehouse, where he made dye liquor, the aqueous solution yarn is dipped into for coloring, for the indigo vats during his shift. Eventually, through trial and error, he perfected the recipe. Managers found his recipe of dye liquor to be of the best quality and most uniform, and so the mill placed him in charge of preparing batches for all three shifts, making him Dyemaster. At times, the mill would run completely out of their prepared supply, and someone would come and get him at his home in the middle of the night, so he could go in and make the liquor, which was required to keep the indigo dyeboxes in the dyehouse ready to run roped cotton yarn through, and effectively the part that makes blue jeans just that, that deep, dark, inky blue.

Sometime during the 1940's, North Carolina State University chemists visited White Oak Cotton Mills, where they observed Floyd and measured ingredients to help write and standardize the indigo recipes for the company. According to the family historian, Aunt Bernice, this took place sometime between 1940 and 1942, during The United States’ involvement in World War II.

Floyd earned a good wage working at the mill, and with his income purchased an early 1920's Dodge Brothers coupe, which he used not only as his means for transportation to and from his shift at work, but also to carry other neighbors in East White Oak to and from doctors appointments, on errands, and in other times of need. Floyd was always a community-oriented man, and he always promoted education to his family, particularly his children. When he earned enough money from working in the denim mill, he bought four acres of land and built a house for his family in Poplar Grove, just north of Greensboro. This neighborhood, located near Monticello and Browns Summit, had a school at the time for African-American children. There, he had a milk cow, vegetable garden, fruit trees, and even raised tobacco, which he cured and sold for additional income. His cultivation was often gifted to neighbors, some of whom were white, and their girls were also treated kindly by their white neighbors in Poplar Grove, with whom they would go blackberry picking and play with outside.

Floyd's emphasis on education, plus his hard work at the mill along with his tobacco cultivation income, allowed for him to afford to send all of his children to college. They all attended Historically-Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU), and all graduated with degrees.

Floyd also promoted voting, and civitan duty, and was viewed by his family, co-workers and neighbors at as a community leader.

At the mill, he befriended his department supervisor, Albert Armstrong, who knew Floyd was an avid hunter and ace of a shot. Albert helped get Floyd permission to go hunt at the Cone Hunt Club, where he won several shooting competitions, but due to segregation during this time in our country’s history, only allowed Albert to collect the awards. He won the deer hunting competition there, and Albert had it taxidermied for his own wall.

Outside of work, Floyd often said, "I show all the white boys how to mix the dye, so they can become my boss."

It's safe to say that if Floyd was the one that perfected the indigo dye recipes, that he was Mr. Deeptone, himself. He retired in 1965, after working for over 40 years at White Oak.

Sadly, in 1969, Floyd died from a bad reaction from receiving the flu vaccine, which he received as a shot.

W.O.L.F. is so proud to be able to document and tell the story of the life and legacy of the dyemaster, Mr. Floyd Virgil Hayes.