Hazard County documentary / produced by H. Sinclair. - Internet Archive Several folk singers and other artists toured the United States to raise money during the strikes. Unemployment in 2017 was 9.4 percent, far above the national average. Typical of counties with low income, counties where the mine companies own everything and pay low taxes, our UMW driver says. Exist Dates. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. But what of the people of Harlan County? Faith Primitive Baptist Church. Each of us makes a statement. The county was once part of Knox County, only becoming official in 1819. The Sheriff reportedly got rich on payoffs from the companies, and he used 181 mine company gunmen as special deputies. It seems that unfriendly local law enforcement officials kept a constant surveillance on Dreiser, hoping to catch him in something that would justify a criminal charge against him. With this Supreme Court ruling, all but one of the open shops in Harlan County went back to the previous mine operations. Two hundred people crowd. The Kentucky Coal Association is an IRS designated 501 (c) (6) nonprofit organization that aims to educate its members and the public of coal production and safety in the state of Kentucky. We drive to the Evarts Community Center and report to the other members of the Citizens Inquiry. He says that wages are no longer a problem and that the amount of the royalty to be paid into the UMW Welfare & Retirement Fund is not crucially important. When McQueen was hurt, his foreman drove him to the hospital and left him there, and he was two hours hitchhiking home. If you protested this safety violation, he says, "the boss would just say, 'Run it.'" She doesn't know where she will go when the camp is closed. The aftermath of this battle led to wider strikes in the Harlan County area. It will be a two-hour, winding drive through the Cumberland Mountains to the town of Harlan. With the passage of these acts, there was unrest in Harlan County. Trailer parks called Walnut Grove, Mobile Manor, and Mesa Village Mobile Manor. The motorcade stopped and the deputies got out of their cars to return fire. After nearly 40 years of working in coalmines, David . When the smoke had cleared, the bodies of three guards and one miner were found, and an undetermined number of other dead and dying had been carried away into the mountains. Harry Simms, who was a Young Communist League organizer was killed in Harlan. Apparently, this is one of Eastover's major objections. America in the Harlan County Mine Wars, 1931-1939 Carletta A. Bush Early accounts of the Harlan County mine wars place the inability of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) to establish a permanent foothold in the county, first at the feet of of the Harlan County Coal Operators Association (HCCOA) and secondly at Yarborough is tough and unyielding. The Coal Strike of 1902: Turning Point in U.S. Policy The accident was investigated by Rufus Bailey, Harlan, district mine inspector of the State Department of Mines and Minerals, and James Bryson, safety director, Harlan County Coal Operators Association. Printing - Angelfire Pistol Annies - Harlan County Coal Lyrics | Genius Lyrics Bobby's wife, Becky, who died in 2013, was a lifelong advocate for the people of Harlan County. Bill Doan says that the roof bolts often didn't have enough torque on them, sometimes causing roof falls as high as thirty-five feet above the regular ceiling, and that once he complained about this to the visiting inspector in the presence of his foreman. . The final straw was when the Harlan County Coal Operators Association cut miners' wages by 10%. . Their activities began with a demonstration and march in Harlan on September 27, 1973. Why is garbage left on the roadway? ("Tony") Boyle for the national presidency of the UMW in 1972 in an election closely supervised by the federal government. The letter states that Eastover has now raised the wages in their other mines to the UMW scale and is paying the miners for time spent with the mine moving to and from the face of the coal. "The personal is political" was a rallying cry of second wave feminism. Harlan County War Wiki - Everipedia There are very few vacant houses in Harlan County and virtually no available land to build on. A reporter asks us again how we can expect to make an unbiased report when we've heard only one side. Captain James Cromer of the state police later tells news reporters, "The women are a problem. Sometimes, they'll be a black scum on the rag." 1931, only $13.5 million. "Roof falls are a constant hazard, but the bosses just keep on rushin'.". Harlan county coal hi-res stock photography and images - Alamy The National Industrial Recovery Act only partially succeeded in accomplishing its stated goals when it was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on May 27, 1935, which was three weeks before the Act was set to expire. The Harlan County Coal War is one of the . Garbage along the roadside. The Price of Coal, Part I - kentuckymonthly.com One of the better houses is already being demolished. Our driver points out Norman Yarborough's two-story frame house, across the highway from the camp and up out of the river bottom. Strikebreakers were often beaten. Life After Coal in Harlan County, U.S.A. - In These Times Don Dalton, UMW Safety Director for Region Six, explains this. Battle of Evartshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Evarts, National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/new-deal/national-industrial-recovery-act-of-1933/, Battle of Evartshttps://pipiwiki.com/wiki/Battle_of_Evarts, Battle of Evartshttps://wiki2.org/en/Battle_of_Evarts, Harlan County Warhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_County_War, A Brief History of Harlan County, USAhttps://labornotes.org/blogs/2019/08/brief-history-harlan-county-usa, Harlan County Warhttps://everipedia.org/Harlan_County_War, https://appalachiancenter.as.uky.edu/coal-strike/background-coal-strike, https://appalachiancenter.as.uky.edu/coal-strike/local-elite, https://appalachiancenter.as.uky.edu/coal-strike/new-york-writers, https://appalachiancenter.as.uky.edu/coal-strike/national-miners-union-and-other-radical-groups, The Wagner Act of 1935 (National Labor Relations Act)https://www.thebalancecareers.com/the-wagner-act-of-1935-national-labor-relations-act-2060509#:~:text=%20The%20Wagner%20Act%20defines%20and%20prohibits%20five,or%20administration%20of%20a%20labor%20organization.%20More%20, BOMB IN AUTO KILLS KENTUCKY OFFICIAL; Harlan County Attorney Predicted Assassination for Backing Troops in Election.https://www.nytimes.com/1935/09/05/archives/bomb-in-auto-kills-kentucky-official-harlan-county-attorney.html#:~:text=HARLAN%2C%20Ky.%2C%20Sept.%204%20%28AP%29.%20%20The%20death,his%20automobile.%20View%20Full%20Article%20in%20Timesmachine%20%C2%BB, Elmon Clay Middleton https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70804679/elmon-clay-middleton, KENTUCKY HOLDS FOUR IN AUTO BOMB KILLING; Harlan Prosecutors Death Is Laid to His Fight Against Slot Machines.https://www.nytimes.com/1935/09/06/archives/kentucky-holds-four-in-auto-bomb-killing-harlan-prosecutors-death.html, Blackjewel Bankruptcy Leaves Damaged Lands and Miners Compensation in Limbo, https://ohiovalleyresource.org/2021/03/22/blackjewel-bankruptcy-finalized/, This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/?fbclid=IwAR21nYphw4Dul-_EwuAmSWgzsvPLNwsMM0FtV75j0y-mGUHq-lCZjJxZot8, For more about us, you can visit our Facebook at:https://www.facebook.com/kytnliving, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs0oV5gFzIS2JdMJ3HvTOgA, When we forget our past and who we are as a people, then we become who they say we are. The miners say that they often have to stand knee-deep in water while handling 440-volt electrical cables. Wanted to be able to spend their money at a store of their choice besides the Black Mountain Coal Company store. One of the towns that were a refuge was Evarts, Kentucky. On September 9, 1935, for the first time since the beginning of the war, troops were dispatched to Harlan County on behalf of the miners by the Governor of the State of Kentucky. With unprecedented access, Kopple and her crew captured the miners' sometimes violent struggles with strikebreakers, local police, and company thugs. He tells me that the miners plan to picket on Wall Street, hoping to give Duke problems with its stock. Free shipping for many products! Barbara Kopple 's Academy Award-winning Harlan County USA unflinchingly documents a grueling coal miners' strike in a small Kentucky town. He then answers a question he wasn't asked. There was no standard contract for the miners. I look at the government statistics once more. No help came to those that were in starving situations due to no money to spend on food and no admittance to the company store unless they were gainfully employed by the coal mine. The women say they then organized a "sunrise worship service" to begin at 4:30 on the morning of October 23, on the railroad tracks across the highway from the picket line. . Jacqueline Brophy asks why public services have broken down. With the added protection for workers and the addition of collective bargaining between the workers and their employers. "If we could monitor these inspections, perhaps we could cut down on the fatalities," he says. By comparison to Harlan, the Pittston strike in 1989-1990 shut down almost 70% of that company's production (and completely halted production during the Moss 3 refining plant occupation) and won back the health care benefits of around 1500 miners and their families, as well as the Coal Act of 1992 that requires all coal operators in the U . But you must remember I am an immoral man. Funeral Wednesday March 1 at 11 a.m. at Grays Knob Bible Church. Evarts welcomed the miners because it was filled with spurned politicians and business owners who wished to see the company stores and company men in political positions vanish. The bosses wouldn't go in, but I've. On May 5, 1931 the pot boiled over; in Harlan County Kentucky, heavily armed deputies and company men, called "gun thugs" by miners, confronted disgruntled union men on a road near Evarts. Listen to "Harlan County Coal" from Pistol Annies' album, 'Hell of a Holiday,' out now: https://pa.lnk.to/HOAHAY Chorus:Making decorations out of shotgun she. "The way I figured it, they done that because it was just a faster, way of getting coal." The kind of house she would like, if she could find one, would rent for about $50 a month, but she and her husband cannot pay that much. Which Side are You On? : The Harlan County Coal Miners, 1931-39 Here at Kentucky Tennessee Living we fully support the coal miners and their families. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. Nobody knows how long the UMW can keep paying strike benefits. When drafting these articles, I found that many things have not been taught to the future generations about the struggles for coal miner rights have been in the Appalachian Mountains. We are picked up at the airport by Si (for Simon) Kahn, a Pennsylvania rabbi's son who graduated from Harvard, came to the Southern mountains as a Vista worker, and remained here, working for local community groups. The group publishes policy papers on the benefits of coal for Kentucky and sponsors the "Friends of Coal" initiative. She talks about hiding behind cars on the picket line for protection from the "gun thugs." She talks about a standoff against Basil Collins and the scabs and gun thugs. Bill McQueen says that the shuttle car into the mine usually has no brakes, and that it can only be stopped by putting it in reverse. KCA's constitution and by-laws were adopted on April 28, 1947, "to promote the best interest of the coal mining industry in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and all those engaged therein". Hennen attributes this abandonment to the increasingly conservative John L. Lewis, the longtime and powerful president of the UMWA, who feared . They're trapped. The miners speak of other dissatisfactions with Eastover and the old Southern Labor Union contract. It was the most violent attack of the Harlan County Coal wars and the most violence would only last fifteen minutes in total but would forever change the name to Bloody Harlan. Even pop culture cannot ignore its impact with such shows as Justified. The miners say that all of the strikers have been blacklisted by the Association. There was no functioning safety committee Medical and retirement benefits were minimal and unreliable. Lois Scott, a woman of about forty-five, begins to speak first. If for example, they did not behave in the way the companies wanted them to, they could lose all their benefits up to and including their jobs. This action did not go unnoticed by the labor unions and the United Mine Workers union decided to attempt to organize the already-impoverished labor force of the area. 1 negative : glass ; 4 x 5 in. Partial Transcript: August 27, '86. A third generation coal operator, he served as President of the Harlan County Coal Operators and the Harlan Mining Institute, as Vice President of the Kentucky Coal Association and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Associated Industries of Kentucky. Does the Association hire for all the mines in the county? The Benham Coal Company records (151 cubic feet, 302 Boxes; dated 1911-1973) focus primarily on the early years of Benham Coal through the 1940s. The coal miners, lean and tough from Kentucky mountain life, knew how to fight back. It does not store any personal data. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. It was a nearly decade-long conflict, lasting from 1931 to 1939. . The records show that Beach was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 1954 and sentenced to ten years in the penitentiary, that he was later charged with carrying a concealed pistol (no disposition shown), and that in 1966 he was tried and acquitted on a murder charge. HARLAN COUNTY: Women - The Cinessential I'm standing at 2800 feet above sea level. Harlan | Kentucky, United States | Britannica The AFSC fed almost 1500 children in Harlan by the end of the 1931-2 schoolyear, as well as about a hundred nursing and expectant mothers. When fuses blow, they are not immediately replaced; the cable is spliced or "hot-wired" around the fuse. the meeting room. That year, annual wages dropped from $1,235 to $749. Filmed during the coal strike of 1974-1975, this documentary does much to capture the tension brought on by the injustice of the coal operators to the coal miners in Harlan County, Kentucky.
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