Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Which Side are You on? Faith, power, and conflict: Miner preachers and the United Mine Workers Harlan Daily Enterprise, September 17, 1943. When filmmaker Barbara Kopple traveled to Harlan County, Kentucky, the resulting Academy award-winning documentary, Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976) captured a historic story. However, after the dust was clear, the anti-labor coal country would end up being represented by unions. The Harlan County Wars took on its own epic spin on the ongoing fight between labor disputes and the coal operators and owners lasting almost ten years. Others say they intend to speak and write about what they have heard. Only to be escorted to the county line and told not to return. We are joined by Bernie Aaronson, the young public relations director of the UMW, and John Ed Pierce, a reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal. Laid off and owed pay: the Kentucky miners blocking coal trains It is an area of Kentucky that you only go to if you are intentionally going to the county. On Friday, March 25, a continuous mining machine operator was killed by a wall collapse at the Huff Creek No. HARLAN COUNTY COAL OPERATORS ASSOCIATION. 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. Documents the 1973 Kentucky coal miners' strike against the operators of the Brookside mine and the Duke Power Company, which resulted from the company's refusal to honor the . I was born in Florida and grew up in Burdine, Kentucky. The miners could be fired if they refused to spend their paychecks only in the store. Five men and their titles are listed and all are doing all they can.. He says that negotiations were broken off on November 28, 1973, because of the miners' insistence on the full terms of the standard UMW contract. Or all you're gonna get's a chunk of Harlan County coal. 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. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Five miles north of Harlan, we drive up Inspiration Mountain. They also plan to join with a North Carolina group in protesting Duke's requested rate increase, and they are going to attend the meeting of Duke's stockholders on May 30. Funeral Wednesday March 1 at 11 a.m. at Grays Knob Bible Church. 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. We drive to the Evarts Community Center and report to the other members of the Citizens Inquiry. "Try walking out of there, carrying a man with a broken back," one of the miners says. The sign man for R C Cola has worked this territory well. When a miner complains, Jerry Johnson says, the foreman says, "If you don't like it, you can always get your bucket," meaning pick up your lunch bucket and get out. An organic shape, small and shiny and pinkish white, sits . Before the first meeting of the Citizens Inquiry, we sit around and talk with the Inquiry chairman, Daniel Pollitt, a professor of law at the University of North Carolina. 1 negative : glass ; 4 x 5 in. It is clear that these women have been a main factor in keeping the mine shut down. HARLAN COUNTYHarlan County, Kentucky, is a rural county located in a major coal-mining region in the Appalachian Mountains. Where will the families go? Wirtz says that his arbitration experience tells him that if Eastover really wants to negotiate in good faith, the remaining issues, tough as they are, can probably be worked out. Harlan County sits in the sweet spot of coal mining in southeastern Kentucky. Hennen attributes this abandonment to the increasingly conservative John L. Lewis, the longtime and powerful president of the UMWA, who feared . When this strike was broken in1924, none of the non-union mines in Harlan County, all of which were members ofthe Harlan County Coal Operators Association, would employ a man from BlackMountain."Many of the men who worked at Black Mountain transferred to LocalUnion No. 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. Violence erupted that would periodically repeat itself for the next eight years. During the big coal boom in the early 1900s, Harlan County was amongst the largest contributors. There's water in the mine because the pumps often won't work. She speaks in a soft, pleasant voice. They file with us copies of specific federal safety violation reports, and they say that nothing was ever done to correct these violations. Their General Secretary recently released some facts which help to illustrate the reason for much of the unemployment in the county. "We run because we wanted to testify, and if we hadn't run, he woulda had us in jail." And, even so, it usually takes forty-five minutes to an hour for the inspector to get from mine entrance to the face of the coal. . The strikebreakers were under the protection of private mine guards. It is a warm night and at every bend in the asphalt road we hear a chorus of croaking frogs. Before this war was over it is not known exactly how many miners, coal operators, deputies, and bosses would be killed. Visit us and take a step back in time to learn more about how Harlan County helped build a nation at Portal 31 Exhibition Mine tour or come experience the delight of . I have been married to David W. Sergent since May 4, 2013. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Midway in the trial, Judge Hogg dismissed the jury and directed a verdict of guilty. Freda Armes says, "I run him off. Miners die, and last year was the deadliest in American coal mines in more than a decade. My man was mashed up in the mines. Segment Synopsis: Lois Scott continues her conversation from her previous interview. Project Summary. The SLU was largely seen as serving the interests of the mine owners rather than the workers. knee-deep in water, he has experienced many electrical shocks. I say that the issue is whether or not the men will be allowed to have their own union to protect their safety and secure and maintain decent wages and benefits, that if enough pressure is put on Duke Power Company, maybe something will give. The Coal Strike of 1902: Turning Point in U.S. Policy It is not all Duke's fault by any means. At Washington's National Airport, I board Piedmont Airline's fat little silver jet on a Sunday afternoon in early March. If you wouldn't do it, they'd just say, 'Get your bucket.' An essay on The Harlan County War : r/history [videorecording] Contributor(s): Kopple, Barbara; First-Run Features (Firm) Cabin Creek Films; Publication details: New York : First Run Features, 1976. . Pricing; Switch; Big firm; by Ron Soodalter. 2012: $1,552,717. At Brookside, this would amount to $400,000 a year. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Even pop culture cannot ignore its impact with such shows as Justified. There was a scuffle when a state police captain tried to remove one of the women, she says, adding, "Captain Cromer did get hit several times; I hit him with a stick myself." Source for information on Harlan County: Encyclopedia of the Great Depression dictionary. The Harlan County Coal Wars 1931-1939 - Kentucky Tennessee Living Background to the 1931-32 Strike - University of Kentucky Some of the miners also claim that the state police have tried to intimidate them. Leroy Helton says miners often have to splice electrical cable, even though they're not qualified to do so. Harlan County, Kentucky in a Post-Coal America: A Case Study The miners say that, somehow, management always knows when the government inspectors are coming. Get a Demo. Coal Strike May End, But Miners Still Fear Future A Committee was formed and conducted by Activist Theodore Dreiser under the auspices of the National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners (NCDPP). Some seventy-five state policemen were on hand as the crowd gathered. In America, the word describes a region, including Harlan County, Kentucky, between the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic coast. Whitfield's family was from Alabama where his father had been in the coal business. And I can't get you off of that couch. There is a hard edge in her voice, and her blue-gray eyes are flashing. But negotiations for a contract with Eastover soon broke down, and on July 30 the miners at Brookside began the strike that now, as we arrive, is in its eighth month. We hope that our hearings will help hold down violence. There were only three cars in the motorcade each of which contained a sheriffs deputy. In Harlan County on July 7, 1935, during a celebration of the Wagner Act, a group of disgruntled deputies severely beat up several miners and dispersed the crowd. Norman Yarborough, head of Eastover Mining Company, is not coming either. At first, heading northwest on modern Route 23, through Kingsport, Tennessee, Weber City, Virginia, and Gate City, Virginia, the sights are the same as almost everywhere else in America today. She talks about the women being armed with sticks, mace . 1 mine in Evarts, in Harlan County, Kentucky. 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. Barbara says that she was reacting spontaneously to the spirit and determination exhibited by the women, that their testimony was the highlight of our hearings. The nearest ridge is green with spruce and pine. They point out that most of the big coal companies, such as U.S. Steel and others, have signed UMW contracts, but that the smaller companies of eastern Kentucky have held out. What a marvelous view! Dixon and union leaders worry that the union's disappearance in Kentucky has opened the door for coal operators to . On May 24, 1931, Sheriff Blair rescinded the miners right to assemble and tear-gassed a union rally. "Not at all," Yarborough says. . 8 N.L.R.B. I have also attended the University of Pikeville. Past that, the other undulating ridges are blue and hazy. The name comes from a series of United Mine Workers strikes and labor-management battles which ended in a gunfight between deputized mine guards and miners on May 4, 1931, in the tiny community of Evarts. Though the union had made substantial inroads into the Central Appalachian coalfields by 1930, when miners in Bell and Harlan Counties went out on strike in early May, 1931, the UMWA removed its support. They made several attempts at holding strikes against the coal companies, but these failed in Harlan County. Sadly, the state and federal troops would occupy the county several times. Harlan, city, seat of Harlan county, southeastern Kentucky, U.S., in the Cumberland Mountains, on the Clover Fork Cumberland River. 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". Capitalizing on the general . In the face of what promised to be a lengthy struggle for the Harlan County coal miners of 1931, their wildcat strike had left thousands jobless and many homeless as well. 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. No one knows who fired the first shot but when it was over four were . There are very few vacant houses in the county. Other times, he says, "Roof was workin', rock was a-hangin', and it sounded like thunder. He'd worked seventy-eight hours straight the preceding week. But mostly the scenery is depressingly bleak. . Whitfield recalls working in his father's coal mines during the first years of commercial mining in Harlan County, and he describes the conditions. "I don't try to blacklist anybody," he says. 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. Some of the women say they haven't had a drink of water since moving to the Brookside camp. Remembering Bloody Harlan | Parallel Narratives Mrs. Herschel Gaw, wife of the ailing jailer, locked them all up. Former Director of Harlan County Coal Operators Association. Ky., told the Senate Civil Liberties Committee as it resumed its investigation of alleged terrorism in connection with Harlan County Coal Operators' efforts to resist union organization drives. It is unclear who fired that shot but both sides claim that the other side did it. Blair. This was not just a flashy slogan, and the truth of it is . The accident was the second worst mine fatality in the history of Harlan County coal mining, the worst being Harlan Fuel Company . Now, Tony Boyle is among those who have been convicted of complicity in the murders, and Arnold Miller is the head of the revamped union. Now and then, there is a neat, new frame house or a Pic and Pay market between scattered tarpaper shacks. Nobody knows how long the UMW can keep paying strike benefits. 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. However, the battle continues to this day. "They didn't say nothin'; all they want's coal.' [citation needed] On February 16, 1931, in order to prevent operating at a loss, the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association cut miners' wages by 10%. Coal employment in Harlan county dropped 53.7% in the second quarter of this year compared with last year, driven by Blackjewel's bankruptcy. Yarborough tells us that the company does not now object to paying the miners for portal-to-portal time for inside mine work, but that the union wants comparability for outside workers too, in effect requiring the company to pay outside workers overtime for all work in excess of a seven and-a-quarter-hour regular day. Three Point, Harlan County, Kentucky September 16, 1943 No. Working barns of gray-black weathered wood. McDonald's. In June of 1973, workers at the Brookside coal mine in Harlan County, Kentucky voted 113-55 to replace their membership in the Southern Labor Union (SLU) and join the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) union. I currently live in Tennessee but my hope is to one day come back home to live in the beautiful mountains once more. Yarborough says that he will not agree to the contract applying to Eastover's subcontractors. ", We break for lunch, prepared by the women of the Evarts Community Center. 3.' In Harlan County, Kentucky, the 1931 Battle of Evarts ended in four deaths. He does say, I think primarily for the record, that he would like to see negotiations begin again. "I don't like to handle that raw juice," he says. Copy with citation. Leroy Helton says he still owes a lot of bills that should have been paid by SLU. An investigation was conducted on Terrorism in the Kentucky Coal Fields. Pistol Annies - Harlan County Coal Lyrics | Genius Lyrics The county was once part of Knox County, only becoming official in 1819. Kentucky communities discussed include Artemus, Burdine, Jenkins, Jellico, Van Lear, and Wheelwright; and Kentucky counties include Bell, Clay, Floyd, Harlan . Make your practice more effective and efficient with Casetext's legal research suite. "You could hunt for one, but there just weren't one there," he says. Sudie Crusenberg, a plain woman in a cotton dress, gives us some idea of what life is like for a coal-mining family. The prospects for settlement do not look good unless Duke begins to feel public pressure. Depression-era Harlan County, Kentucky, was the site of one of the most bitter and protracted labor disputes in American history. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. The group included John Dos Passos, Sherwood Anderson, and a number of other writers and artists. In "Bloody Harlan" in the 1930s, miners and union organizers faced bayonets and many died fighting the coal bosses, helping to fuel a national wave of organizing. Yarborough comes out of a staff meeting and ushers us hack to a large, paneled meeting room with folding tables and chairs. "Boss walks up and says, 'We've got to make this mine look good now, boys; the inspector's comin','" Jerry Johnson says. After this, the first strike occurred, in which only about 13% of strikers showed up to work. Cite. "Yeah," a coal miner says, "but the land's so poor, you can't hardly raise an umbrella on it.". That means, among other things, an average daily wage of $45. Now, along a cloudy green stream, or through deep cuts in the mountains, or high atop a timbered ridge, looking down on green quilt-patch valleys, we wind our way toward Harlan. All too many Americans are under the naive belief that, while unions may have been necessary in the 30's, they are no longer needed in the United States today. On February 16, 1931, in order to prevent operating at a loss, the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association cut miners' wages by 10%. The miners say that they often have to stand knee-deep in water while handling 440-volt electrical cables. Interview with B. W. Whitfield, Jr., February 9, 1989 SPOKEdb In response, the United Mine Workers of America attempted to organize the miners. There is no water in the house. Harlan County | Encyclopedia.com The decrease in wages, unemployment, and irregular employment caused "poverty, hunger, and disease.". It will be a two-hour, winding drive through the Cumberland Mountains to the town of Harlan. PDF "I Am a Union Woman": Gender, Class, and Folk Music in The Harlan "We could lay down, fight the police, or let them scabs go to work. Theoretically, even operators' and owners' children were . Lois Scott explains that during the first confrontation at the mine, she saw a pistol in the front seat of every "scab" car she looked into and that a company "gun thug" pointed a submachine gun at the women from the porch of the Eastover office. This was thirteen percent of the workers showing up for their scheduled work times. Harlan County Revisited - Memory of a Miner J. D. Skidmore says that, back in the mines, the phones are always out of order, there is no transportation out until the end of the shift, and it's a one-hour walk to daylight. "In Harlan County, U.S.A., sound anchors, explains, and makes 'authentic' visual imagery compromised by the long history of documentary work in Appalachia.". What will happen now that the first full year after the union election is ending? Trailer parks called Walnut Grove, Mobile Manor, and Mesa Village Mobile Manor. Why wasn't the fuse replaced at once? Hazard County documentary / produced by H. Sinclair. - Internet Archive He sentenced nine men and seven women to six months in jail and fined them $500 each. But is it really hurting? Domesticity and Depression: Kentucky Coal Mining, Song, and Organizing Harlan Fuel Co. Download PDF. It was settled in 1819 by Virginians led by Samuel Howard and was known as Mount Pleasant until renamed in 1912 for Major Silas Harlan, who was killed during the American Revolution at the Battle of Blue Licks (August 19, 1782). Almost immediately after the explosion became known rescue teams, under the direction of J. F. Bryson, safety director of the Harlan County Coal Operators association, started into the entry. The miners say that all of the strikers have been blacklisted by the Association. Middleton died on the scene. Movie Review: Harlan County, USA (1976) - organizing.work Grover Jennings says that six months ago he applied for a job at the Mary Helen mine and was apparently accepted, but that when he went back for his physical, Clyde Goitis, an official at the mine, said, "Buddy, there just ain't no way I can do anything for you. The Seco Train Accident September 20, 1917, New Bank in the Coal Country Installed in 1911, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Evarts, https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/new-deal/national-industrial-recovery-act-of-1933/, https://pipiwiki.com/wiki/Battle_of_Evarts, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_County_War, https://labornotes.org/blogs/2019/08/brief-history-harlan-county-usa, 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, 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, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70804679/elmon-clay-middleton, https://www.nytimes.com/1935/09/06/archives/kentucky-holds-four-in-auto-bomb-killing-harlan-prosecutors-death.html, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/?fbclid=IwAR21nYphw4Dul-_EwuAmSWgzsvPLNwsMM0FtV75j0y-mGUHq-lCZjJxZot8, The Flatwoods Monster: Weird Appalachia Cases, Rotherwood Mansion: Weird Appalachia Cases, The Brown Mountain Ghostly Lights: Weird Appalachia Cases.

Karen Wheaton Ministries 2020, Articles H