After breakfast, we travel fifteen miles east to Evarts. Yarborough comes out of a staff meeting and ushers us hack to a large, paneled meeting room with folding tables and chairs. 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. A shoulder blade and five of his ribs were broken. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. 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 Harlan County Coal Miners, 1931-39 (Paperback) at the best online prices at eBay! It read: RE-ELECT GAW, JAILER. Sudie Crusenberg, a plain woman in a cotton dress, gives us some idea of what life is like for a coal-mining family. But Barbara Bode has arranged for eleven of them to come up onto the stage at the same time, and they seem to take strength from their numbers. Leroy Helton says miners often have to splice electrical cable, even though they're not qualified to do so. Yarborough's affidavit stated that "the group swarmed out into the roads, stopped cars, and forced company employees into coercive conversations and indulged in generally raucous name-calling and abuse." 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. Several folk singers and other artists toured the United States to raise money during the strikes. Now and then, there is a neat, new frame house or a Pic and Pay market between scattered tarpaper shacks. On May 24, 1931, Sheriff Blair rescinded the miners right to assemble and tear-gassed a union rally. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. I have also attended the University of Pikeville. 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. They lobby in Frankfort and Washington and sponsor an annual "Coal Miners Day" to try to get more high school students interested in mining engineering. 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. She says that she and some of the other women hid out last night to avoid being served with a contempt citation from Judge Hogg's court. They have probably helped keep their own men from exploding too. Working barns of gray-black weathered wood. 3.' Some of the women went to jail with the men, and some took their children with them. In the throes of the Great Depression, Harlan County coal owners and operators, in an effort to expand national dependency on their fuel, chose to sell below cost. "This troubles me; I don't sleep," Yarborough says. Middleton died on the scene. Miners also wanted the right to organize and have a union. Unlike the previous Coal Wars that took place in West Virginia with the Paint-Creek Strike of 1912 and Matewan that lasted for a year or two. It is a warm night and at every bend in the asphalt road we hear a chorus of croaking frogs. Their activities began with a demonstration and march in Harlan on September 27, 1973. A historical marker says we are near the Little Shepherd Trail, the setting for the novel Shepherd of the Hills. The miners express extreme dissatisfaction with Eastover's medical and retirement benefits. Lois Scott, a woman of about forty-five, begins to speak first. Now, forty-three years later, Harlan County is again gripped in a UMW strike, this time at the Brookside mine of the Eastover Mining Company, and another citizens' group has been formed. The Sheriff reportedly got rich on payoffs from the companies, and he used 181 mine company gunmen as special deputies. They are neatly and attractively dressed. 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. Si Kahn says that Eastover tried for a time to operate the mine with "scabs," but that the mine was shut down when the coal miners' wives and other women joined the men on the picket line. When fuses blow, they are not immediately replaced; the cable is spliced or "hot-wired" around the fuse. They say no action has been taken on this report. There was no functioning safety committee Medical and retirement benefits were minimal and unreliable. The strikebreakers were under the protection of private mine guards. Along the way, we pass through the community of Brookside, its mine-camp houses dominated by the brooding tin presence of the Eastover mine building on the hill. Toilet paper clings to the bushes and tree limbs five or six feet up from the rushing stream. 4 . Mrs. Herschel Gaw, wife of the ailing jailer, locked them all up. They want the terms of the standard UMW contract or better. 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. Jacqueline Brophy asks why public services have broken down. 1931, only $13.5 million. "Boss walks up and says, 'We've got to make this mine look good now, boys; the inspector's comin','" Jerry Johnson says. In June of 1973, in a National Labor Relations Board election, the miners at Brookside voted 113 to 55 to affiliate with the United Mine Workers. 2011: $1,161,330. We are handed copies of court records concerning a certain Claude Beach, who has been hired by Eastover during the strike as a "security guard." 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. On May 5, 1931, the Battle of Evarts began. The company will probably demand a new election. The Federal Government, with the Commissioner of Labor in a fact finding role, acted as a 'neutral' for the first time in contributing to settlement of the bitter coal strike. HARLAN COUNTYHarlan County, Kentucky, is a rural county located in a major coal-mining region in the Appalachian Mountains. 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. Conflict broke out again the 1970s in what was known as the Brookside strike. "I don't try to blacklist anybody," he says. Freda Armes says, "I run him off. Si has signed on as head of the staff for the Citizens Inquiry, which is funded with a five-thousanddollar grant from the Field Foundation. HARLAN COUNTY COAL OPERATORS ASSOCIATION. The decade-long conflict between miners and the coal operators who adamantly resisted unionization has been immortalized in folksong by Florence Reece and Aunt Molly Jackson, contemplated in prose by Theodore Dreiser and Sherwood Anderson, and long been obscured by . Exist Dates. "Try walking out of there, carrying a man with a broken back," one of the miners says. The next morning the toothpicks were still in place, it was said. She says that the women decided that they couldn't fight guns with switches and that they had taken sticks with them the next time. . The miners say that they often have to stand knee-deep in water while handling 440-volt electrical cables. What will happen now that the first full year after the union election is ending? We hope that our hearings will help hold down violence. CBS is represented by a camera crew, and there are a number of national reporters. It is too early for dolor. The Act also made a provision for a National Labor-Relations Board to designate a legal structure for the workers to conduct fair and legal elections of their officers and representatives. Those with running water rent for around $20 a month, plus electricity. The magazine presents a different picture of the people and conditions in the Piedmont region than the one I am to see in Harlan County, Kentucky. Done. More than twenty-four babies out of a thousand die before they are one year old, and the expenditure per child in the public schools is one-half the national average. 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." Available for both RF and RM licensing. It is also women's day before the Citizens In-quiry. "The danger's just the same," they say. Duke went into the coal business directly in 1970 when it organized Eastover Mining Company as a wholly owned subsidiary and, through it, bought several mines in eastern Kentucky, including the one at Brookside. Figure 2: Harlan County Coal Mine Employment, 2000-2016, (KYEEC, 2017) In 1942, shortly after Harlan County experienced record high coal mine employment, the county experienced is highest production levels with 15.6 million tons of coal being produced in this year (KYEEC, 2017). Interview Summary. In the bloody 1930s coal wars, miners known to be union members were fired and evicted from company-owned homes. The county was once part of Knox County, only becoming official in 1819. Following this episode, the women say, Norman Yarborough asked Judge Hogg to hold the UMW and a number of miners and women in contempt of the Judge's order limiting the number of picketers to six. It is an area of Kentucky that you only go to if you are intentionally going to the county. Up at seven on a Monday morning, I walk out onto the balcony of my motel room. Burger Chef. I can see twenty-five miles to the southeast, five ridges. 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. There were shots exchanged and all three deputies and one striker were killed. For a time after the hearing, he says, it appeared that Duke had softened. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. The United Mine Workers union also cited that they did not have the resources to help in the battle. 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. 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. He was transferred to a worse section, he says. Expand. 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 when the shuttle's lights and brakes were not working and the inspector was coming, the foreman would say, "Park it." USBM Final Investigation Report (1.7 Mb) Successful Rescue . An investigation was conducted on Terrorism in the Kentucky Coal Fields. The most shocking moment in Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976) looks at first like an abstract painting. The Red Cross eventually became involved in the county along with several local charities. Rev. Why wasn't the fuse replaced at once? 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. The miners say that they want their own safety committee, elected by the miners, as the standard UMW contract provides, with the right to walk out, losing their pay, when there is eminent danger in the mine. We drive through the streets of the town of Harlan, past the stores and houses, past the Harlan Baptist Church with a sign out front which reads: "If you are unkind, you are the wrong kind." 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. By 1908 the union had . There are nearly 40,000 people in the county, a drop of 36 percent since 1960. The unemployment rate in the county is 7 percent; that doesn't count those who have long since given up looking for the scarce or nonexistent jobs. The group publishes policy papers on the benefits of coal for Kentucky and sponsors the "Friends of Coal" initiative. Since the county began mining, over one billion tons of coal have These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. 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 . Soon enough, most miners had gone on strike out of solidarity. Blair made it clear that he was on the side of the mine operators and the people of the county lost any illusion that the law enforcement would be impartial in this strike. "I've seen some hurt and some killed. Miner Curtis Cress, 34, says towns that . The men and women were released on good behavior. The Harlan Daily Enterprise story of September 16, 1943 is serious and straightforward: 17 miners are trapped a mile underground and help is on the way.. Much of the story is about help. Grace Elizabeth Hale. Office files covering topics such as "accounts receivable," "baseball club," "coal production," "garnishment orders," "Harlan Coal Operator's Association," "labor conditions," "medical conditions . The decision caused unrest in the county among the miners. In response, the coal owners and operators decided to sell their fuel at below cost to increase the national dependency on coal. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. He says that, standing. They exercised their powers with impunity and operated under Sheriff J.H. [videorecording] Contributor(s): Kopple, Barbara; First-Run Features (Firm) Cabin Creek Films; Publication details: New York : First Run Features, 1976. . The miners charge that the Harlan County Coal Operators Association is behind Eastover's refusal to sign a contract. Yarborough says that he will not agree to the contract applying to Eastover's subcontractors. It doesn't seem like enough. Sheriff T. R. Middleton replaced Blair under the pro-union campaign platform. No concessions or deals were made between the two factions and the membership of the United Mine Workers union plummeted. In Harlan County, Kentucky, are some of our country's richest natural resourcesand some of its poorest people. Mine operators viciously opposed miners' efforts to unionize, particularly in Harlan County. 5355, atEvarts . We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. There were only nine hundred miners working and 5,800 miners were idle and striking during the first strike. In response, the United Mine Workers of America attempted to organize the miners. No one knows who fired the first shot but when it was over four were . A reporter asks us again how we can expect to make an unbiased report when we've heard only one side. As part of his New Deal, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt presented and had passed the National Industrial Act. Garbage along the roadside. Dan Pollitt reads a letter from Carl Horn, Jr., president of Duke Power Company, respectfully declining our invitation. Mr. Blanton explained the reasoning behind coal camps. With the added protection for workers and the addition of collective bargaining between the workers and their employers. Breaks in the cable, they say, are often just wrapped with mask-ing tape and exposed again to the water. Leroy Helton says he still owes a lot of bills that should have been paid by SLU. the meeting room. 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 "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. He says that they do not need the UMW to look after them; he will do that. Sometimes, they'll be a black scum on the rag." During the day, a man came and said that if their children weren't out of the jail by night, the welfare people would take them. 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. So we lay down in the road." 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 California labor activist Caroline Decker also raised money for the relief of the striking miner efforts. It is clear that these women have been a main factor in keeping the mine shut down. Copy with citation. . We stop for fish and chips at a chain-operated Long John Silver's Sea Food Shoppe, as out of place in the Cumberlands as a clam in a spruce tree. I have attended the University of Kentucky. Miners laid in an ambush on the day of May 5, 1931, near the Evarts railroad crossing. Isolated trailer houses. Or all you're gonna get's a chunk of Harlan County coal. We gather back in Evarts and announce that our report will be ready in two or three weeks. Coal companies refused to back down while the Red Cross refused to give aid . We feel that we have provided a national forum for the miners to tell their story. ", Bill Doan says that he was hurt in a rockfall at 7:15 one morning and that he didn't get out of the mine until nine o'clock. The members of the Inquiry panel leave the Community Center to visit the coal camp at Brookside-rows of delapidated frame houses, identical except for their weathering gray, green, red, and beige paint. Harlan County in eastern Kentucky, which has been brought out into the spotlight this summer by the violence with which the local Coal Operators' Association has carried on this attack, is, as far as I can find out, a pretty good medium exhibit of the entire industry: living conditions are better than in Alabama and perhaps a little worse . 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.
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