Drift mines back into the mountains follow the seam of coal wherever it goes." by Ron Soodalter. I don't like- workin' in them kind of conditions." He sentenced nine men and seven women to six months in jail and fined them $500 each. He can't never walk again." Harlan County, KY, coal miners win affiliation with UMWA union, United With the opening left by the United Mine Workers union the openly Communist (NMU) National Miners Union tried to help the miners to organize. Interview Summary. The radical ideology of the union began gaining some ground in the mountains. Harlan County U.S.A. by Felicia Elliott, August 2, 2016. The prospects for settlement do not look good unless Duke begins to feel public pressure. Soon after the "Battle of Evarts," novelist Theodore Dreiser led a citizens' group to Harlan County to find and publicize the bloody facts. 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. Battle of Evarts - Wikipedia They just laughed about it, and we kept on cuttin' coal. The UMW union called in the National Guard to help them. Inside the Harlan County Coal Miner Protest - Rolling Stone 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 Only to be escorted to the county line and told not to return. This series of skirmishes and strikes, lasting from early 1931 into 1939, began because of the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association's (HCCOA) decision to cut miners' wages by 10%. That means, among other things, an average daily wage of $45. ", 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. Killed - 12. Eight miners were sentenced to life in prison for the actions that were taken on May 5, 1931. Pricing; Switch; Big firm; Its profits in 1973 were $90 million, up 14 percent from the year before. The miners and the coal owners were still having disputes. She's been picketing with the other women. No more union coal mines remain in Kentucky, home of the deadly battles But what of the people of Harlan County? The Wagner Act of 1935 (National Labor Relations Act or NLRA) guaranteed the rights of workers to choose to organize. (That is a tough point.) corporateBody associatedWith : Heyl & Patterson, Inc . Willard Wirtz says he senses that the Harlan County Coal Operators Association is a major factor in the dispute, that it doesn't want a settlement with higher wages and benefits and tough safety provisions to be made by Eastover, because it fears the domino effect of such a settlement on the rest of the companies in the county. Four men were arrested in connection with this murder. He is a sturdily built, self-assured man of about fifty, with a strong, square jaw and a rough, weathered face. Her daughter, Bessie Cornett, an attractive young brunette, says, "I'm not in jail today because you people are here." I have an Associates Degree from Hazard Community College and Technical School. 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. Thirty percent of the families lack automobiles. They have probably helped keep their own men from exploding too. Faith, power, and conflict: Miner preachers and the United Mine Workers Leroy Helton says miners often have to splice electrical cable, even though they're not qualified to do so. 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. It is also women's day before the Citizens In-quiry. We hope that our hearings will help hold down violence. "This whole country is like a layer cake," Si Kahn says, "a layer cake of shale, coal, and sandstone. Interview with B. W. Whitfield, Jr., February 9, 1989 SPOKEdb Harry Caudill, attorney and author of Night Comes to the Cumberlands, will not be able to join us in Harlan because of legal business. The local grand jury returned an indictment against Dreiser for adultery, but by that time Dreiser had finished his work and had left the county on the train. I have attended the University of Kentucky. (There is such a provision in the standard UMW contract.). Attempts to organize led to the dismissal of employees who were suspected of having leanings toward the organization and having them evicted from their family homes. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to . Bryan W. Whitfield III (1925-2010) - Find a Grave Memorial 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. The SLU was largely seen as serving the interests of the mine owners rather than the workers. Make your practice more effective and efficient with Casetext's legal research suite. 1931, only $13.5 million. It was Miller who defeated W. A. 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. The women furnish the panel with a copy of a report from the Harlan County Health Department, dated October 12, 1973, which states that the drinking water in the Eastover mining camp, where approximately thirty of the striking Brookside families live, is "highly contaminated" with fecal bacteria. 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. 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. All during the day they worked in shifts, trying to penetrate to the point where the explosion occurred. Someone had planted dynamite in his automobile and when he started it up the car blew up. Done. Harlan County sits in the sweet spot of coal mining in southeastern Kentucky. 5355 after Local Union 4495 at Black Mountain folded up. The Sheriff reportedly got rich on payoffs from the companies, and he used 181 mine company gunmen as special deputies. Even though things were doing better for the unions in Harlan County, there was still civil unrest. Back in my motel room, a gathering place, Bernie Aaronson of UMW says that the union is paying strike benefits and medical bills for the 160 strikers. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Which Side are You on? 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. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Free shipping for many products! 8 N.L.R.B. On top of that, we learn later, the union is spending $108,000 a year for medical and hospital coverage for the striking miners and their families. ", "They've done discriminated me," Grover Jennings continues. This was not just a flashy slogan, and the truth of it is . They file with us copies of specific federal safety violation reports, and they say that nothing was ever done to correct these violations. 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. Talking to Aaronson, I am reminded of an old tin sign I saw tacked on a tree along the highway as I left Harlan. United States Washington D.C. District of Columbia Washington D.C . ", We break for lunch, prepared by the women of the Evarts Community Center. If you wouldn't do it, they'd just say, 'Get your bucket.' Bobby Simpson, 79, has been blind for more than a half-century, but still managed to shovel coal. That's an old term in Harlan County, used to describe special, plain-clothed guards. One of the Deputies was Jim Daniels. "I don't know nothing about the electrical part." The Harlan County Coal War - YouTube Pic from Harlan County USA of a Coal Camp. With the added protection for workers and the addition of collective bargaining between the workers and their employers. In response, the United Mine Workers of America attempted to organize the miners. Chicago citation style: Harris & Ewing, photographer. 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 . 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. Yarborough comes out of a staff meeting and ushers us hack to a large, paneled meeting room with folding tables and chairs. We hope that you have enjoyed our stop in Bloody Harlan and the history of the longest and still ongoing coal struggles of the United States. Documentary Noise: The Soundscape of Barbara Kopple's Harlan County, U Leroy Helton says he still owes a lot of bills that should have been paid by SLU. Harlan Fuel Co. Download PDF. [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%. When Barbara finishes her answer, Wirtz raises a clenched fist and says, "Right on!" Background to the 1931-32 Strike - University of Kentucky Troops had to be called into the county three times to maintain order. When they went to jail, they say, some of the women took their children with them. 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. On Jan. 25, 1890, a new union, the United Mine Workers of America, was formed, and in 1903 its young president, John Mitchell, led the union on a successful 24-week strike. At Brookside, this would amount to $400,000 a year. Most of the land is owned by the mining companies. 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. Harlan County, Kentucky is known for two things: bituminous coal and Bloody Harlan. Miner Curtis Cress, 34, says towns that . On the way back to the Mount Aire at the end of the day, we pass back through Brookside with its deteriorating mining-camp houses along the stinking Clear Fork River. "The danger's just the same," they say. 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. Outlining the legal framework for labor unions and management relations to improve the working conditions for workers. Harlan: Working under the Gun - Social Welfare History Project Former Director of Harlan County Coal Operators Association. He said that when the coal industry was at its height in 1928, the peak of . 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. After the railroad arrived in 1911 . Coal employment in Harlan county dropped 53.7% in the second quarter of this year compared with last year, driven by Blackjewel's bankruptcy. Some seventy-five state policemen were on hand as the crowd gathered. As the motorcade approached a single shot rang out in the air. Mr. Nolan, a resident of Cawood, is survived by his wife, Mrs. Stella Nolan . Garbage along the roadside. 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. Resources | Harlan Coal Scrip Interview with Lois Scott, August 27, 1986 - Nunn Center The Citizens Inquiry meets in the attractive, river-rock Evarts Community Center, directly across the Clear Fork from the site of the 1931 "Battle of Evarts." I have been married to David W. Sergent since May 4, 2013. (Eastover offered fifty cents a ton.) The Brookside labor dispute erupted spontaneously soon after Miller's election. That year, annual wages dropped from $1,235 to $749. During the Great Depression of the 1930s coal miners in Harlan County, Kentucky, struck against the coal operators for better pay and better working conditio. He was transferred to a worse section, he says. The National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners (NCDPP) was of the American Communist Party. Tuesday morning: Norman Yarborough has agreed to meet some of our group. Soon enough, most miners had gone on strike out of solidarity. We agree that most of us lean toward the miners, but we think we can be fair in trying to learn the facts. James Willard Pope officiating. It was a nearly decade-long conflict, lasting from 1931 to 1939. . Kentucky Coal Association - Ballotpedia 1940-49 Harlan Co Miners Deaths - USGenWeb sites At these locations, the mine wages began to be comparable to other jobs around the nation. These women have organized a special kind of feminist movement, and the issues to them are life-and-death issues. Before this war was over it is not known exactly how many miners, coal operators, deputies, and bosses would be killed. Three Point, Harlan County, Kentucky September 16, 1943 No. B.W. 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 . The aftermath of this battle led to wider strikes in the Harlan County area. "But if they call me and ask if a man works for me, I simply say yes or no.". They're trapped. Past that, the other undulating ridges are blue and hazy. There was an addition to where miners could choose their own representation for these negotiations. Which Side are You on?: The Harlan County Coal Miners, 1931-39 Apparently, this is one of Eastover's major objections. The union abandoned its efforts after less than a year. They made several attempts at holding strikes against the coal companies, but these failed in Harlan County. safety director for the Harlan County Coal Operators Association; Moss Paterson, chief of the State Bureau of Mines and Minerals, and State and Federal mine inspectors. The motorcade stopped and the deputies got out of their cars to return fire. But, I say, even without further investigation of each of the complaints, it is possible to conclude that fear is an everyday part of the miners' lives. Strikebreakers were often beaten. On one excuse or another, such as not having personnel readily available to accompany the inspector into the mine, the company can delay the inspection. So we lay down in the road." There are very few vacant houses in the county. These interviews with major coal operators document their personal histories and the history of the coal industry in eastern Kentucky during the twentieth century. It does not store any personal data. It took forty-five minutes for someone to come and help get him out, Deaton says. "They didn't say nothin'; all they want's coal.' An essay on The Harlan County War : r/history The latest unrest in Harlan County came when in July of 2019, Black jewel LLC filed for bankruptcy and liquidation. You just don't hit a woman in Harlan County." This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. They want portal-to-portal pay from the time they enter the mine until they leave it. 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. Harlan County, Kentucky in a Post-Coal America: A Case Study 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. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. "Then he'd come out looking like a sheep-killing dog and get in his truck and run. "With all those state police, we knew we had three choices," she says. It is an area of Kentucky that you only go to if you are intentionally going to the county. Three of the federal reports state that there was no safety committee at Brookside, as required by law. Working barns of gray-black weathered wood. 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). Two hundred people crowd. Did she find the stick on the ground? Miners in Harlan County, Kentucky, have drawn national attention with their direct action occupying a railroad track to halt a coal train . "If we could monitor these inspections, perhaps we could cut down on the fatalities," he says. While it succeeded in organizing thousands of miners, it failed to complete a bargaining agreement with Harlan County's coal operators.

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