The nearest ridge is green with spruce and pine. The Harlan County Coal Wars lasted from 1931-1939. Chicago citation style: Harris & Ewing, photographer. Eight miners were sentenced to life in prison for the actions that were taken on May 5, 1931. 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%. The group publishes policy papers on the benefits of coal for Kentucky and sponsors the "Friends of Coal" initiative. Forty percent of the county's dwellings lack some or all of plumbing, water, or toilet facilities. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Partial Transcript: August 27, '86. 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. These disputes were still brewing when on December 8, 1934, the United Mine Workers Union was threatened by deputies and mine bosses. With unprecedented access, Kopple and her crew captured the miners' sometimes violent struggles with strikebreakers, local police, and company thugs. Harlan County Coal Operators' Association. It will be a two-hour, winding drive through the Cumberland Mountains to the town of Harlan. He sentenced nine men and seven women to six months in jail and fined them $500 each. Name Entry; Harlan County Coal Operators' Association. An open shop is where union membership is allowed but not mandated to work at that location. When fuses blow, they are not immediately replaced; the cable is spliced or "hot-wired" around the fuse. "But if they call me and ask if a man works for me, I simply say yes or no.". 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 . The roof is approximately forty-eight inches high in the mine. Three of the federal reports state that there was no safety committee at Brookside, as required by law. 3.' We never would find out what happened. After the railroad arrived in 1911 . Strikebreakers were often beaten. They're trapped. 5355 after Local Union 4495 at Black Mountain folded up. Soon enough, most miners had gone on strike out of solidarity. 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. those in the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association, were run as open shops from October 27, 1933 - March 31, 1935. Sheriff T. R. Middleton replaced Blair under the pro-union campaign platform. 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. The miners express extreme dissatisfaction with Eastover's medical and retirement benefits. There are still ongoing strikes today and the violence in Harlan County Continues. 25 (N.L.R.B. Blaine Sergent, coal leader, putting up his check at the end of a workday in Harlan County, Kentucky, in 1946. The radical ideology of the union began gaining some ground in the mountains. 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. 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. The coal companies refused to back down from their positions and change anything. I have taken several classes in Journalism as well as in the Appalachian History, Literature, and Sociology during my time at those schools. In Harlan County, Kentucky, the 1931 Battle of Evarts ended in four deaths. With the passage of these acts, there was unrest in Harlan 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. On February 16, 1931, in order to prevent operating at a loss, the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association cut miners' wages by 10%. Harlan, district mine inspector of the State Department of Mines and Minerals, and James Bryson, safety director, Harlan County Coal Operators Association. However, after the dust was clear, the anti-labor coal country would end up being represented by unions. Harlan County Coal Operators' Association. One of the Deputies was Jim Daniels. National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions Jul 5, 1938. 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. 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. "You could hunt for one, but there just weren't one there," he says. B.W. 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." There were only three cars in the motorcade each of which contained a sheriffs deputy. 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. 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 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 are joined by Bernie Aaronson, the young public relations director of the UMW, and John Ed Pierce, a reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. The county became nationally famous in 1931 and 1932 when it was the site of one of the earliest and bloodiest labor battles of the decade. "I don't try to blacklist anybody," he says. "My daddy's a retired coal miner, and he's got the black lung. Established in 1916, its membership consisted of nearly all the large mining companies, and it represented the major political force in the county. : The Harlan County Coal Miners, 1931-39 (Paperback) at the best online prices at eBay! 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. The warrant was never served. We're all involved. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. "It's one of 'em," Yarborough says. There's water in the mine because the pumps often won't work. 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." The Red Cross eventually became involved in the county along with several local charities. Another press member criticizes Barbara Bode for having raised a clenched fist during the women's testimony. The miners say that they often have to stand knee-deep in water while handling 440-volt electrical cables. ", 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." It is a warm night and at every bend in the asphalt road we hear a chorus of croaking frogs. "A gun thug pulled a gun on us, and I broke a switch over his head, and the little gun thug pulled out," Lois Scott says matter-of-factly. Freda Armes says, "I run him off. What will happen now that the first full year after the union election is ending? 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. On May 5, 1931, the Battle of Evarts began. They were convicted on charges of conspiracy to murder. He says that they do not need the UMW to look after them; he will do that. One of the towns that were a refuge was Evarts, Kentucky. An investigation was conducted on Terrorism in the Kentucky Coal Fields. 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. Eastover agreed to sign the 1971 wage pact of the Bituminous Coal Operators Association which is in force at 1,200 mines. The three houses with baths rent for $24 a month, plus $14 a month for electricity. June 17th of that same year, the first strike was over as the last miner had returned to work. Troops had to be called into the county three times to maintain order. We look back on the film, which screens this Sunday, February . Typical of counties with low income, counties where the mine companies own everything and pay low taxes, our UMW driver says. Darrell Deaton says there is a direct telephone line to Washington for safety complaints, "but if you identify yourself; you're gonna be out of a job.". Blair. There is a hard edge in her voice, and her blue-gray eyes are flashing. He run all the way down the stairs and out of the jail." During the rest of the afternoon, the miners talk about what has happened on the picket line and in the local court. A shoulder blade and five of his ribs were broken. Unemployment in 2017 was 9.4 percent, far above the national average. Harlan Daily Enterprise, September 17, 1943. A historical marker says we are near the Little Shepherd Trail, the setting for the novel Shepherd of the Hills. (The union has told us that they are quite willing to limit the contract to the Brookside mine.) But what of the people of Harlan County? All during the day they worked in shifts, trying to penetrate to the point where the explosion occurred. Wanted to be able to spend their money at a store of their choice besides the Black Mountain Coal Company store. The miners and the coal owners were still having disputes. Fifty miners and their wives have at one time or another been held in contempt of this order. Each of us makes a statement. Interment at Resthaven Cemetery, Keith, Ky. Visitation 6-9 p.m. at the Grays Knob Bible Church. (That is a tough point.) Now and then, there is a neat, new frame house or a Pic and Pay market between scattered tarpaper shacks. These charities began to give aid to blacklisted miners who were unable to find employment as the soup kitchens had closed once the NMU had closed its doors. Nobody knows how long the UMW can keep paying strike benefits. Our drive takes us upstream along the yellow-brown Clear Fork River. He hopes the other side will do the same. The median family income is $4600 a year. Coal employment in Harlan county dropped 53.7% in the second quarter of this year compared with last year, driven by Blackjewel's bankruptcy. Three Harlan County incorporated towns were not owned by the coal mines, they became a sanctuary for the evicted and starving miners. Pierce has brought the actual Courier-Journal clippings about the Dreiser inquiry and shares them with us. 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. In response, the coal owners and operators decided to sell their fuel at below cost to increase the national dependency on coal. The Brookside labor dispute erupted spontaneously soon after Miller's election. Whitfield's family was from Alabama where his father had been in the coal business. Mrs. Herschel Gaw, wife of the ailing jailer, locked them all up. Sheriff Blair was voted out of his office in 1933 and died just a year later. ("Tony") Boyle for the national presidency of the UMW in 1972 in an election closely supervised by the federal government. A rural county of 27,000, Harlan County's average household income is about $29,000. They just laughed about it, and we kept on cuttin' coal. Horn's letter questions the fair-mindedness of the inquiry members. I've read that in its heyday, the Blackjoe coal camp consisted of 60 or so houses. There was an addition to where miners could choose their own representation for these negotiations. He can't never walk again." "The danger's just the same," they say. Special Judge F. Byrd Hogg, a neighboring county judge who has been assigned to the case, entered an early order limiting the strikers to three pickets at each of two entrances to the Eastover Mining Company property. While it succeeded in organizing thousands of miners, it failed to complete a bargaining agreement with Harlan County's coal operators. They want portal-to-portal pay from the time they enter the mine until they leave it. Here, too, are some of the richest natural resources in the countryand some of the poorest people. The miners charge that Eastover has hired what they call "gun thugs." Here at Kentucky Tennessee Living we fully support the coal miners and their families. Others claim that his death was caused by an election concerning slot machines into the county. I remind her of what Bill Doan has said: "You work with one eye on the roof, one eye on your job, and your mind's outside.". I've talked to Norman Yarborough, and you ain't bringing no union down here. The strikebreakers were under the protection of private mine guards. This caused the clergy to denounce the union. For a time after the hearing, he says, it appeared that Duke had softened. 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. "In Harlan County, U.S.A., sound anchors, explains, and makes 'authentic' visual imagery compromised by the long history of documentary work in Appalachia.". 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. The prospects for settlement do not look good unless Duke begins to feel public pressure. 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. This active organization is made up of those who represent the leader in the mining industry. Some of the women went to jail with the men, and some took their children with them. In response, the United Mine Workers of America attempted to organize the miners. 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.

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