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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. Altogether, it is a heavy financial burden for the UMW. These disputes were still brewing when on December 8, 1934, the United Mine Workers Union was threatened by deputies and mine bosses. Her daughter, Bessie Cornett, an attractive young brunette, says, "I'm not in jail today because you people are here." These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. She pays $10 a month for rent and $10 a month for electricity. Harlan County sits in the sweet spot of coal mining in southeastern Kentucky. Cite. The money was . Miner Curtis Cress, 34, says towns that . Harlan County Coal Miners Deaths 1940-1949 1940 1940 Hayes, Petry - Harlan Central Coal Company Totz No. Outlining the legal framework for labor unions and management relations to improve the working conditions for workers. It was a nearly decade-long conflict, lasting from 1931 to 1939. . Harlan County Revisited - Memory of a Miner The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. 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. Mrs. Herschel Gaw, wife of the ailing jailer, locked them all up. Coal companies refused to back down while the Red Cross refused to give aid . He run all the way down the stairs and out of the jail." Four men were arrested in connection with this murder. The median family income is $4600 a year. 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. Duke Power Company appears to be the key to breaking the deadlock in negotiations. Bobby Simpson, 79, has been blind for more than a half-century, but still managed to shovel coal. We are told that Eastover has announced its intention to tear down the mining-camp houses and move the striking miners out. 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. Crossing the Clinch River, we turn onto Highway 421 and leave the modern world. 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. (Brookside) were the only two mines of the Harlan County owner/operators association who rejected a 10% pay increase in 1933. Three Point Accident | Harlan Coal Scrip Capitalizing on the general . "Dreiser, Woman Indicted," one headline reads. CBS is represented by a camera crew, and there are a number of national reporters. Even though things were doing better for the unions in Harlan County, there was still civil unrest. 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. 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. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Some of the women went to jail with the men, and some took their children with them. Harlan | Kentucky, United States | Britannica Among coal miners, Harlan County, Kentucky, is known as "Bloody Harlan." Office files covering topics such as "accounts receivable," "baseball club," "coal production," "garnishment orders," "Harlan Coal Operator's Association," "labor conditions," "medical conditions . Rev. 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. And you wondr why I keep running my mouth . Talking to Aaronson, I am reminded of an old tin sign I saw tacked on a tree along the highway as I left Harlan. HARLAN COUNTYHarlan County, Kentucky, is a rural county located in a major coal-mining region in the Appalachian Mountains. [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%. On February 16, 1931, in order to prevent operating at a loss, the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association cut miners' wages by 10%. Bobby's wife, Becky, who died in 2013, was a lifelong advocate for the people of Harlan County. (Fifty million tons of union coal are mined in western Kentucky; only 6.5 million tons of union coal are mined in eastern Kentucky.) This Day in Labor History: February 16, 1931 5355, atEvarts . But you must remember I am an immoral man. Miners laid in an ambush on the day of May 5, 1931, near the Evarts railroad crossing. Freda Armes says, "I run him off. ", We break for lunch, prepared by the women of the Evarts Community Center. The distance a miner had to walk and how time was looked at was in 15-minute increments. Mostly, the miners were fighting for improved working conditions, higher wages, and better housing options for their families. Interview with Lois Scott, August 27, 1986 - Nunn Center In Harlan County, Kentucky, are some of our country's richest natural resourcesand some of its poorest people. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. Violence erupted that would periodically repeat itself for the next eight years. A federal bankruptcy judge ruled that the company could leave damages to the environment, abandon assets, and not pay the coal miners owed wages. He speaks of "my people" and "my men." 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. Harlan County: Working in the Coal Mines - kygs.org Nannie Rainey says, "I told him if he got my children, he was gonna haveta take me too." In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to . Nobody knows how long the UMW can keep paying strike benefits. 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. Si sticks a wad of Red Man chewing tobacco in his cheek and begins to fill us in on the background of the Brookside strike. 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 Red Cross eventually became involved in the county along with several local charities. Soon enough, most miners had gone on strike out of solidarity. The Harlan County Coal Wars lasted from 1931-1939. Its initial land holdings were in the Irwin gas coal basin in Westmoreland County, but as these were exhausted the company purchased 14,000 acres of undeveloped coal land along the border of Boone and Logan Counties in West Virginia in 1923-28. . What a marvelous view! And I can't get you off of that couch. Faith, power, and conflict: Miner preachers and the United Mine Workers "I've seen some hurt and some killed. So we lay down in the road." 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." In Harlan County, Kentucky, the 1931 Battle of Evarts ended in four deaths. Get a Demo. "Bloody Harlan" Revisited: Blackjewel Miners Draw On Labor History I glance at the new Piedmont magazine, Pace. 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. ~~ David Sergent. They made several attempts at holding strikes against the coal companies, but these failed in Harlan County. 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. Another press member criticizes Barbara Bode for having raised a clenched fist during the women's testimony. The prospects for settlement do not look good unless Duke begins to feel public pressure. When Barbara finishes her answer, Wirtz raises a clenched fist and says, "Right on!" 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. 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. Several folk singers and other artists toured the United States to raise money during the strikes. Midway in the trial, Judge Hogg dismissed the jury and directed a verdict of guilty. When fuses blow, they are not immediately replaced; the cable is spliced or "hot-wired" around the fuse. [Verse 2] I got 27 peopl coming over to this house. The UMW union called in the National Guard to help them. Nonunion workers were attempting to leave the mine. COMING THE BOYS OF HARLAN - The Washington Post The Brookside labor dispute erupted spontaneously soon after Miller's election. Norman Yarborough, head of Eastover Mining Company, is not coming either. 4 . I have also attended the University of Pikeville. A reporter asks us again how we can expect to make an unbiased report when we've heard only one side. Hazard County documentary / produced by H. Sinclair. - Internet Archive 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. Since the county began mining, over one billion tons of coal have Benham Coal Company Records - University of Kentucky The miners, impoverished due to their already low pay (this coming in the form of company scrip, room, and board), decided enough was enough, and some of them . Willard Wirtz says that it is important to remember that one side of the dispute felt confident enough about their case to arrange to spread it before the widest possible audience. "Not at all," Yarborough says. Lois Scott, a woman of about forty-five, begins to speak first. We never would find out what happened. But mostly the scenery is depressingly bleak. The coal miners, lean and tough from Kentucky mountain life, knew how to fight back. 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. It is beautiful in Harlan County, as pretty as any place in the world. Pistol Annies - Harlan County Coal (Audio) - YouTube the meeting room. Captain James Cromer of the state police later tells news reporters, "The women are a problem. New subdivisions named Tall Oaks and Colonial Heights. 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 . 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 aftermath of this battle led to wider strikes in the Harlan County area. A Brief History of Harlan County, USA | Labor Notes 1938) Copy Citation . If you wouldn't do it, they'd just say, 'Get your bucket.' Trailer parks called Walnut Grove, Mobile Manor, and Mesa Village Mobile Manor. The three houses with baths rent for $24 a month, plus $14 a month for electricity. With the opening left by the United Mine Workers union the openly Communist (NMU) National Miners Union tried to help the miners to organize. He tells me that the miners plan to picket on Wall Street, hoping to give Duke problems with its stock. She speaks in a soft, pleasant voice. Yarborough comes out of a staff meeting and ushers us hack to a large, paneled meeting room with folding tables and chairs. They are neatly and attractively dressed. Those with running water rent for around $20 a month, plus electricity. The National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners (NCDPP) was of the American Communist Party. After this, the first strike occurred, in which only about 13% of strikers showed up to work. A historical marker says we are near the Little Shepherd Trail, the setting for the novel Shepherd of the Hills. 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.". Details for: Harlan County. Marywood University catalog Laid off and owed pay: the Kentucky miners blocking coal trains The group publishes policy papers on the benefits of coal for Kentucky and sponsors the "Friends of Coal" initiative. It was [and still is] used to signify that what happened in the realm of politics, a field largely controlled by men, affect women's everyday lives. 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. Dan Pollitt reads a letter from Carl Horn, Jr., president of Duke Power Company, respectfully declining our invitation. Harlan County, Kentucky in a Post-Coal America: A Case Study 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). It is the second coal mining fatality in . Pistol Annies - Harlan County Coal Lyrics | Genius Lyrics Their foothold there ultimately ended because the local clergy who were the labor organizers found out that the union was communist in nature and held animosity toward religion. The accident was the second worst mine fatality in the history of Harlan County coal mining, the worst being Harlan Fuel Company . Kentucky communities discussed include Artemus, Burdine, Jenkins, Jellico, Van Lear, and Wheelwright; and Kentucky counties include Bell, Clay, Floyd, Harlan . Others claim that his death was caused by an election concerning slot machines into the county. Harlan, Kentucky coal miner killed - World Socialist Web Site - wsws.org Clyde V Bennett Jr. (1930-2000) - Find a Grave Memorial Only three of the families in the camp have indoor toilets. 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.". He is dressed more like a miner than a mining executive. 1931, only $13.5 million. "I don't like to handle that raw juice," he says. We return to our series on the Coal Wars of the United States with Bloody Harlan and the Battle for Evarts. ", What about the Southern Labor Union? "Here at Brookside, if you called someone from SLU, he might come in a week, he might come in two weeks, but when he did come, he'd go into Eastover's office and talk for an hour," Bill Doan says. 3.' J. D. Skidmore says, "I have no chance of getting a job in Harlan County if this strike is not settled." The Brookside Women's Club of Harlan County - New York Women in Film The most shocking moment in Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976) looks at first like an abstract painting. Killed - 12. An essay on The Harlan County War : r/history Westmoreland Coal Company - Social Networks and Archival Context - SNAC Two hundred people crowd. Bryan W. Whitfield III (1925-2010) - Find a Grave Memorial What did the foremen say on those occasions? Other clippings detail the earlier bloodshed and misery in Harlan County. Wanted to be able to spend their money at a store of their choice besides the Black Mountain Coal Company store. There is one ostentatious feature about him, though: a large, multi-diamond ring on the third finger of his left hand. Interviews with residents of Hazard who discuss the coal miners' union, the harassment union miners faced from large mining companies, and the unofficial strikes that are being organized in Hazard County. Why haven't the car bodies been removed from the highway and the streets? Leroy Helton says he still owes a lot of bills that should have been paid by SLU. They say no action has been taken on this report. 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. 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. A Brief History of Harlan County, USA. Conflict broke out again the 1970s in what was known as the Brookside strike. The Price of Coal, Part I - kentuckymonthly.com An organic shape, small and shiny and pinkish white, sits . 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. No, Yarborough says; it just serves as a central clearing house, so that job applicants won't have to go around and apply at each of the mines separately. Kahn says that the miners were encouraged by Eastover's management, headed by Norman Yarborough, to join a small "company union," the Southern Labor Union. They exercised their powers with impunity and operated under Sheriff J.H. We soon get into a discussion about Dreiser's 1931 inquiry. They fed strikers' children as well as the employed, blacks as well as whites. Five miles north of Harlan, we drive up Inspiration Mountain. Documentary of mining practices in Hazard County, Kentucky. When McQueen was hurt, his foreman drove him to the hospital and left him there, and he was two hours hitchhiking home. 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 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 . 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. It is not all Duke's fault by any means. "I cain't get a job nowhere in this county. 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. "This troubles me; I don't sleep," Yarborough says. . Under this Act, the right to organize in ones workplace was granted as well as it outlawed any discrimination whether employed or seeking employment based on union membership. (Eastover offered fifty cents a ton.) The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". It was two o'clock on a Monday morning when the accident occurred, and he'd been in the mine., more than twelve hours. It seems to me that for a great many people in Harlan County-for poor people and a lot of coal miners the whole county is a jail. 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. We first hear from a number of the striking miners about safety conditions in the Brookside mine. Past that, the other undulating ridges are blue and hazy. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. Available for both RF and RM licensing. I have two children and four grandchildren from a previous marriage. "This whole country is like a layer cake," Si Kahn says, "a layer cake of shale, coal, and sandstone. 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." On Friday, October 3, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt called a precedent-shattering meeting at the temporary White House at 22 Lafayette Place, Washington, D.C. A . 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 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. If those under them behave in an approved manner then they receive housing, work, food, and other perks of their position. 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. Chicago citation style: Harris & Ewing, photographer. What will happen now that the first full year after the union election is ending? In response, the United Mine Workers of America attempted to organize the miners. Some seventy-five state policemen were on hand as the crowd gathered. Forty percent of the county's dwellings lack some or all of plumbing, water, or toilet facilities. Theoretically, even operators' and owners' children were . (Eastover, to repeat, now pays portal-to-portal wages for inside workers in its other mines and has raised the wages of nonstrikers to the UMW level.) Remembering Bloody Harlan | Parallel Narratives Based on this new Act, from October 27, 1933, to March 31, 1935, the mines ran as open shops. Does the Association hire for all the mines in the county? Darrell Deaton, president of the Brookside UMW local, says he was caught in a belt line last year because he had to work alone, without a helper. "But if they call me and ask if a man works for me, I simply say yes or no.".