Kentucky Coal Association - Ballotpedia 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. 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. There are very few vacant houses in the county. Rev. "This troubles me; I don't sleep," Yarborough says. There were ten lodges that were chartered for the National Miners Union. Is the safety provision in the UMW contract the sticking point for Eastover? At these locations, the mine wages began to be comparable to other jobs around the nation. Don Dalton, UMW Safety Director for Region Six, explains this. They tell of two night incidents when rifle shots were fired at the picketers by unidentified persons. Each of us makes a statement. Three of the federal reports state that there was no safety committee at Brookside, as required by law. Harlan, Kentucky coal miner killed - World Socialist Web Site - wsws.org There was no standard contract for the miners. There was no functioning safety committee Medical and retirement benefits were minimal and unreliable. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. We're all involved. Toilet paper clings to the bushes and tree limbs five or six feet up from the rushing stream. In 1981, he traded coal mining for gold mining as one of the founders of the current . 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. Nannie Rainey takes us into her four-room house where she and her husband and five children live. The miners speak of other dissatisfactions with Eastover and the old Southern Labor Union contract. 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. Blair. Two more Inquiry panel members join us, Willard Wirtz, who was Secretary of Labor under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and the Reverend Max Glenn, executive director of the Commission on Religion in Appalachia. Featuring a haunting soundtrack-with legendary country . We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. This was not just a flashy slogan, and the truth of it is . They made several attempts at holding strikes against the coal companies, but these failed in Harlan County. Three Point Mine Explosion Harlan County to unionize miners. 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. ~~ David Sergent. 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. Home - Harlan County I have also attended the University of Pikeville. I glance at the new Piedmont magazine, Pace. 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 bosses wouldn't go in, but I've. Interview with B. W. Whitfield, Jr., February 9, 1989 SPOKEdb . This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. 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. "I cain't get a job nowhere in this county. "This whole country is like a layer cake," Si Kahn says, "a layer cake of shale, coal, and sandstone. by Ron Soodalter. [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%. These disputes were still brewing when on December 8, 1934, the United Mine Workers Union was threatened by deputies and mine bosses. They just laughed about it, and we kept on cuttin' coal. Harlan County War Wiki - Everipedia 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. Over one thousand shots were exchanged during those fifteen minutes. Its profits in 1973 were $90 million, up 14 percent from the year before. Westmoreland Coal Company - Social Networks and Archival Context - SNAC But will Norman Yarborough ever agree to recognize the UMW? (That is a tough point.) We hope that our hearings will help hold down violence. 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. 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. The mining company had ordered a motorcade to deliver food and supplies to the strikebreakers known as Scabs. There's water in the mine because the pumps often won't work. It is beautiful in Harlan County, as pretty as any place in the world. 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. They relate federal mine-safety figures which show that in 1971 the accident rate in the Brookside mine was three times the national average, and in 1972 was twice the national average. Harlan: Working under the Gun - Social Welfare History Project After breakfast, we travel fifteen miles east to Evarts. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The United Mine Workers of America represented 400,000 miners at that point and promised miners safer work conditions and higher wages. 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. Harlan | Kentucky, United States | Britannica "Why couldn't the original thirteen colonies live with the same British policy that applied to all other British colonies?" Genders. "It's one of 'em," Yarborough says. Enforcing the operators' political will, both within and outside the law, was the Harlan County Coal Operators Association. 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. "We've took about all we can take," he says. 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. He hopes the other side will do the same. That commitment has never waivered, and has grown . Duke Power Company of North Carolina, he says, is the sixth largest utility company in the world. "But if they call me and ask if a man works for me, I simply say yes or no.". No more union coal mines remain in Kentucky, home of the deadly battles There were only three cars in the motorcade each of which contained a sheriffs deputy. Paternalism is the practice of people who have a business or other authority to restrict the freedoms of those who are subordinate to them. . Louis Stacy that he has several times been running a defective roofbolting machine when word came that inspector was on his way. Based on this new Act, from October 27, 1933, to March 31, 1935, the mines ran as open shops. Abstract. What a marvelous view! The miners could be fired if they refused to spend their paychecks only in the store. Done Citation. The Brookside Women's Club of Harlan County - New York Women in Film 1940-49 Harlan Co Miners Deaths - USGenWeb sites 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. 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. 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. HARLAN COUNTYHarlan County, Kentucky, is a rural county located in a major coal-mining region in the Appalachian Mountains. PDF "I Am a Union Woman": Gender, Class, and Folk Music in The Harlan No Neutrals: The Harlan County Miner's Strike of 1931 He said that when the coal industry was at its height in 1928, the peak of . ("Tony") Boyle for the national presidency of the UMW in 1972 in an election closely supervised by the federal government. They file with us copies of specific federal safety violation reports, and they say that nothing was ever done to correct these violations. But mostly the scenery is depressingly bleak. It is unclear who fired that shot but both sides claim that the other side did it. One of the better houses is already being demolished. They are neatly and attractively dressed. "Roof falls are a constant hazard, but the bosses just keep on rushin'.". Soon after the "Battle of Evarts," novelist Theodore Dreiser led a citizens' group to Harlan County to find and publicize the bloody facts. 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. 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. Copy with citation. Eastover agreed to sign the 1971 wage pact of the Bituminous Coal Operators Association which is in force at 1,200 mines. She speaks in a soft, pleasant voice. The Harlan County Coal Wars 1931-1939 - Kentucky Tennessee Living Among coal miners, Harlan County, Kentucky, is known as "Bloody Harlan." 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. What will happen now that the first full year after the union election is ending? All during the day they worked in shifts, trying to penetrate to the point where the explosion occurred. New subdivisions named Tall Oaks and Colonial Heights. 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. "If we could monitor these inspections, perhaps we could cut down on the fatalities," he says. Each contract varied from mine to mine. 8 N.L.R.B. knee-deep in water, he has experienced many electrical shocks. The National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners (NCDPP) was of the American Communist Party. Five men and their titles are listed and all are doing all they can.. Thirty percent of the families lack automobiles. Perched atop Inspiration Mountain is the modern Mount Aire Motel. There had been several clashes with the "scabs," the mine guards, and the state police, Kahn says. Interment at Resthaven Cemetery, Keith, Ky. Visitation 6-9 p.m. at the Grays Knob Bible Church. Domesticity and Depression: Kentucky Coal Mining, Song, and Organizing It reports that "Piedmont" is an adjective derived.from Italian words that literally mean "formed at the foot of the mountains." 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. Done. 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. Bill Doan says, "When I got hurt, I couldn't find Jim Miller, the man who had charge of the sick fund." . Harlan County, KY, coal miners win affiliation with UMWA union, United Coal Strike May End, But Miners Still Fear Future 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. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. the meeting room. 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. The miners say that they often have to stand knee-deep in water while handling 440-volt electrical cables. Coal employment in Harlan county dropped 53.7% in the second quarter of this year compared with last year, driven by Blackjewel's bankruptcy. [videorecording] Contributor(s): Kopple, Barbara; First-Run Features (Firm) Cabin Creek Films; Publication details: New York : First Run Features, 1976. . On February 16, 1931, in order to prevent operating at a loss, the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association cut miners' wages by 10%. Before this war was over it is not known exactly how many miners, coal operators, deputies, and bosses would be killed. I don't like- workin' in them kind of conditions." The next morning the toothpicks were still in place, it was said. (Fifty million tons of union coal are mined in western Kentucky; only 6.5 million tons of union coal are mined in eastern Kentucky.) Some seventy-five state policemen were on hand as the crowd gathered. 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 UMW had made written proposals for compromising these issues a little. "With all those state police, we knew we had three choices," she says. In Harlan County, Kentucky, are some of our country's richest natural resourcesand some of its poorest people. During the big coal boom in the early 1900s, Harlan County was amongst the largest contributors. The Brookside labor dispute erupted spontaneously soon after Miller's election. He says that, standing. 9:03 PM. Talking to Aaronson, I am reminded of an old tin sign I saw tacked on a tree along the highway as I left Harlan. Laid off and owed pay: the Kentucky miners blocking coal trains Willard Wirtz asks how it will all come out, how the strike will end. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". There is one ostentatious feature about him, though: a large, multi-diamond ring on the third finger of his left hand. In 1970, Joseph Yablonski had led a rank-and-file revolt against Boyle, and Yablonski and his wife and daughter had been brutally murdered by killers hired with union funds. I can see twenty-five miles to the southeast, five ridges. Faith, power, and conflict: Miner preachers and the United Mine Workers They are merely a service organization, Yarborough says. Background to the 1931-32 Strike - University of Kentucky (Brookside) were the only two mines of the Harlan County owner/operators association who rejected a 10% pay increase in 1933. National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions Jul 5, 1938. Copy as parenthetical citation. Three Harlan County incorporated towns were not owned by the coal mines, they became a sanctuary for the evicted and starving miners. The prospects for settlement do not look good unless Duke begins to feel public pressure. Frame houses with rusty tin roofs. Up at seven on a Monday morning, I walk out onto the balcony of my motel room. "Yarborough says he just don't want nobody tellin' him how to run his mine," Deaton says. had them make me go in and pin it because it wasn't done right the first time. In response, the coal owners and operators decided to sell their fuel at below cost to increase the national dependency on coal. 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. The men and women were released on good behavior. Prior to the strike, the pay of the Brookside miners started and stopped at the face of coal. Free shipping for many products! Finally, in 1939, the coal companies agreed to allow unions in their coal mine operations. "I've got so many duns from the hospital that I just quit lookin' at them. The remaining workforce then went on strike as a sign of solidarity with those that were fired from their jobs. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. 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. "The personal is political" was a rallying cry of second wave feminism. Mr. Nolan, a resident of Cawood, is survived by his wife, Mrs. Stella Nolan . But is it really hurting? It is not all Duke's fault by any means. 1 negative : glass ; 4 x 5 in. ", 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." No one knows who fired the first shot but when it was over four were . The Harlan County Coal Operators Association, still functioning today, spent nearly a half million dollars from 1927 to 1938 to combat unionism, most of it going to pay strongarm men to terrorize . 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. 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. 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. 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. ", "They've done discriminated me," Grover Jennings continues. (The union has told us that they are quite willing to limit the contract to the Brookside mine.) 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. I have attended the University of Kentucky. Partial Transcript: August 27, '86. HARLAN COUNTY COAL OPERATORS ASSOCIATION. A young woman from the Associated Press asks me, aren't we getting only one side of the story? Harlan County. Interview Summary. The median family income is $4600 a year. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. It took forty-five minutes for someone to come and help get him out, Deaton says. 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. The unrest continues in Harlan and surrounding counties as there have been many strikes. The men's life depended on my job, but I knowed if I protested I'd a got fired. They have done this only since the Brookside strike. As part of his New Deal, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt presented and had passed the National Industrial Act. I was born in Florida and grew up in Burdine, Kentucky. Inside the Harlan County Coal Miner Protest - Rolling Stone If you wouldn't do it, they'd just say, 'Get your bucket.' 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. "They didn't say nothin'; all they want's coal.' After the railroad arrived in 1911 . Battle of Evarts - Wikipedia Source for information on Harlan County: Encyclopedia of the Great Depression dictionary. Why are people allowed to dump raw sewage in the streams? 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. 2011: $1,161,330. Even pop culture cannot ignore its impact with such shows as Justified. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. An open shop is where union membership is allowed but not mandated to work at that location. There are still ongoing strikes today and the violence in Harlan County Continues. No concessions or deals were made between the two factions and the membership of the United Mine Workers union plummeted. He says that they do not need the UMW to look after them; he will do that. The warrant was never served. 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. The sign man for R C Cola has worked this territory well. In one of these, the septic tank has been out of order for several months. Altogether, it is a heavy financial burden for the UMW. 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. 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. . We first hear from a number of the striking miners about safety conditions in the Brookside mine. The Harlan County Coal War is one of the . Why is garbage left on the roadway? You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. If you protested this safety violation, he says, "the boss would just say, 'Run it.'" This caused the clergy to denounce the union. They were convicted on charges of conspiracy to murder. Our delegation arrives on time at the Eastover office in Brookside. They want portal-to-portal pay from the time they enter the mine until they leave it. A Brief History of Harlan County, USA. While it succeeded in organizing thousands of miners, it failed to complete a bargaining agreement with Harlan County's coal operators. By 1908 the union had . 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. This law was enacted to try to reverse the hardships to those who were out of a job because of the economic collapse of the Great Depression. Mr. Blanton explained the reasoning behind coal camps. When they went to jail, they say, some of the women took their children with them. But you must remember I am an immoral man. Harlan County U.S.A. (1976) - Plot - IMDb 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. "You could hunt for one, but there just weren't one there," he says. There was an addition to where miners could choose their own representation for these negotiations. The Harlan County Coal Operators Association, still functioning today, spent nearly a half million dollars from 1927 to 1938 to combat unionism, most of it going to pay strongarm men to terrorize the miners and their families. However, after the dust was clear, the anti-labor coal country would end up being represented by unions. 13Month Strike is Ended By Kentucky Mine Accord If those under them behave in an approved manner then they receive housing, work, food, and other perks of their position. Only to be escorted to the county line and told not to return. 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. 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). 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. Freda Armes says, "I run him off. It read: RE-ELECT GAW, JAILER. The miners charge that Eastover has hired what they call "gun thugs." "I've seen some hurt and some killed. COMING THE BOYS OF HARLAN - The Washington Post There are very few vacant houses in Harlan County and virtually no available land to build on. Sadly, the state and federal troops would occupy the county several times. June 17th of that same year, the first strike was over as the last miner had returned to work. He is dressed more like a miner than a mining executive. Name Entry; Harlan County Coal Operators' Association. Harry Caudill, attorney and author of Night Comes to the Cumberlands, will not be able to join us in Harlan because of legal business. Leroy Helton says miners often have to splice electrical cable, even though they're not qualified to do so. "Boss walks up and says, 'We've got to make this mine look good now, boys; the inspector's comin','" Jerry Johnson says. Documentary Noise: The Soundscape of Barbara Kopple's Harlan County, U