: The Harlan County Coal Miners, 1931-39 (Paperback) at the best online prices at eBay! KCA's constitution and by-laws were adopted on April 28, 1947, "to promote the best interest of the coal mining industry in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and all those engaged therein". 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). A young woman from the Associated Press asks me, aren't we getting only one side of the story? 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. 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. Someone had planted dynamite in his automobile and when he started it up the car blew up. Copy with citation. Why haven't the car bodies been removed from the highway and the streets? or smaller. A reporter asks us again how we can expect to make an unbiased report when we've heard only one side. Enforcing the operators' political will, both within and outside the law, was the Harlan County Coal Operators Association. the foreman would just say, "We gotta run coal. Pay ranged from $17 to $32 day, the average being $25. 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. those in the Harlan County Coal Operators . Breaks in the cable, they say, are often just wrapped with mask-ing tape and exposed again to the water. Two hundred people crowd. New subdivisions named Tall Oaks and Colonial Heights. Others claim that his death was caused by an election concerning slot machines into the county. The miners charge that the Harlan County Coal Operators Association is behind Eastover's refusal to sign a contract. Yarborough is tough and unyielding. . 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. "Yarborough says he just don't want nobody tellin' him how to run his mine," Deaton says. The remaining workforce then went on strike as a sign of solidarity with those that were fired from their jobs. 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. Four men were arrested in connection with this murder. had them make me go in and pin it because it wasn't done right the first time. In 1973 the 13-month Brookside Strike brought almost 200 workers to battle Eastover Coal Company's Brookside Mine and Prep Plant, a company owned by Duke Power. 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. Now and then, there is a neat, new frame house or a Pic and Pay market between scattered tarpaper shacks. In the year of "the energy crisis," Coal is King again at $30 a ton. But is it really hurting? "Yeah," a coal miner says, "but the land's so poor, you can't hardly raise an umbrella on it.". As part of his New Deal, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt presented and had passed the National Industrial Act. They file with us copies of specific federal safety violation reports, and they say that nothing was ever done to correct these violations. 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. The miners and the coal owners were still having disputes. 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." Our driver points out Norman Yarborough's two-story frame house, across the highway from the camp and up out of the river bottom. At Washington's National Airport, I board Piedmont Airline's fat little silver jet on a Sunday afternoon in early March. And lastly, the Harlan Fox Mining Co - presumably derived from the Harlan Fox Coal Co - was in operation from 1925-1932. Dateline Newport News, Virginia, November 12, 1931: Dreiser denies the charge and says he wants people to concentrate on the facts of the labor dispute and "get the American mind off sex for a moment." [6] Nearly four thousand miners working and living in Harlan County, Kentucky lost their jobs in the Great Depression. All during the day they worked in shifts, trying to penetrate to the point where the explosion occurred. And always there is a murky roadside stream, beech and sycamore trees lining its banks. These disputes were still brewing when on December 8, 1934, the United Mine Workers Union was threatened by deputies and mine bosses. Sometimes, they'll be a black scum on the rag." . 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. ", What about federal inspection? The airline magazine contains an article on southern skiing, a feature on hot, winter drinks for the "Piedmont palate," an article on how tough it is to be thirty-three and middle-class today, and a success story about an Atlanta bra, sleepwear, girdle, and pantie company. [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%. However, they did make a greater effort than the United Mine Workers with relief as they opened soup kitchens around the county. 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. Finally, in 1939, the coal companies agreed to allow unions in their coal mine operations. In one of these, the septic tank has been out of order for several months. "They don't want miners havin' any say in safety." Some of the women say they haven't had a drink of water since moving to the Brookside camp. In the bloody 1930s coal wars, miners known to be union members were fired and evicted from company-owned homes. Pierce mentions the "toothpick incident." And I can't get you off of that couch. 4 . Mostly, the miners were fighting for improved working conditions, higher wages, and better housing options for their families. 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 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 women spent the night. At first, there were little battles with gunshots being exchanged between the strikers and the private guards, and the local law enforcement agents. On May 5, 1931, the Battle of Evarts began. "This troubles me; I don't sleep," Yarborough says. And we're burning up people to make electricity. They had no safety committee, the miners say, and the federal reports bear them out. Thirty percent of the families lack automobiles. Harlan, city, seat of Harlan county, southeastern Kentucky, U.S., in the Cumberland Mountains, on the Clover Fork Cumberland River. It is clear that these women have been a main factor in keeping the mine shut down. The committee has invited owners as well as workers to participate in the hearings, but the impression we get is that management will not appear. The motorcade stopped and the deputies got out of their cars to return fire. I currently live in Tennessee but my hope is to one day come back home to live in the beautiful mountains once more. A historical marker says we are near the Little Shepherd Trail, the setting for the novel Shepherd of the Hills. However, the battle continues to this day. The median family income is $4600 a year. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. Funeral Wednesday March 1 at 11 a.m. at Grays Knob Bible Church. We look back on the film, which screens this Sunday, February . If those under them behave in an approved manner then they receive housing, work, food, and other perks of their position. She speaks in a soft, pleasant voice. Throughout 1931, violence sprouted between miners "We want safety all the time, not just when the inspector comes," Jerry Johnson says. Each contract varied from mine to mine. Sheriff T. R. Middleton replaced Blair under the pro-union campaign platform. 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. 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. During the big coal boom in the early 1900s, Harlan County was amongst the largest contributors. For a time after the hearing, he says, it appeared that Duke had softened. The money was . Burger Chef. Nonunion workers were attempting to leave the mine. 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. They were convicted on charges of conspiracy to murder. Our delegation arrives on time at the Eastover office in Brookside. Unemployment in 2017 was 9.4 percent, far above the national average. I glance at the new Piedmont magazine, Pace. It read: RE-ELECT GAW, JAILER. The slab of slate, more than 51 feet long, and 17 feet wide and weighing tons, was dodged by two men. My man was mashed up in the mines. Crossing the Clinch River, we turn onto Highway 421 and leave the modern world. the meeting room. 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. 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. They made several attempts at holding strikes against the coal companies, but these failed in Harlan County. Louis Stacy that he has several times been running a defective roofbolting machine when word came that inspector was on his way. In Harlan County, Kentucky, are some of our country's richest natural resourcesand some of its poorest people. I was born in Florida and grew up in Burdine, Kentucky. 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 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. . Harlan County Coal Operators' Association. "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. The Price of Coal, Part II. 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." They have done this only since the Brookside strike. The warrant was never served. Wirtz says that his arbitration experience tells him that if Eastover really wants to negotiate in good faith, the remaining issues, tough as they are, can probably be worked out. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Source Citation [ }] Descriptive Note Contributors from initial SNAC EAC-CPF ingest. As the motorcade approached a single shot rang out in the air. . He says that they do not need the UMW to look after them; he will do that. They want the terms of the standard UMW contract or better. ("Tony") Boyle for the national presidency of the UMW in 1972 in an election closely supervised by the federal government. The group publishes policy papers on the benefits of coal for Kentucky and sponsors the "Friends of Coal" initiative. 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. Since the county began mining, over one billion tons of coal have 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. Former Director of Harlan County Coal Operators Association. Three of our Inquiry members plan to talk with the president of Duke Power Company. Almost immediately after the explosion became known rescue teams, under the direction of J. F. Bryson, safety director of the Harlan County Coal Operators association, started into the entry. HARLAN COUNTYHarlan County, Kentucky, is a rural county located in a major coal-mining region in the Appalachian Mountains. 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%. Harry Simms, who was a Young Communist League organizer was killed in Harlan. The miners say that they often have to stand knee-deep in water while handling 440-volt electrical cables. by Ron Soodalter. Their activities began with a demonstration and march in Harlan on September 27, 1973. 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. "They didn't say nothin'; all they want's coal.' Seen 'em carried out on a stretcher," she says. It is too early for dolor. Isolated trailer houses. Drift mines back into the mountains follow the seam of coal wherever it goes." He can't never walk again." It is home to lawyers, doctors and coal operators; it has a hospital, several banks and a few fast-food . One of the better houses is already being demolished. 2012: $1,552,717. The next morning the toothpicks were still in place, it was said. "Not at all," Yarborough says. It is a warm night and at every bend in the asphalt road we hear a chorus of croaking frogs. Other clippings detail the earlier bloodshed and misery in Harlan County. The United Mine Workers union also cited that they did not have the resources to help in the battle. 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. But you must remember I am an immoral man. There had been several clashes with the "scabs," the mine guards, and the state police, Kahn says. KCA traces its origin to a statewide association of coal operators who united their efforts in 1942. The miners could be fired if they refused to spend their paychecks only in the store. I look at the government statistics once more. These interviews with major coal operators document their personal histories and the history of the coal industry in eastern Kentucky during the twentieth century. I have taken several classes in Journalism as well as in the Appalachian History, Literature, and Sociology during my time at those schools. Three of the federal reports state that there was no safety committee at Brookside, as required by law. No one knows who fired the first shot but when it was over four were . The final straw was when the Harlan County Coal Operators Association cut miners' wages by 10%. After nearly 40 years of working in coalmines, David . But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. In Harlan County, Kentucky, the 1931 Battle of Evarts ended in four deaths. USBM Final Investigation Report (1.7 Mb) Successful Rescue . Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Which Side are You on? The issues had been narrowed down to Eastover's demand for a "no-strike clause" and a limit on the power of the safety committee. 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. Duke Power Company of North Carolina, he says, is the sixth largest utility company in the world. HARLAN COUNTY COAL OPERATORS ASSOCIATION. When McQueen was hurt, his foreman drove him to the hospital and left him there, and he was two hours hitchhiking home. 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.". 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. 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. Yellow-dog contracts (Contracts where the employees agreed to never organize into a union before they were employed with a coal company), company unions, blacklists, all tactics that were employed by the companies to bust up unions, and discrimination-based on union activity were all outlawed under this act. "I don't try to blacklist anybody," he says. They just laughed about it, and we kept on cuttin' coal. 1938) Copy Citation . Troops had to be called into the county three times to maintain order. Over one thousand shots were exchanged during those fifteen minutes. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. There were shots exchanged and all three deputies and one striker were killed. Wanted to be able to spend their money at a store of their choice besides the Black Mountain Coal Company store. He said that when the coal industry was at its height in 1928, the peak of . Office files covering topics such as "accounts receivable," "baseball club," "coal production," "garnishment orders," "Harlan Coal Operator's Association," "labor conditions," "medical conditions . Eastover agreed to sign the 1971 wage pact of the Bituminous Coal Operators Association which is in force at 1,200 mines. Most of the land is owned by the mining companies. The transcript will be published as a book. 5355, atEvarts . Miners in Harlan County, Kentucky, have drawn national attention with their direct action occupying a railroad track to halt a coal train . The sign man for R C Cola has worked this territory well. "The danger's just the same," they say. Yarborough replies. Coal employment in Harlan county dropped 53.7% in the second quarter of this year compared with last year, driven by Blackjewel's bankruptcy. 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. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. McQueen says that in late 1972 he burned his fingers to the bone on a switchbox where a blown fuse had been hot-wired. Prior to Miller's election, the union had become corrupt, dictatorial, and a frequent collaborator with the mine owners. The aftermath of this battle led to wider strikes in the Harlan County area. They fed strikers' children as well as the employed, blacks as well as whites. 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. (This . B.W. The decision caused unrest in the county among the miners. It is an area of Kentucky that you only go to if you are intentionally going to the county. As discussed in a previous video. Name Entry; Harlan County Coal Operators' Association. Horn's letter questions the fair-mindedness of the inquiry members. Mr. Blanton explained the reasoning behind coal camps. 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 the Harlan County Coal Operators Association (HCCOA) and secondly at the worn work boots of miners who, when work was plentiful, saw little or no need for a union. The miners speak of other dissatisfactions with Eastover and the old Southern Labor Union contract. He says that, standing. Lois Scott, a woman of about forty-five, begins to speak first. One of the towns that were a refuge was Evarts, Kentucky. "Try walking out of there, carrying a man with a broken back," one of the miners says. 1931, only $13.5 million. There were ten lodges that were chartered for the National Miners Union. This was thirteen percent of the workers showing up for their scheduled work times. October 31, 2016. Only 23 percent of those in the county over the age of twenty-five have completed high school. A month later, back in Washington, I meet with Bernie Aaronson at UMW headquarters. Pricing; Switch; Big firm; There are very few vacant houses in the county. There was no standard contract for the miners. Harlan County. It doesn't seem like enough. After the Battle of Evarts, the Red Cross and the United Mine Workers Union refused to help the striking men on the basis that it was now an industrial conflict that needed to be resolved internally. Prior to the strike, the pay of the Brookside miners started and stopped at the face of coal. Apparently, this is one of Eastover's major objections. The Harlan County Coal Wars lasted from 1931-1939. "Boss walks up and says, 'We've got to make this mine look good now, boys; the inspector's comin','" Jerry Johnson says. "In Harlan County, U.S.A., sound anchors, explains, and makes 'authentic' visual imagery compromised by the long history of documentary work in Appalachia.". That commitment has never waivered, and has grown . 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. 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. ", 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. Bobby's wife, Becky, who died in 2013, was a lifelong advocate for the people of Harlan County. 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. Their General Secretary recently released some facts which help to illustrate the reason for much of the unemployment in the county. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. 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.
Breakheart Pass Train Wreck, Articles H
Breakheart Pass Train Wreck, Articles H