They exercised their powers with impunity and operated under Sheriff J.H. Some of the women went to jail with the men, and some took their children with them. It has assets worth $2.5 billion. The sign man for R C Cola has worked this territory well. I have attended the University of Kentucky. Word precedes him. Did she find the stick on the ground? The trees are barely beginning to bud in the early March warmth. There are still ongoing strikes today and the violence in Harlan County Continues. I glance at the new Piedmont magazine, Pace. The miners say that all of the strikers have been blacklisted by the Association. The officials were listed were the "veteran safety director of the Harlan Coal Operators Association, and Rufus Bailey and H. Hamlin, state . A Brief History of Harlan County, USA. Sometimes, they'll be a black scum on the rag." Harlan County Coal Operators' Association. After breakfast, we travel fifteen miles east to Evarts. Kentucky communities discussed include Artemus, Burdine, Jenkins, Jellico, Van Lear, and Wheelwright; and Kentucky counties include Bell, Clay, Floyd, Harlan . The men's life depended on my job, but I knowed if I protested I'd a got fired. Dan Pollitt reads a letter from Carl Horn, Jr., president of Duke Power Company, respectfully declining our invitation. 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. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Our driver points out Norman Yarborough's two-story frame house, across the highway from the camp and up out of the river bottom. 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). Eastover agreed to sign the 1971 wage pact of the Bituminous Coal Operators Association which is in force at 1,200 mines. 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. 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. 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. The county was once part of Knox County, only becoming official in 1819. Harlan County, Kentucky is known for two things: bituminous coal and Bloody Harlan. Whitfield's family was from Alabama where his father had been in the coal business. 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. On May 24, 1931, Sheriff Blair rescinded the miners right to assemble and tear-gassed a union rally. It is an area of Kentucky that you only go to if you are intentionally going to the county. Sheriff T. R. Middleton replaced Blair under the pro-union campaign platform. "We took the sticks with us," she says. Project Summary. She speaks in a soft, pleasant voice. Nannie Rainey takes us into her four-room house where she and her husband and five children live. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. 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 know nothing about the electrical part." Yarborough replies. "My daddy's a retired coal miner, and he's got the black lung. HARLAN COUNTYHarlan County, Kentucky, is a rural county located in a major coal-mining region in the Appalachian Mountains. CBS is represented by a camera crew, and there are a number of national reporters. I remind her that Duke and Eastover executives were invited, and have refused to appear before us. [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%. Nonunion workers were attempting to leave the mine. This was not just a flashy slogan, and the truth of it is . We are told that Eastover has announced its intention to tear down the mining-camp houses and move the striking miners out. It was two o'clock on a Monday morning when the accident occurred, and he'd been in the mine., more than twelve hours. 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. 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 prospects for settlement do not look good unless Duke begins to feel public pressure. He decided to make Harlan County a test case in the UMW's new, more aggressive organizing efforts. The SLU was largely seen as serving the interests of the mine owners rather than the workers. There were only three cars in the motorcade each of which contained a sheriffs deputy. . The next morning the toothpicks were still in place, it was said. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. 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. With the opening left by the United Mine Workers union the openly Communist (NMU) National Miners Union tried to help the miners to organize. Before this war was over it is not known exactly how many miners, coal operators, deputies, and bosses would be killed. They are neatly and attractively dressed. Horn's letter questions the fair-mindedness of the inquiry members. Don Dalton, UMW Safety Director for Region Six, explains this. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. 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. Capitalizing on the general . Harlan Daily Enterprise, September 17, 1943. Other times, he says, "Roof was workin', rock was a-hangin', and it sounded like thunder. Funeral Wednesday March 1 at 11 a.m. at Grays Knob Bible Church. National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions Jul 5, 1938. And always there is a murky roadside stream, beech and sycamore trees lining its banks. Most of the land is owned by the mining companies. From July 30, 2019, through September 28, 2019, coal miners and their families have blocked roads and railways demanding their payment. There are very few vacant houses in the county. It is home to lawyers, doctors and coal operators; it has a hospital, several banks and a few fast-food . All during the day they worked in shifts, trying to penetrate to the point where the explosion occurred. 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. 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 . During the rest of the afternoon, the miners talk about what has happened on the picket line and in the local court. In the year of "the energy crisis," Coal is King again at $30 a ton. Nannie Rainey says, "I told him if he got my children, he was gonna haveta take me too." Is that the only objection that is holding up a settlement? The Great Depression of 1929 through the late 1930s hit Harlan County Kentucky. We look back on the film, which screens this Sunday, February . And we're burning up people to make electricity. Several folk singers and other artists toured the United States to raise money during the strikes. No wonder R C Cola has so many signs everywhere. The Brookside mine is capable of producing only about a half-million tons of the 15 million tons of coal Duke uses each year. Now and then, there is a neat, new frame house or a Pic and Pay market between scattered tarpaper shacks. These disputes were still brewing when on December 8, 1934, the United Mine Workers Union was threatened by deputies and mine bosses. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. But mostly the scenery is depressingly bleak. The most shocking moment in Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976) looks at first like an abstract painting. The three houses with baths rent for $24 a month, plus $14 a month for electricity. There are very few vacant houses in Harlan County and virtually no available land to build on. I've got five living children and four dead. The coal miners, lean and tough from Kentucky mountain life, knew how to fight back. Apparently, this is one of Eastover's major objections. Depression-era Harlan County, Kentucky, was the site of one of the most bitter and protracted labor disputes in American history. Jacqueline Brophy asks why public services have broken down. The Wagner Act of 1935 (National Labor Relations Act or NLRA) guaranteed the rights of workers to choose to organize. Four men were arrested in connection with this murder. . This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. 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. "It's one of 'em," Yarborough says. On Friday, March 25, a continuous mining machine operator was killed by a wall collapse at the Huff Creek No. It took forty-five minutes for someone to come and help get him out, Deaton says. I can see twenty-five miles to the southeast, five ridges. We're all involved. Typical of counties with low income, counties where the mine companies own everything and pay low taxes, our UMW driver says. Miners also wanted the right to organize and have a union. 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. Only 23 percent of those in the county over the age of twenty-five have completed high school. 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. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Does the Association hire for all the mines in the county? Available for both RF and RM licensing. You come out of there lookin' like a hog that's been rootin' in the mud.' 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.

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