They exercised their powers with impunity and operated under Sheriff J.H. She talks about the women being armed with sticks, mace . The transcript will be published as a book. We hope that our hearings will help hold down violence. But is it really hurting? Harlan County U.S.A. (1976) - Harlan County U.S.A. (1976) - User - IMDb Strike benefits are $100 weekly for a family, $90 for a couple, and $80 for a single man. And always there is a murky roadside stream, beech and sycamore trees lining its banks. Three of the federal reports state that there was no safety committee at Brookside, as required by law. Three Harlan County incorporated towns were not owned by the coal mines, they became a sanctuary for the evicted and starving miners. At first, there were little battles with gunshots being exchanged between the strikers and the private guards, and the local law enforcement agents. They fed strikers' children as well as the employed, blacks as well as whites. The miners say that all of the strikers have been blacklisted by the Association. "They don't want miners havin' any say in safety." the foreman would just say, "We gotta run coal. We agree that most of us lean toward the miners, but we think we can be fair in trying to learn the facts. Harlan County War | Military Wiki | Fandom In Harlan County, Kentucky, are some of our country's richest natural resourcesand some of its poorest people. 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. Yarborough tells us that the company does not now object to paying the miners for portal-to-portal time for inside mine work, but that the union wants comparability for outside workers too, in effect requiring the company to pay outside workers overtime for all work in excess of a seven and-a-quarter-hour regular day. The mining company had ordered a motorcade to deliver food and supplies to the strikebreakers known as Scabs. 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 Price of Coal, Part I - kentuckymonthly.com Nannie Rainey says, "I told him if he got my children, he was gonna haveta take me too." Pay ranged from $17 to $32 day, the average being $25. Name Entry; Harlan County Coal Operators' Association. The miners say that, somehow, management always knows when the government inspectors are coming. Leroy Helton says miners often have to splice electrical cable, even though they're not qualified to do so. Depression-era Harlan County, Kentucky, was the site of one of the most bitter and protracted labor disputes in American history. 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. We soon get into a discussion about Dreiser's 1931 inquiry. An organic shape, small and shiny and pinkish white, sits . Blair. Since the county began mining, over one billion tons of coal have 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." Source Citation [ }] Descriptive Note Contributors from initial SNAC EAC-CPF ingest. There were only nine hundred miners working and 5,800 miners were idle and striking during the first strike. Following this episode, the women say, Norman Yarborough asked Judge Hogg to hold the UMW and a number of miners and women in contempt of the Judge's order limiting the number of picketers to six. Betty Eldridge is a mildmannered, well-dressed woman of about forty. Appalachia: Coal Operators Oral History Project SPOKEdb As the motorcade approached a single shot rang out in the air. 9:03 PM. "But if they call me and ask if a man works for me, I simply say yes or no.". Is that the only objection that is holding up a settlement? 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. 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. The miners charge that Eastover has hired what they call "gun thugs." It took forty-five minutes for someone to come and help get him out, Deaton says. 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. Its profits in 1973 were $90 million, up 14 percent from the year before. Some of the women say they haven't had a drink of water since moving to the Brookside camp. 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. Faith, power, and conflict: Miner preachers and the United Mine Workers Nonunion workers were attempting to leave the mine. Troops had to be called into the county three times to maintain order. Chicago citation style: Harris & Ewing, photographer. Copy with citation. Genders. 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. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Harlan County U.S.A. by Felicia Elliott, August 2, 2016. Inside the Harlan County Coal Miner Protest - Rolling Stone In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to . 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. 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. Rev. 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 . . A month later, back in Washington, I meet with Bernie Aaronson at UMW headquarters. The Harlan County Coal Miners, 1931-39 (Paperback) at the best online prices at eBay! With this Supreme Court ruling, all but one of the open shops in Harlan County went back to the previous mine operations. October 31, 2016. It is home to lawyers, doctors and coal operators; it has a hospital, several banks and a few fast-food . ("Tony") Boyle for the national presidency of the UMW in 1972 in an election closely supervised by the federal government. 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. Kentucky communities discussed include Artemus, Burdine, Jenkins, Jellico, Van Lear, and Wheelwright; and Kentucky counties include Bell, Clay, Floyd, Harlan . Bill Doan says that the roof bolts often didn't have enough torque on them, sometimes causing roof falls as high as thirty-five feet above the regular ceiling, and that once he complained about this to the visiting inspector in the presence of his foreman. . The Brookside mine is capable of producing only about a half-million tons of the 15 million tons of coal Duke uses each year. Three Point Mine Explosion 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. 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. When they went to jail, they say, some of the women took their children with them. Harlan County Struggle Collection, 1931-1932 - LibraryHost Done. 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 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. In response, the United Mine Workers of America attempted to organize the miners. Dan Pollitt reads a letter from Carl Horn, Jr., president of Duke Power Company, respectfully declining our invitation. In one of these, the septic tank has been out of order for several months. ", What about federal inspection? In response to the violence, the Kentucky National Guard was called upon and arrived for the first time in the county to try to stem the violence. Life After Coal in Harlan County, U.S.A. - In These Times Harlan Daily Enterprise, September 17, 1943. Yarborough comes out of a staff meeting and ushers us hack to a large, paneled meeting room with folding tables and chairs. The county was once part of Knox County, only becoming official in 1819. The accident was investigated by Rufus Bailey, Harlan, district mine inspector of the State Department of Mines and Minerals, and James Bryson, safety director, Harlan County Coal Operators Association. Louis Stacy that he has several times been running a defective roofbolting machine when word came that inspector was on his way. Thirty percent of the families lack automobiles. Battle of Evarts - Wikipedia You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. "Roof falls are a constant hazard, but the bosses just keep on rushin'.". It comes to a bill of about $20,000 a week for the national union. ", 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." We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Steeped in Appalachian culture and surrounded by the influence of coal, Harlan County has amassed an interesting reputation and national attention with rest of the world. A federal bankruptcy judge ruled that the company could leave damages to the environment, abandon assets, and not pay the coal miners owed wages. It is also women's day before the Citizens In-quiry. June 17th of that same year, the first strike was over as the last miner had returned to work. Nevertheless, as the county seat, the city of Harlan has resources much of the county lacks. The company will probably demand a new election. Harlan County, Kentucky is known for two things: bituminous coal and Bloody Harlan. That means, among other things, an average daily wage of $45. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Which Side are You On? : The Harlan County Coal Miners, 1931-39 Harlan, district mine inspector of the State Department of Mines and Minerals, and James Bryson, safety director, Harlan County Coal Operators Association. I can see twenty-five miles to the southeast, five ridges. Strikebreakers were often beaten. Harlan County Coal Operators' Association. - Details - SNAC There was an addition to where miners could choose their own representation for these negotiations. Whitfield's family was from Alabama where his father had been in the coal business. They had no safety committee, the miners say, and the federal reports bear them out. Unemployment in 2017 was 9.4 percent, far above the national average. "With all those state police, we knew we had three choices," she says. "I've been juiced a lot, and I've had to just set down thirty-five minutes because it just takes the pep out of you." The warrant was never served. There is a suit still in litigation. Violence erupted that would periodically repeat itself for the next eight years. "We took the sticks with us," she says. United States Washington D.C. District of Columbia Washington D.C . There was no standard contract for the miners. It read: RE-ELECT GAW, JAILER. Harlan, Kentucky coal miner killed - World Socialist Web Site - wsws.org Exist Dates. Three Point, Harlan County, Kentucky September 16, 1943 No. 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. They are demanding the standard UMW provision requiring the company to pay a royalty of seventy-five cents a ton on mined coal into the UMW Welfare & Retirement Fund. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. "Then he'd come out looking like a sheep-killing dog and get in his truck and run. It does not store any personal data. Talking to Aaronson, I am reminded of an old tin sign I saw tacked on a tree along the highway as I left Harlan. From July 30, 2019, through September 28, 2019, coal miners and their families have blocked roads and railways demanding their payment. Partial Transcript: August 27, '86. They want portal-to-portal pay from the time they enter the mine until they leave it. 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 Friday, March 25, a continuous mining machine operator was killed by a wall collapse at the Huff Creek No. [6] Nearly four thousand miners working and living in Harlan County, Kentucky lost their jobs in the Great Depression. Harlan County, Kentucky in a Post-Coal America: A Case Study If those under them behave in an approved manner then they receive housing, work, food, and other perks of their position. 2011: $1,161,330. They range in age from about twenty-one to seventy. There had been several clashes with the "scabs," the mine guards, and the state police, Kahn says. ", We break for lunch, prepared by the women of the Evarts Community Center. Si says Harlan is a dry countyno legal liquor and no beer. We look back on the film, which screens this Sunday, February . Nobody knows how long the UMW can keep paying strike benefits. The men and women were released on good behavior. 4 . I have also attended the University of Pikeville. 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. He says that negotiations were broken off on November 28, 1973, because of the miners' insistence on the full terms of the standard UMW contract. And we're burning up people to make electricity. "Not at all," Yarborough says. They file with us copies of specific federal safety violation reports, and they say that nothing was ever done to correct these violations. 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."
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