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Harlan County War | Military Wiki | Fandom 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. A federal bankruptcy judge ruled that the company could leave damages to the environment, abandon assets, and not pay the coal miners owed wages. There's water in the mine because the pumps often won't work. Up at seven on a Monday morning, I walk out onto the balcony of my motel room. Si says Harlan is a dry countyno legal liquor and no beer. There is one ostentatious feature about him, though: a large, multi-diamond ring on the third finger of his left hand. 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. Whitfield recalls working in his father's coal mines during the first years of commercial mining in Harlan County, and he describes the conditions. Carl Horn of Duke Power and Arnold Miller of the UMW had talked, and negotiations had been resumed. Burning Up People to Make Electricity - The Atlantic The union abandoned its efforts after less than a year. It was Miller who defeated W. A. Zero Mine Explosion Someone had planted dynamite in his automobile and when he started it up the car blew up. (This . "Faith, power, and conflict: Miner preachers and the United Mine Worker 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. Four men were arrested in connection with this murder. Pay ranged from $17 to $32 day, the average being $25. Genders. 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 . Midway in the trial, Judge Hogg dismissed the jury and directed a verdict of guilty. 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. Done. 1940-49 Harlan Co Miners Deaths - USGenWeb sites Pierce mentions the "toothpick incident." 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. corporateBody associatedWith : Heyl & Patterson, Inc . Some of the women say they haven't had a drink of water since moving to the Brookside camp. . The company will probably demand a new election. Apparently, this is one of Eastover's major objections. It read: RE-ELECT GAW, JAILER. Ky., told the Senate Civil Liberties Committee as it resumed its investigation of alleged terrorism in connection with Harlan County Coal Operators' efforts to resist union organization drives. Free shipping for many products! We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. He decided to make Harlan County a test case in the UMW's new, more aggressive organizing efforts. The median family income is $4600 a year. Funeral Wednesday March 1 at 11 a.m. at Grays Knob Bible Church. Where will the families go? "I don't try to blacklist anybody," he says. Domesticity and Depression: Kentucky Coal Mining, Song, and Organizing 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. I have been married to David W. Sergent since May 4, 2013. If for example, they did not behave in the way the companies wanted them to, they could lose all their benefits up to and including their jobs. I look at the government statistics once more. Horn's letter questions the fair-mindedness of the inquiry members. 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. Nannie Rainey takes us into her four-room house where she and her husband and five children live. They want the terms of the standard UMW contract or better. Featuring a haunting soundtrack-with legendary country . Copy with citation. Printing - Angelfire A rural county of 27,000, Harlan County's average household income is about $29,000. The Harlan County Coal War - YouTube I say that the issue is whether or not the men will be allowed to have their own union to protect their safety and secure and maintain decent wages and benefits, that if enough pressure is put on Duke Power Company, maybe something will give. McQueen says that in late 1972 he burned his fingers to the bone on a switchbox where a blown fuse had been hot-wired. The miners and the coal owners were still having disputes. Harlan County, Kentucky in a Post-Coal America: A Case Study All during the day they worked in shifts, trying to penetrate to the point where the explosion occurred. "The personal is political" was a rallying cry of second wave feminism. I don't like- workin' in them kind of conditions." At Brookside, this would amount to $400,000 a year. KCA traces its origin to a statewide association of coal operators who united their efforts in 1942. 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. Sheriff T. R. Middleton replaced Blair under the pro-union campaign platform. It has assets worth $2.5 billion. The aftermath of this battle led to wider strikes in the Harlan County area. On May 5, 1931, the Battle of Evarts began. Throughout 1931, violence sprouted between miners In the year of "the energy crisis," Coal is King again at $30 a ton. The Harlan County Coal War is one of the . 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. We huddle before breaking up. We feel that we have provided a national forum for the miners to tell their story. The slab of slate, more than 51 feet long, and 17 feet wide and weighing tons, was dodged by two men. 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.". 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. 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. Mrs. Herschel Gaw, wife of the ailing jailer, locked them all up. Only 23 percent of those in the county over the age of twenty-five have completed high school. Miners also wanted the right to organize and have a union. This Day in Labor History: February 16, 1931 Three Harlan County incorporated towns were not owned by the coal mines, they became a sanctuary for the evicted and starving miners. The Act was an attempt to restructure the industrial sector of the economy and to alleviate unemployment with a public works program. Along the way, we pass through the community of Brookside, its mine-camp houses dominated by the brooding tin presence of the Eastover mine building on the hill. 5355, atEvarts . [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%. The Three Point disaster was the worst suffered in the county since December 9, 1932, when 23 men were killed in an explosion in "Zero" Mine of Harlan Fuel Company, Yancey. Pricing; Switch; Big firm; The roof is approximately forty-eight inches high in the mine. 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. Harlan County War History, Impact, The Free Encyclopedia 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. Crossing the Clinch River, we turn onto Highway 421 and leave the modern world. But will Norman Yarborough ever agree to recognize the UMW? By 1908 the union had . The most memorable of those are 1964, 1966, 1969 (The West Virginia Black Lung strike that the miners won) 1971, and the 1974 Strikes. [Verse 2] I got 27 peopl coming over to this house. United States Washington D.C. District of Columbia Washington D.C . Abstract. : The Harlan County Coal Miners, 1931-39 (Paperback) at the best online prices at eBay! It reports that "Piedmont" is an adjective derived.from Italian words that literally mean "formed at the foot of the mountains." The Brookside mine is capable of producing only about a half-million tons of the 15 million tons of coal Duke uses each year. On February 16, 1931, the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association reduced wages for miners in that part of eastern Kentucky by 10 percent. Established in 1916, its membership consisted of nearly all the large mining companies, and it represented the major political force in the county. This was not just a flashy slogan, and the truth of it is . "Bloody Harlan" Revisited: Blackjewel Miners Draw On Labor History Depression-era Harlan County, Kentucky, was the site of one of the most bitter and protracted labor disputes in American history. Harlan County Struggle Collection, 1931-1932 - LibraryHost had them make me go in and pin it because it wasn't done right the first time. 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. those in the Harlan County Coal Operators . Now and then, there is a neat, new frame house or a Pic and Pay market between scattered tarpaper shacks. However, the battle continues to this day. They file with us copies of specific federal safety violation reports, and they say that nothing was ever done to correct these violations. I was born in Florida and grew up in Burdine, Kentucky. They had no safety committee, the miners say, and the federal reports bear them out. No Neutrals: The Harlan County Miner's Strike of 1931 There was no functioning safety committee Medical and retirement benefits were minimal and unreliable. On May 24, 1931, Sheriff Blair rescinded the miners right to assemble and tear-gassed a union rally. 1938) Copy Citation . Exist Dates. "This troubles me; I don't sleep," Yarborough says. "I don't know nothing about the electrical part." "We run because we wanted to testify, and if we hadn't run, he woulda had us in jail." The United Mine Workers of America represented 400,000 miners at that point and promised miners safer work conditions and higher wages. Harlan County U.S.A. (1976) - Harlan County U.S.A. (1976) - User - IMDb But you must remember I am an immoral man. "My daddy's a retired coal miner, and he's got the black lung. 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. 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. The Brookside Women's Club of Harlan County - New York Women in Film You just don't hit a woman in Harlan County." "They didn't say nothin'; all they want's coal.' Yarborough is tough and unyielding. The Harlan County coal miners campaigned and fought to organize their workplaces and better their wages and working conditions. She talks about the women being armed with sticks, mace . Name Entry; Harlan County Coal Operators' Association. 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. 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. Our delegation arrives on time at the Eastover office in Brookside. Harlan, city, seat of Harlan county, southeastern Kentucky, U.S., in the Cumberland Mountains, on the Clover Fork Cumberland River. 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 . An open shop is where union membership is allowed but not mandated to work at that location. Mine operators formed the 1 Harlan County Coal Operators Association and through this organization made collective decisions concerning the mines. 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 Price of Coal, Part II. He is dressed more like a miner than a mining executive. The coal miners, lean and tough from Kentucky mountain life, knew how to fight back. The officials were listed were the "veteran safety director of the Harlan Coal Operators Association, and Rufus Bailey and H. Hamlin, state . But what of the people of Harlan County? Or all you're gonna get's a chunk of Harlan County coal. My brother died at the age of forty. To prevent operating at a loss, on February 16, 1931, the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association decided to cut all wages by ten . ", We break for lunch, prepared by the women of the Evarts Community Center. (Fifty million tons of union coal are mined in western Kentucky; only 6.5 million tons of union coal are mined in eastern Kentucky.) Betty Eldridge is a mildmannered, well-dressed woman of about forty. The warrant was never served. The accident was the second worst mine fatality in the history of Harlan County coal mining, the worst being Harlan Fuel Company . Only three of the families in the camp have indoor toilets. With this Supreme Court ruling, all but one of the open shops in Harlan County went back to the previous mine operations. Even pop culture cannot ignore its impact with such shows as Justified. 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. The coal companies refused to back down from their positions and change anything. 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. These women have organized a special kind of feminist movement, and the issues to them are life-and-death issues. The miners charge that Eastover has hired what they call "gun thugs." I have an Associates Degree from Hazard Community College and Technical School. He does say, I think primarily for the record, that he would like to see negotiations begin again. Why couldn't Eastover live with the same national UMW contract that so many other companies have accepted? How does the Harlan County Coal Operators Association fit into the picture? I've talked to Norman Yarborough, and you ain't bringing no union down here. There were only three cars in the motorcade each of which contained a sheriffs deputy. 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. Overturned car bodies everywhere. The Red Cross eventually became involved in the county along with several local charities. (The union has told us that they are quite willing to limit the contract to the Brookside mine.) Visit us and take a step back in time to learn more about how Harlan County helped build a nation at Portal 31 Exhibition Mine tour or come experience the delight of . And, all around, there are the rolling mountains, covered with second-growth timber. [6] Nearly four thousand miners working and living in Harlan County, Kentucky lost their jobs in the Great Depression. "I've seen some hurt and some killed. I have two children and four grandchildren from a previous marriage. Many of the houses have no running water, and these families have to carry all their water from a common outdoor spigot. 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. 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 Sometimes, they'll be a black scum on the rag." Interview with Lois Scott, August 27, 1986 - Nunn Center Harlan County Revisited - Memory of a Miner One of the Deputies was Jim Daniels. They exercised their powers with impunity and operated under Sheriff J.H. 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. "Why couldn't the original thirteen colonies live with the same British policy that applied to all other British colonies?" Harlan County U.S.A. (1976) - Plot - IMDb 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." To prevent operating at a loss, on February 16, 1931, the Harlan County Coal Operators Association decided to cut all wages by ten percent. 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. Yarborough's affidavit stated that "the group swarmed out into the roads, stopped cars, and forced company employees into coercive conversations and indulged in generally raucous name-calling and abuse." The Harlan County Coal Miners, 1931-39 (Paperback) at the best online prices at eBay! At these locations, the mine wages began to be comparable to other jobs around the nation. With the passage of these acts, there was unrest in Harlan County. A thousand feet below me lies a small, green valley, partly shrouded by the morning mist. Did she find the stick on the ground? Movie Review: Harlan County, USA (1976) - organizing.work The SLU was largely seen as serving the interests of the mine owners rather than the workers. "Roof falls are a constant hazard, but the bosses just keep on rushin'.". Biographical History . 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. It is an area of Kentucky that you only go to if you are intentionally going to the county. Burger Chef. It doesn't seem like enough. The remaining workforce then went on strike as a sign of solidarity with those that were fired from their jobs. 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 made several attempts at holding strikes against the coal companies, but these failed in Harlan County. 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". 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. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. A reporter asks us again how we can expect to make an unbiased report when we've heard only one side. The men's life depended on my job, but I knowed if I protested I'd a got fired. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Barbara Kopple 's Academy Award-winning Harlan County USA unflinchingly documents a grueling coal miners' strike in a small Kentucky town. By comparison to Harlan, the Pittston strike in 1989-1990 shut down almost 70% of that company's production (and completely halted production during the Moss 3 refining plant occupation) and won back the health care benefits of around 1500 miners and their families, as well as the Coal Act of 1992 that requires all coal operators in the U . The next morning the toothpicks were still in place, it was said. I'm standing at 2800 feet above sea level. The Price of Coal, Part II - kentuckymonthly.com Unemployment in 2017 was 9.4 percent, far above the national average. Toilets are built out over the river, and the water has obviously been much higher in the recent past.