Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Which Side are You on? Other clippings detail the earlier bloodshed and misery in Harlan County. After breakfast, we travel fifteen miles east to Evarts. What a marvelous view! And we're burning up people to make electricity. There was no functioning safety committee Medical and retirement benefits were minimal and unreliable. 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." 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. Afterwards, they gathered near the picket line at the Eastover property in Brookside. Now and then, there is a neat, new frame house or a Pic and Pay market between scattered tarpaper shacks. Typical of counties with low income, counties where the mine companies own everything and pay low taxes, our UMW driver says. It reports that "Piedmont" is an adjective derived.from Italian words that literally mean "formed at the foot of the mountains." 2012: $1,552,717. 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 . He was transferred to a worse section, he says. Freda Armes says, "I take a cloth and strain the water to cook with. Lois Scott says that the women organized the Brookside Women's Club and got involved in the strike "because we knew that if the women didn't come in there would be violence." Soon after the "Battle of Evarts," novelist Theodore Dreiser led a citizens' group to Harlan County to find and publicize the bloody facts. I have also attended the University of Pikeville. Paternalism is the practice of people who have a business or other authority to restrict the freedoms of those who are subordinate to them. 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 prospects for settlement do not look good unless Duke begins to feel public pressure. 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. Nobody knows how long the UMW can keep paying strike benefits. Looking for protection by the Kentucky National Guard, many were surprised to find that they broke the picket lines instead. 1 mine in Evarts, in Harlan County, Kentucky. Harlan County Coal Operators' Association. The women spent the night. It is home to lawyers, doctors and coal operators; it has a hospital, several banks and a few fast-food . 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. The National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners (NCDPP) was of the American Communist Party. Segment Synopsis: Lois Scott continues her conversation from her previous interview. "Then he'd come out looking like a sheep-killing dog and get in his truck and run. One of the better houses is already being demolished. Pierce has brought the actual Courier-Journal clippings about the Dreiser inquiry and shares them with us. With this Supreme Court ruling, all but one of the open shops in Harlan County went back to the previous mine operations. Lois Scott explains that during the first confrontation at the mine, she saw a pistol in the front seat of every "scab" car she looked into and that a company "gun thug" pointed a submachine gun at the women from the porch of the Eastover office. James Willard Pope officiating. Abstract. 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. The miners charge that Eastover has hired what they call "gun thugs." In Harlan County, Kentucky, are some of our country's richest natural resourcesand some of its poorest people. Miners laid in an ambush on the day of May 5, 1931, near the Evarts railroad crossing. And you wondr why I keep running my mouth . We never would find out what happened. 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. Exist Dates. We return to our series on the Coal Wars of the United States with Bloody Harlan and the Battle for Evarts. "Boss walks up and says, 'We've got to make this mine look good now, boys; the inspector's comin','" Jerry Johnson says. He sentenced nine men and seven women to six months in jail and fined them $500 each. Si says Harlan is a dry countyno legal liquor and no beer. The distance a miner had to walk and how time was looked at was in 15-minute increments. The Great Depression of 1929 through the late 1930s hit Harlan County Kentucky. Others say they intend to speak and write about what they have heard. Pay ranged from $17 to $32 day, the average being $25. CBS is represented by a camera crew, and there are a number of national reporters. It is too early for dolor. A Brief History of Harlan County, USA. They tell of two night incidents when rifle shots were fired at the picketers by unidentified persons. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. I've read that in its heyday, the Blackjoe coal camp consisted of 60 or so houses. One of the towns that were a refuge was Evarts, Kentucky. I've got five living children and four dead. Drift mines back into the mountains follow the seam of coal wherever it goes." Harlan County sits in the sweet spot of coal mining in southeastern Kentucky. 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 personal is political" was a rallying cry of second wave feminism. The county became nationally famous in 1931 and 1932 when it was the site of one of the earliest and bloodiest labor battles of the decade. He discusses the formation and activities of the Harlan County Coal Operators Association . Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Nannie Rainey takes us into her four-room house where she and her husband and five children live. 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. 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. In Harlan County, Kentucky, the 1931 Battle of Evarts ended in four deaths. 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. 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. Harlan, city, seat of Harlan county, southeastern Kentucky, U.S., in the Cumberland Mountains, on the Clover Fork Cumberland River. Miners also wanted the right to organize and have a union. 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. Unemployment in 2017 was 9.4 percent, far above the national average. The group included John Dos Passos, Sherwood Anderson, and a number of other writers and artists. For a time after the hearing, he says, it appeared that Duke had softened. It is also women's day before the Citizens In-quiry. The radical ideology of the union began gaining some ground in the mountains. 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. Harlan County to unionize miners. Interment at Resthaven Cemetery, Keith, Ky. Visitation 6-9 p.m. at the Grays Knob Bible Church. Yarborough replies. How does the Harlan County Coal Operators Association fit into the picture? On top of that, we learn later, the union is spending $108,000 a year for medical and hospital coverage for the striking miners and their families. 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. 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. It is beautiful in Harlan County, as pretty as any place in the world. ("Tony") Boyle for the national presidency of the UMW in 1972 in an election closely supervised by the federal government. We gather back in Evarts and announce that our report will be ready in two or three weeks. The warrant was never served. There was an addition to where miners could choose their own representation for these negotiations. Five miles north of Harlan, we drive up Inspiration Mountain. Why haven't the car bodies been removed from the highway and the streets? There were ten lodges that were chartered for the National Miners Union. This action did not go unnoticed by the labor unions and the United Mine Workers union decided to attempt to organize the already-impoverished labor force of the area. The Red Cross eventually became involved in the county along with several local charities. 1 negative : glass ; 4 x 5 in. Tuesday morning: Norman Yarborough has agreed to meet some of our group. At Washington's National Airport, I board Piedmont Airline's fat little silver jet on a Sunday afternoon in early March. But mostly the scenery is depressingly bleak. And always there is a murky roadside stream, beech and sycamore trees lining its banks. To prevent operating at a loss, on February 16, 1931, the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association decided to cut all wages by ten . I'm standing at 2800 feet above sea level. 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." The Brookside labor dispute erupted spontaneously soon after Miller's election. 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. These interviews with major coal operators document their personal histories and the history of the coal industry in eastern Kentucky during the twentieth century. The miners say that all of the strikers have been blacklisted by the 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. Arnold Miller, who was an active coal miner until three years ago and is now the reform-minded president of the United Mine Workers, has asked me to serve as a member of a "Citizens Public Inquiry into the Brookside Strike.". Among coal miners, Harlan County, Kentucky, is known as "Bloody Harlan." Dateline New York City, November 13, 1931: Dreiser again denies the charge and adds, "Even if it were true, I wouldn't give a damn. 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. Don Dalton, UMW Safety Director for Region Six, explains this. I have attended the University of Kentucky. This active organization is made up of those who represent the leader in the mining industry. He'd worked seventy-eight hours straight the preceding week. When they went to jail, they say, some of the women took their children with them. Louis Stacy that he has several times been running a defective roofbolting machine when word came that inspector was on his way. However, the battle continues to this day. 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. . "They didn't say nothin'; all they want's coal.' "I've seen some hurt and some killed. 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. Jacqueline Brophy asks why public services have broken down. This caused the clergy to denounce the union. Daniels was one of the most hated deputies in the county due to his anti-union views. 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. 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. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. However, they did make a greater effort than the United Mine Workers with relief as they opened soup kitchens around the county. Finally, in 1939, the coal companies agreed to allow unions in their coal mine operations. . It was Miller who defeated W. A. They have done this only since the Brookside strike. Brophy's was the last reform insurgency against UMW leadership until Joseph Yablonski's fatal try. Mr. Blanton explained the reasoning behind coal camps. My man was mashed up in the mines. ", 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. 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. 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. 25 (N.L.R.B. Leroy Helton says he still owes a lot of bills that should have been paid by SLU. With the passage of these acts, there was unrest in Harlan County. They are neatly and attractively dressed. 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. I can see twenty-five miles to the southeast, five ridges. The United Mine Workers union also cited that they did not have the resources to help in the battle. That's an old term in Harlan County, used to describe special, plain-clothed guards. Yarborough says that he will not agree to the contract applying to Eastover's subcontractors. There are very few vacant houses in the county. Burger Chef. She pays $10 a month for rent and $10 a month for electricity. 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. Forty percent of the county's dwellings lack some or all of plumbing, water, or toilet facilities. After the railroad arrived in 1911 . Nannie Rainey says, "I told him if he got my children, he was gonna haveta take me too." 5355 after Local Union 4495 at Black Mountain folded up. There were shots exchanged and all three deputies and one striker were killed. If you wouldn't do it, they'd just say, 'Get your bucket.' 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. McQueen says that in late 1972 he burned his fingers to the bone on a switchbox where a blown fuse had been hot-wired. He said that when the coal industry was at its height in 1928, the peak of . "Why couldn't the original thirteen colonies live with the same British policy that applied to all other British colonies?" Office files covering topics such as "accounts receivable," "baseball club," "coal production," "garnishment orders," "Harlan Coal Operator's Association," "labor conditions," "medical conditions . Harlan County, Kentucky is known for two things: bituminous coal and Bloody Harlan. It is the second coal mining fatality in . 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. Altogether, it is a heavy financial burden for the UMW. At these locations, the mine wages began to be comparable to other jobs around the nation. 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. Perched atop Inspiration Mountain is the modern Mount Aire Motel. On Friday, October 3, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt called a precedent-shattering meeting at the temporary White House at 22 Lafayette Place, Washington, D.C. A . The coal companies refused to back down from their positions and change anything. What did the foremen say on those occasions? [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 cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Enforcing the operators' political will, both within and outside the law, was the Harlan County Coal Operators Association. Blair made it clear that he was on the side of the mine operators and the people of the county lost any illusion that the law enforcement would be impartial in this strike. The motorcade stopped and the deputies got out of their cars to return fire. Theoretically, even operators' and owners' children were . "I've had the foreman to tell me to set timbers or something until the inspector got gone. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Is the safety provision in the UMW contract the sticking point for Eastover? An investigation was conducted on Terrorism in the Kentucky Coal Fields. Five men and their titles are listed and all are doing all they can.. ", "They've done discriminated me," Grover Jennings continues. 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. Freda Armes says, "I run him off. Source Citation [ }] Descriptive Note Contributors from initial SNAC EAC-CPF ingest. Over one thousand shots were exchanged during those fifteen minutes. 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. From July 30, 2019, through September 28, 2019, coal miners and their families have blocked roads and railways demanding their payment. After this, the first strike occurred, in which only about 13% of strikers showed up to work. On one excuse or another, such as not having personnel readily available to accompany the inspector into the mine, the company can delay the inspection. There were constant beatings of the miners by the Sheriffs deputies. But what of the people of Harlan County? Harlan Daily Enterprise, September 17, 1943. Find the perfect harlan county coal stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. 3.' 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. During the big coal boom in the early 1900s, Harlan County was amongst the largest contributors. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. (Fifty million tons of union coal are mined in western Kentucky; only 6.5 million tons of union coal are mined in eastern Kentucky.) ", We break for lunch, prepared by the women of the Evarts Community Center. "We could lay down, fight the police, or let them scabs go to work. Pic from Harlan County USA of a Coal Camp. Working barns of gray-black weathered wood. 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. Outlining the legal framework for labor unions and management relations to improve the working conditions for workers. (The union has told us that they are quite willing to limit the contract to the Brookside mine.) Nonunion workers were attempting to leave the mine. At first, heading northwest on modern Route 23, through Kingsport, Tennessee, Weber City, Virginia, and Gate City, Virginia, the sights are the same as almost everywhere else in America today.