Three Harlan County incorporated towns were not owned by the coal mines, they became a sanctuary for the evicted and starving miners. You come out of there lookin' like a hog that's been rootin' in the mud.' 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." They tell of two night incidents when rifle shots were fired at the picketers by unidentified persons. The women are nervous about testifying, afraid of retaliation. Kentucky communities discussed include Artemus, Burdine, Jenkins, Jellico, Van Lear, and Wheelwright; and Kentucky counties include Bell, Clay, Floyd, Harlan . Bobby Simpson, 79, has been blind for more than a half-century, but still managed to shovel coal. He run all the way down the stairs and out of the jail." No one knows who fired the first shot but when it was over four were . She pays $10 a month for rent and $10 a month for electricity. They want the terms of the standard UMW contract or better. Source Citation [ }] Descriptive Note Contributors from initial SNAC EAC-CPF ingest. Enforcing the operators' political will, both within and outside the law, was the Harlan County Coal Operators Association. 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. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Another press member criticizes Barbara Bode for having raised a clenched fist during the women's testimony. Or all you're gonna get's a chunk of Harlan County coal. 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. (That is a tough point.) 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. 4 . 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. "I've got so many duns from the hospital that I just quit lookin' at them. 2012: $1,552,717. Pic from Harlan County USA of a Coal Camp. She says that she and some of the other women hid out last night to avoid being served with a contempt citation from Judge Hogg's court. 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. She doesn't know where she will go when the camp is closed. When McQueen was hurt, his foreman drove him to the hospital and left him there, and he was two hours hitchhiking home. "The danger's just the same," they say. And we're burning up people to make electricity. The company also agreed to abide by any agreement reached between the . The company will probably demand a new election. 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%. "They didn't say nothin'; all they want's coal.' The miners charge that Eastover has hired what they call "gun thugs." Poffitt, Jacqueline Brophy, and I meet the other members of the Citizens Inquiry in a private dining room in the Mount Aire: James David Barber, chairman of the Political Science Department at Duke University and author of The Presidential Character; Monsignor Geno Baroni, president of the National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs, a Catholic priest whose father is a retired Pennsylvania miner with black lung; Barbara Bode, president of the Children's Foundation in Washington; and Dr. Raymond Wheeler of Charlotte, North Carolina, president of the Southern Regional Council. How does the Harlan County Coal Operators Association fit into the picture? There was no standard contract for the miners. 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. We drive to the Evarts Community Center and report to the other members of the Citizens Inquiry. "We've took about all we can take," he says. The National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners (NCDPP) was of the American Communist Party. by Ron Soodalter. Bill Doan says, "When I got hurt, I couldn't find Jim Miller, the man who had charge of the sick fund." On Friday, March 25, a continuous mining machine operator was killed by a wall collapse at the Huff Creek No. 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. 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. This was thirteen percent of the workers showing up for their scheduled work times. We gather back in Evarts and announce that our report will be ready in two or three weeks. Dan Pollitt reads a letter from Carl Horn, Jr., president of Duke Power Company, respectfully declining our invitation. On February 16, 1931, in order to prevent operating at a loss, the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association cut miners' wages by 10%. Freda Armes says, "I run him off. 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. So we lay down in the road." 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". Wanted to be able to spend their money at a store of their choice besides the Black Mountain Coal Company store. He tells me that the miners plan to picket on Wall Street, hoping to give Duke problems with its stock. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Harlan County in eastern Kentucky, which has been brought out into the spotlight this summer by the violence with which the local Coal Operators' Association has carried on this attack, is, as far as I can find out, a pretty good medium exhibit of the entire industry: living conditions are better than in Alabama and perhaps a little worse . The decision caused unrest in the county among the miners. With the opening left by the United Mine Workers union the openly Communist (NMU) National Miners Union tried to help the miners to organize. What a marvelous view! 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. 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 miners and their families. If you wouldn't do it, they'd just say, 'Get your bucket.' A shoulder blade and five of his ribs were broken. There are very few vacant houses in the county. He decided to make Harlan County a test case in the UMW's new, more aggressive organizing efforts. Does the Association hire for all the mines in the county? Prior to the strike, the pay of the Brookside miners started and stopped at the face of coal. Done. : The Harlan County Coal Miners, 1931-39 (Paperback) at the best online prices at eBay! "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 sign man for R C Cola has worked this territory well. Don Dalton, UMW Safety Director for Region Six, explains this. He says that wages are no longer a problem and that the amount of the royalty to be paid into the UMW Welfare & Retirement Fund is not crucially important. (Brookside) were the only two mines of the Harlan County owner/operators association who rejected a 10% pay increase in 1933. "Then he'd come out looking like a sheep-killing dog and get in his truck and run. Some of the women cut switches and joined the picketers. Harlan County, Kentucky is known for two things: bituminous coal and Bloody Harlan. These women have organized a special kind of feminist movement, and the issues to them are life-and-death issues. 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. 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. But you must remember I am an immoral man. During the rest of the afternoon, the miners talk about what has happened on the picket line and in the local court. Get a Demo. The bosses wouldn't go in, but I've. The most shocking moment in Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976) looks at first like an abstract painting. Why haven't the car bodies been removed from the highway and the streets? You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Apparently, this is one of Eastover's major objections. No. In America, the word describes a region, including Harlan County, Kentucky, between the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic coast. These battles will end the Coal Wars proper. When they went to jail, they say, some of the women took their children with them. He'd worked seventy-eight hours straight the preceding week. On May 5, 1931 the pot boiled over; in Harlan County Kentucky, heavily armed deputies and company men, called "gun thugs" by miners, confronted disgruntled union men on a road near Evarts. We're all involved. The nearest ridge is green with spruce and pine. The miners say that, somehow, management always knows when the government inspectors are coming. ", 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. After nearly 40 years of working in coalmines, David . 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 foreman would just say, "We gotta run coal. The Benham Coal Company records (151 cubic feet, 302 Boxes; dated 1911-1973) focus primarily on the early years of Benham Coal through the 1940s. Only three of the families in the camp have indoor toilets. That means, among other things, an average daily wage of $45. It doesn't seem like enough. But is it really hurting? 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. 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." Outlining the legal framework for labor unions and management relations to improve the working conditions for workers. The motorcade stopped and the deputies got out of their cars to return fire. "But if they call me and ask if a man works for me, I simply say yes or no.". Norman Yarborough, head of Eastover Mining Company, is not coming either. Grover Jennings says that six months ago he applied for a job at the Mary Helen mine and was apparently accepted, but that when he went back for his physical, Clyde Goitis, an official at the mine, said, "Buddy, there just ain't no way I can do anything for you. (Eastover, to repeat, now pays portal-to-portal wages for inside workers in its other mines and has raised the wages of nonstrikers to the UMW level.) On May 24, 1931, Sheriff Blair rescinded the miners right to assemble and tear-gassed a union rally. 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.". Funeral Wednesday March 1 at 11 a.m. at Grays Knob Bible Church. Now, Tony Boyle is among those who have been convicted of complicity in the murders, and Arnold Miller is the head of the revamped union. It seems that unfriendly local law enforcement officials kept a constant surveillance on Dreiser, hoping to catch him in something that would justify a criminal charge against him. I have taken several classes in Journalism as well as in the Appalachian History, Literature, and Sociology during my time at those schools. Working barns of gray-black weathered wood. Nobody knows how long the UMW can keep paying strike benefits. knee-deep in water, he has experienced many electrical shocks. It is too early for dolor. 1938) Copy Citation . We are handed copies of court records concerning a certain Claude Beach, who has been hired by Eastover during the strike as a "security guard." Some of the miners also claim that the state police have tried to intimidate them. That year, annual wages dropped from $1,235 to $749. No, Yarborough says; it just serves as a central clearing house, so that job applicants won't have to go around and apply at each of the mines separately. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Lifelong resident of Harlan. As in Germany, the AFSC used need alone to determine who got fed. 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. ~~ David Sergent. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. [ 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 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. 8 N.L.R.B. It is an area of Kentucky that you only go to if you are intentionally going to the county. [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%. As part of his New Deal, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt presented and had passed the National Industrial Act. Talking to Aaronson, I am reminded of an old tin sign I saw tacked on a tree along the highway as I left Harlan. We come into Harlan County at dusk. To prevent operating at a loss, on February 16, 1931, the Harlan County Coal Operators Association decided to cut all wages by ten percent. Other times, he says, "Roof was workin', rock was a-hangin', and it sounded like thunder. (This . These disputes were still brewing when on December 8, 1934, the United Mine Workers Union was threatened by deputies and mine bosses. The decade-long conflict between miners and the coal operators who adamantly resisted unionization has been immortalized in folksong by Florence Reece and Aunt Molly Jackson, contemplated in prose by Theodore Dreiser and Sherwood Anderson, and long been obscured by . Office files covering topics such as "accounts receivable," "baseball club," "coal production," "garnishment orders," "Harlan Coal Operator's Association," "labor conditions," "medical conditions . Here at Kentucky Tennessee Living we fully support the coal miners and their families. 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. He says that they do not need the UMW to look after them; he will do that. Our delegation arrives on time at the Eastover office in Brookside. After this, the first strike occurred, in which only about 13% of strikers showed up to work. Pierce mentions the "toothpick incident." The men and women were released on good behavior. Here, too, are some of the richest natural resources in the countryand some of the poorest people. Even though things were doing better for the unions in Harlan County, there was still civil unrest. (Fifty million tons of union coal are mined in western Kentucky; only 6.5 million tons of union coal are mined in eastern Kentucky.) 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. The decrease in wages, unemployment, and irregular employment caused "poverty, hunger, and disease.". Segment Synopsis: Lois Scott continues her conversation from her previous interview. With this Supreme Court ruling, all but one of the open shops in Harlan County went back to the previous mine operations. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Which Side are You on? 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. In response, the coal owners and operators decided to sell their fuel at below cost to increase the national dependency on coal. The three houses with baths rent for $24 a month, plus $14 a month for electricity. "The personal is political" was a rallying cry of second wave feminism. The most memorable of those are 1964, 1966, 1969 (The West Virginia Black Lung strike that the miners won) 1971, and the 1974 Strikes. The group publishes policy papers on the benefits of coal for Kentucky and sponsors the "Friends of Coal" initiative. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to . James Sizemore says that frequently float dust, which is dangerously explosive, would get too heavy in the mine, and he would complain, but that. Only to be escorted to the county line and told not to return. Middleton died on the scene. There were only nine hundred miners working and 5,800 miners were idle and striking during the first strike. As the motorcade approached a single shot rang out in the air. Miners also wanted the right to organize and have a union. 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. Featuring a haunting soundtrack-with legendary country . Others claim that his death was caused by an election concerning slot machines into the county. He hopes the other side will do the same. One of the towns that were a refuge was Evarts, Kentucky. Coal employment in Harlan county dropped 53.7% in the second quarter of this year compared with last year, driven by Blackjewel's bankruptcy. Five men and their titles are listed and all are doing all they can.. Finally, in 1939, the coal companies agreed to allow unions in their coal mine operations. I have also attended the University of Pikeville. the meeting room. J. D. Skidmore says that, back in the mines, the phones are always out of order, there is no transportation out until the end of the shift, and it's a one-hour walk to daylight. 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. HARLAN COUNTYHarlan County, Kentucky, is a rural county located in a major coal-mining region in the Appalachian Mountains. Since the county began mining, over one billion tons of coal have Source for information on Harlan County: Encyclopedia of the Great Depression dictionary. One night, they saw a secretary for the Dreiser group enter Dreiser's hotel room, and they placed toothpicks against the door to determine whether she ever came back out during the night. 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. There were shots exchanged and all three deputies and one striker were killed. Some of the women went to jail with the men, and some took their children with them. ", What about the Southern Labor Union? On May 5, 1931, the Battle of Evarts began. Harlan County sits in the sweet spot of coal mining in southeastern Kentucky. She's been picketing with the other women. Altogether, it is a heavy financial burden for the UMW. "Dreiser, Woman Indicted," one headline reads. The men's life depended on my job, but I knowed if I protested I'd a got fired. Three of our Inquiry members plan to talk with the president of Duke Power Company. 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. 1931, only $13.5 million. The coal companies refused to back down from their positions and change anything. However, the battle continues to this day. If any attractive woman became interested in me, I'd think it was a very lovely thing. An investigation was conducted on Terrorism in the Kentucky Coal Fields. "I've had the foreman to tell me to set timbers or something until the inspector got gone. The main problem, he says, is that the company wants a "no-strike" clause, so that the union cannot strike during the contract period. The Harlan Daily Enterprise story of September 16, 1943 is serious and straightforward: 17 miners are trapped a mile underground and help is on the way.. Much of the story is about help. Coal companies refused to back down while the Red Cross refused to give aid . The UMW had made written proposals for compromising these issues a little. 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 . He discusses the formation and activities of the Harlan County Coal Operators Association . those in the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association, were run as open shops from October 27, 1933 - March 31, 1935. He is dressed more like a miner than a mining executive. One of the Deputies was Jim Daniels. Some of the women say they haven't had a drink of water since moving to the Brookside camp. 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. Available for both RF and RM licensing. 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. 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). It does not store any personal data. ", We break for lunch, prepared by the women of the Evarts Community Center. 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. 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. We feel that we have provided a national forum for the miners to tell their story. 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 officials were listed were the "veteran safety director of the Harlan Coal Operators Association, and Rufus Bailey and H. Hamlin, state . Bright yellow forsythia has begun to bloom in the yards of Harlan and Brookside and Evarts. (Eastover offered fifty cents a ton.) Based on this new Act, from October 27, 1933, to March 31, 1935, the mines ran as open shops. Harlan County to unionize miners. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. J. D. Skidmore says, "I have no chance of getting a job in Harlan County if this strike is not settled." There had been several clashes with the "scabs," the mine guards, and the state police, Kahn says. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. 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. Copy as parenthetical citation. Harlan, city, seat of Harlan county, southeastern Kentucky, U.S., in the Cumberland Mountains, on the Clover Fork Cumberland River. Isolated trailer houses. The next morning the toothpicks were still in place, it was said. A thousand feet below me lies a small, green valley, partly shrouded by the morning mist. "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." Willard Wirtz says that it is important to remember that one side of the dispute felt confident enough about their case to arrange to spread it before the widest possible audience. "You could hunt for one, but there just weren't one there," he says. Crossing the Clinch River, we turn onto Highway 421 and leave the modern world. ("Tony") Boyle for the national presidency of the UMW in 1972 in an election closely supervised by the federal government. They have done this only since the Brookside strike. The county was once part of Knox County, only becoming official in 1819. Soon enough, most miners had gone on strike out of solidarity. . I look at the government statistics once more. I have attended the University of Kentucky. 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. Nevertheless, as the county seat, the city of Harlan has resources much of the county lacks. They say no action has been taken on this report. You just don't hit a woman in Harlan County." Harlan County Coal Operators' Association. And always there is a murky roadside stream, beech and sycamore trees lining its banks. Expand. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". These guards were legally able to protect these men during their off duty time. [6] Nearly four thousand miners working and living in Harlan County, Kentucky lost their jobs in the Great Depression. Name Entry; Harlan County Coal Operators' Association. There are nearly 40,000 people in the county, a drop of 36 percent since 1960. But relatives did come and take the children. 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. Genders. "Yarborough says he just don't want nobody tellin' him how to run his mine," Deaton says.
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