Pierce has brought the actual Courier-Journal clippings about the Dreiser inquiry and shares them with us. Other times, he says, "Roof was workin', rock was a-hangin', and it sounded like thunder. It comes to a bill of about $20,000 a week for the national union. It was the most violent attack of the Harlan County Coal wars and the most violence would only last fifteen minutes in total but would forever change the name to Bloody Harlan. 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. 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. 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. . 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. Darrell Deaton, president of the Brookside UMW local, says he was caught in a belt line last year because he had to work alone, without a helper. 1 negative : glass ; 4 x 5 in. They fed strikers' children as well as the employed, blacks as well as whites. Attempts to organize led to the dismissal of employees who were suspected of having leanings toward the organization and having them evicted from their family homes. Segment Synopsis: Lois Scott continues her conversation from her previous interview. It will be a two-hour, winding drive through the Cumberland Mountains to the town of Harlan. Harlan County Coal Operators' Association. (The union has told us that they are quite willing to limit the contract to the Brookside mine.) Sudie Crusenberg, a plain woman in a cotton dress, gives us some idea of what life is like for a coal-mining family. Nannie Rainey says, "I told him if he got my children, he was gonna haveta take me too." Four men were arrested in connection with this murder. Source for information on Harlan County: Encyclopedia of the Great Depression dictionary. . Faith Primitive Baptist Church. This active organization is made up of those who represent the leader in the mining industry. These guards were legally able to protect these men during their off duty time. A Committee was formed and conducted by Activist Theodore Dreiser under the auspices of the National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners (NCDPP). At these locations, the mine wages began to be comparable to other jobs around the nation. We are told that Eastover has announced its intention to tear down the mining-camp houses and move the striking miners out. My brother died at the age of forty. 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. Norman Yarborough, head of Eastover Mining Company, is not coming either. By 1908 the union had . Blaine Sergent, coal leader, putting up his check at the end of a workday in Harlan County, Kentucky, in 1946. They say no action has been taken on this report. Make your practice more effective and efficient with Casetext's legal research suite. Why are people allowed to dump raw sewage in the streams? The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Captain James Cromer of the state police later tells news reporters, "The women are a problem. They lobby in Frankfort and Washington and sponsor an annual "Coal Miners Day" to try to get more high school students interested in mining engineering. The mining company had ordered a motorcade to deliver food and supplies to the strikebreakers known as Scabs. The decision caused unrest in the county among the miners. 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 One of the Deputies was Jim Daniels. An organic shape, small and shiny and pinkish white, sits . Daniels was one of the most hated deputies in the county due to his anti-union views. Chicago citation style: Harris & Ewing, photographer. Does the Association hire for all the mines in the county? B.W. 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. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. 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. We look back on the film, which screens this Sunday, February . Biographical History . 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. Even though things were doing better for the unions in Harlan County, there was still civil unrest. On September 9, 1935, for the first time since the beginning of the war, troops were dispatched to Harlan County on behalf of the miners by the Governor of the State of Kentucky. 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 radical ideology of the union began gaining some ground in the mountains. You come out of there lookin' like a hog that's been rootin' in the mud.' 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. 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. Carl Horn of Duke Power and Arnold Miller of the UMW had talked, and negotiations had been resumed. They file with us copies of specific federal safety violation reports, and they say that nothing was ever done to correct these violations. Five men and their titles are listed and all are doing all they can.. 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. It took forty-five minutes for someone to come and help get him out, Deaton says. He fined the UMW $20,000. 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. I look at the government statistics once more. In Harlan County, Kentucky, the 1931 Battle of Evarts ended in four deaths. J. D. Skidmore says, "I have no chance of getting a job in Harlan County if this strike is not settled." 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." Project Summary. The Harlan County Coal War is one of the . With the opening left by the United Mine Workers union the openly Communist (NMU) National Miners Union tried to help the miners to organize. . [ 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%. 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. On May 5, 1931, the Battle of Evarts began. 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 . Tuesday morning: Norman Yarborough has agreed to meet some of our group. 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. Big Boy. When McQueen was hurt, his foreman drove him to the hospital and left him there, and he was two hours hitchhiking home. Former Director of Harlan County Coal Operators Association. Mostly, the miners were fighting for improved working conditions, higher wages, and better housing options for their families. A historical marker says we are near the Little Shepherd Trail, the setting for the novel Shepherd of the Hills. It reports that "Piedmont" is an adjective derived.from Italian words that literally mean "formed at the foot of the mountains." Bill McQueen says that the shuttle car into the mine usually has no brakes, and that it can only be stopped by putting it in reverse. He run all the way down the stairs and out of the jail." We gather back in Evarts and announce that our report will be ready in two or three weeks. 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. He can't never walk again." The local grand jury returned an indictment against Dreiser for adultery, but by that time Dreiser had finished his work and had left the county on the train. There's water in the mine because the pumps often won't work. As part of his New Deal, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt presented and had passed the National Industrial Act. However, they did make a greater effort than the United Mine Workers with relief as they opened soup kitchens around the county. Expand. 2012: $1,552,717. I have been married to David W. Sergent since May 4, 2013. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Which Side are You on? There was an addition to where miners could choose their own representation for these negotiations. The company will probably demand a new election. It is not all Duke's fault by any means. The Brookside mine is capable of producing only about a half-million tons of the 15 million tons of coal Duke uses each year. Available for both RF and RM licensing. "The way I figured it, they done that because it was just a faster, way of getting coal." Harlan Daily Enterprise, September 17, 1943. The miners express extreme dissatisfaction with Eastover's medical and retirement benefits. Each contract varied from mine to mine. Rev. 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. There are very few vacant houses in Harlan County and virtually no available land to build on. 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. 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. And we're burning up people to make electricity. The miners say that, somehow, management always knows when the government inspectors are coming. 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. But I ain't leaving because this is my home.". Working barns of gray-black weathered wood. 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. 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. A Brief History of Harlan County, USA. The United Mine Workers union also cited that they did not have the resources to help in the battle. But you must remember I am an immoral man. At first, there were little battles with gunshots being exchanged between the strikers and the private guards, and the local law enforcement agents. The Wagner Act of 1935 (National Labor Relations Act or NLRA) guaranteed the rights of workers to choose to organize. Overturned car bodies everywhere. If any attractive woman became interested in me, I'd think it was a very lovely thing. Kentucky communities discussed include Artemus, Burdine, Jenkins, Jellico, Van Lear, and Wheelwright; and Kentucky counties include Bell, Clay, Floyd, Harlan .
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