No concessions or deals were made between the two factions and the membership of the United Mine Workers union plummeted. (That is a tough point.) In 1981, he traded coal mining for gold mining as one of the founders of the current . There is a suit still in litigation. The Price of Coal, Part II. Many of the houses have no running water, and these families have to carry all their water from a common outdoor spigot. Coal companies refused to back down while the Red Cross refused to give aid . 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 the Harlan County Coal Operators Association (HCCOA) and secondly at the worn work boots of miners who, when work was plentiful, saw little or no need for a union. The SLU was largely seen as serving the interests of the mine owners rather than the workers. 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. As in Germany, the AFSC used need alone to determine who got fed. The three houses with baths rent for $24 a month, plus $14 a month for electricity. An open shop is where union membership is allowed but not mandated to work at that location. Wanted to be able to spend their money at a store of their choice besides the Black Mountain Coal Company store. In Harlan County, Kentucky, the 1931 Battle of Evarts ended in four deaths. On May 5, 1931, the Battle of Evarts began. 1931, only $13.5 million. My brother died at the age of forty. Dalton points out that there were 132 mine fatalities in the United States in 1973, only seventeen of them in UMW mines. "Try walking out of there, carrying a man with a broken back," one of the miners says. The group included John Dos Passos, Sherwood Anderson, and a number of other writers and artists. 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.". 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. 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. Does the Association hire for all the mines in the county? He then answers a question he wasn't asked. Source for information on Harlan County: Encyclopedia of the Great Depression dictionary. 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. He was transferred to a worse section, he says. 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. He is a sturdily built, self-assured man of about fifty, with a strong, square jaw and a rough, weathered face. Yarborough is tough and unyielding. ", We break for lunch, prepared by the women of the Evarts Community Center. The radical ideology of the union began gaining some ground in the mountains. 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. Some of the miners also claim that the state police have tried to intimidate them. Harry Caudill, attorney and author of Night Comes to the Cumberlands, will not be able to join us in Harlan because of legal business. 5355, atEvarts . 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. Here at Kentucky Tennessee Living we fully support the coal miners and their families. Only three of the families in the camp have indoor toilets. I have two children and four grandchildren from a previous marriage. There is a hard edge in her voice, and her blue-gray eyes are flashing. Even pop culture cannot ignore its impact with such shows as Justified. A Brief History of Harlan County, USA. 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. When fuses blow, they are not immediately replaced; the cable is spliced or "hot-wired" around the fuse. ", 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. "They don't want miners havin' any say in safety." 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. 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. "This whole country is like a layer cake," Si Kahn says, "a layer cake of shale, coal, and sandstone. It comes to a bill of about $20,000 a week for the national union. When McQueen was hurt, his foreman drove him to the hospital and left him there, and he was two hours hitchhiking home. Her daughter, Bessie Cornett, an attractive young brunette, says, "I'm not in jail today because you people are here." It is beautiful in Harlan County, as pretty as any place in the world. Here and there, we also see white-blossoming pear and dogwood trees. Captain James Cromer of the state police later tells news reporters, "The women are a problem. Based on this new Act, from October 27, 1933, to March 31, 1935, the mines ran as open shops. A rural county of 27,000, Harlan County's average household income is about $29,000. "I've seen some hurt and some killed. Four men were arrested in connection with this murder. Harry Simms, who was a Young Communist League organizer was killed in Harlan. . I was born in Florida and grew up in Burdine, Kentucky. Some of the women went to jail with the men, and some took their children with them. ", What about federal inspection? (Eastover offered fifty cents a ton.) Harlan County Coal Miners Deaths 1940-1949 1940 1940 Hayes, Petry - Harlan Central Coal Company Totz No. "We want safety all the time, not just when the inspector comes," Jerry Johnson says. I have taken several classes in Journalism as well as in the Appalachian History, Literature, and Sociology during my time at those schools. (This . The final straw was when the Harlan County Coal Operators Association cut miners' wages by 10%. Featuring a haunting soundtrack-with legendary country . 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. Funeral Wednesday March 1 at 11 a.m. at Grays Knob Bible Church. Violence erupted that would periodically repeat itself for the next eight years. 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. Find the perfect harlan county coal stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. Is that the only objection that is holding up a settlement? Burger Chef. KCA traces its origin to a statewide association of coal operators who united their efforts in 1942. "We could lay down, fight the police, or let them scabs go to work. Now and then, there is a neat, new frame house or a Pic and Pay market between scattered tarpaper shacks. They are neatly and attractively dressed. Even though things were doing better for the unions in Harlan County, there was still civil unrest. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. He run all the way down the stairs and out of the jail." The miners charge that Eastover has hired what they call "gun thugs." At first, there were little battles with gunshots being exchanged between the strikers and the private guards, and the local law enforcement agents. Middleton died on the scene. We drive to the Evarts Community Center and report to the other members of the Citizens Inquiry. "Here at Brookside, if you called someone from SLU, he might come in a week, he might come in two weeks, but when he did come, he'd go into Eastover's office and talk for an hour," Bill Doan says. It took forty-five minutes for someone to come and help get him out, Deaton says. The women say they then organized a "sunrise worship service" to begin at 4:30 on the morning of October 23, on the railroad tracks across the highway from the picket line. Forty percent of the county's dwellings lack some or all of plumbing, water, or toilet facilities. 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. It is an area of Kentucky that you only go to if you are intentionally going to the county. 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. The bosses wouldn't go in, but I've. They are merely a service organization, Yarborough says. Copy as parenthetical citation. Leroy Helton says miners often have to splice electrical cable, even though they're not qualified to do so. If any attractive woman became interested in me, I'd think it was a very lovely thing. Back in my motel room, a gathering place, Bernie Aaronson of UMW says that the union is paying strike benefits and medical bills for the 160 strikers. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. But will Norman Yarborough ever agree to recognize the UMW? 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. The miners and the coal owners were still having disputes. Why wasn't the fuse replaced at once? Trailer parks called Walnut Grove, Mobile Manor, and Mesa Village Mobile Manor. 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. I've read that in its heyday, the Blackjoe coal camp consisted of 60 or so houses. But what of the people of Harlan County? I have an Associates Degree from Hazard Community College and Technical School. The airline magazine contains an article on southern skiing, a feature on hot, winter drinks for the "Piedmont palate," an article on how tough it is to be thirty-three and middle-class today, and a success story about an Atlanta bra, sleepwear, girdle, and pantie company. He'd worked seventy-eight hours straight the preceding week. Their General Secretary recently released some facts which help to illustrate the reason for much of the unemployment in the county. Tuesday morning: Norman Yarborough has agreed to meet some of our group. Brophy's was the last reform insurgency against UMW leadership until Joseph Yablonski's fatal try. The UMW had made written proposals for compromising these issues a little. These guards were legally able to protect these men during their off duty time. "The way I figured it, they done that because it was just a faster, way of getting coal." "They didn't say nothin'; all they want's coal.' It is not all Duke's fault by any means. Harlan, city, seat of Harlan county, southeastern Kentucky, U.S., in the Cumberland Mountains, on the Clover Fork Cumberland River. Mr. The group publishes policy papers on the benefits of coal for Kentucky and sponsors the "Friends of Coal" initiative. B.W. Dan Pollitt reads a letter from Carl Horn, Jr., president of Duke Power Company, respectfully declining our invitation. The unemployment rate in the county is 7 percent; that doesn't count those who have long since given up looking for the scarce or nonexistent jobs. By 1908 the union had . The Wagner Act of 1935 (National Labor Relations Act or NLRA) guaranteed the rights of workers to choose to organize. In one of these, the septic tank has been out of order for several months. Blair. Harlan County. 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. There was no functioning safety committee Medical and retirement benefits were minimal and unreliable. It is a warm night and at every bend in the asphalt road we hear a chorus of croaking frogs. Before this war was over it is not known exactly how many miners, coal operators, deputies, and bosses would be killed. We gather back in Evarts and announce that our report will be ready in two or three weeks. 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. No. Nannie Rainey takes us into her four-room house where she and her husband and five children live. If you protested this safety violation, he says, "the boss would just say, 'Run it.'" Done. Harlan, district mine inspector of the State Department of Mines and Minerals, and James Bryson, safety director, Harlan County Coal Operators Association. Destitute miners were in no position to take a 2 wage cut; yet, in February of 1931 the newest in a long series of wage cuts occurred, reducing miners' weekly pay by 10 percent. 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. Miner Curtis Cress, 34, says towns that . We feel that we have provided a national forum for the miners to tell their story. 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. That year, annual wages dropped from $1,235 to $749. Darrell Deaton says there is a direct telephone line to Washington for safety complaints, "but if you identify yourself; you're gonna be out of a job.". "But if they call me and ask if a man works for me, I simply say yes or no.". The miners say that they often have to stand knee-deep in water while handling 440-volt electrical cables. The sign man for R C Cola has worked this territory well. 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. Source Citation [ }] Descriptive Note Contributors from initial SNAC EAC-CPF ingest. Before the first meeting of the Citizens Inquiry, we sit around and talk with the Inquiry chairman, Daniel Pollitt, a professor of law at the University of North Carolina. 8 N.L.R.B. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Some seventy-five state policemen were on hand as the crowd gathered. The Red Cross eventually became involved in the county along with several local charities. "You could hunt for one, but there just weren't one there," he says. 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. "Yarborough says he just don't want nobody tellin' him how to run his mine," Deaton says. They want portal-to-portal pay from the time they enter the mine until they leave it. Sadly, the state and federal troops would occupy the county several times. Blaine Sergent, coal leader, putting up his check at the end of a workday in Harlan County, Kentucky, in 1946. She's been picketing with the other women. She pays $10 a month for rent and $10 a month for electricity. The union abandoned its efforts after less than a year. The men's life depended on my job, but I knowed if I protested I'd a got fired. Those with running water rent for around $20 a month, plus electricity. James Willard Pope officiating. The aftermath of this battle led to wider strikes in the Harlan County area. Figure 2: Harlan County Coal Mine Employment, 2000-2016, (KYEEC, 2017) In 1942, shortly after Harlan County experienced record high coal mine employment, the county experienced is highest production levels with 15.6 million tons of coal being produced in this year (KYEEC, 2017). Only to be escorted to the county line and told not to return. We return to our series on the Coal Wars of the United States with Bloody Harlan and the Battle for Evarts. During the day, a man came and said that if their children weren't out of the jail by night, the welfare people would take them. 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." A historical marker says we are near the Little Shepherd Trail, the setting for the novel Shepherd of the Hills. 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 . We drive through the streets of the town of Harlan, past the stores and houses, past the Harlan Baptist Church with a sign out front which reads: "If you are unkind, you are the wrong kind." There is one ostentatious feature about him, though: a large, multi-diamond ring on the third finger of his left hand. As correspondent Bob Simon reports, 47 miners died, six of them from just one county in eastern Kentucky . The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". No wonder R C Cola has so many signs everywhere. Lifelong resident of Harlan. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. The miners speak of other dissatisfactions with Eastover and the old Southern Labor Union contract. And always there is a murky roadside stream, beech and sycamore trees lining its banks. 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. The company also agreed to abide by any agreement reached between the . 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. Done. 1 mine in Evarts, in Harlan County, Kentucky. 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." To prevent operating at a loss, on February 16, 1931, the Harlan County Coal Operators Association decided to cut all wages by ten percent. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. He does say, I think primarily for the record, that he would like to see negotiations begin again. 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. USBM Final Investigation Report (1.7 Mb) Successful Rescue . Sheriff T. R. Middleton replaced Blair under the pro-union campaign platform. 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. It doesn't seem like enough. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. From July 30, 2019, through September 28, 2019, coal miners and their families have blocked roads and railways demanding their payment. Si says Harlan is a dry countyno legal liquor and no beer. 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. A young woman from the Associated Press asks me, aren't we getting only one side of the story? Listen to "Harlan County Coal" from Pistol Annies' album, 'Hell of a Holiday,' out now: https://pa.lnk.to/HOAHAY Chorus:Making decorations out of shotgun she. 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. The latest unrest in Harlan County came when in July of 2019, Black jewel LLC filed for bankruptcy and liquidation. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Which Side are You on? They have probably helped keep their own men from exploding too. HARLAN COUNTY COAL OPERATORS ASSOCIATION. 2012: $1,552,717. This caused the clergy to denounce the union. More than twenty-four babies out of a thousand die before they are one year old, and the expenditure per child in the public schools is one-half the national average.
Treadmill Hire Bradford,
1964 D Penny No Fg,
When Do Ladybugs Come Out In Spring,
Gumball Watterson Voice Actors,
Articles H