Midway in the trial, Judge Hogg dismissed the jury and directed a verdict of guilty. Nobody knows how long the UMW can keep paying strike benefits. Norman Yarborough, head of Eastover Mining Company, is not coming either. "The way I figured it, they done that because it was just a faster, way of getting coal." Chicago citation style: Harris & Ewing, photographer. The aftermath of this battle led to wider strikes in the Harlan County area. He does say, I think primarily for the record, that he would like to see negotiations begin again. There was no functioning safety committee Medical and retirement benefits were minimal and unreliable. One of the Deputies was Jim Daniels. 25 (N.L.R.B. There was a scuffle when a state police captain tried to remove one of the women, she says, adding, "Captain Cromer did get hit several times; I hit him with a stick myself." The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". These interviews with major coal operators document their personal histories and the history of the coal industry in eastern Kentucky during the twentieth century. But Barbara Bode has arranged for eleven of them to come up onto the stage at the same time, and they seem to take strength from their numbers. With the added protection for workers and the addition of collective bargaining between the workers and their employers. The miners could be fired if they refused to spend their paychecks only in the store. 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. "Why couldn't the original thirteen colonies live with the same British policy that applied to all other British colonies?" Pay ranged from $17 to $32 day, the average being $25. 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. 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). The miners charge that the Harlan County Coal Operators Association is behind Eastover's refusal to sign a contract. This active organization is made up of those who represent the leader in the mining industry. When this strike was broken in1924, none of the non-union mines in Harlan County, all of which were members ofthe Harlan County Coal Operators Association, would employ a man from BlackMountain."Many of the men who worked at Black Mountain transferred to LocalUnion No. Mr. Nolan, a resident of Cawood, is survived by his wife, Mrs. Stella Nolan . June 17th of that same year, the first strike was over as the last miner had returned to work. Featuring a haunting soundtrack-with legendary country . I glance at the new Piedmont magazine, Pace. I've read that in its heyday, the Blackjoe coal camp consisted of 60 or so houses. Toilets are built out over the river, and the water has obviously been much higher in the recent past. Duke Power Company of North Carolina, he says, is the sixth largest utility company in the world. Louis Stacy that he has several times been running a defective roofbolting machine when word came that inspector was on his way. In Harlan County, Kentucky, are some of our country's richest natural resourcesand some of its poorest people. 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. We hope that our hearings will help hold down violence. The transcript will be published as a book. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. . 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." [6] Nearly four thousand miners working and living in Harlan County, Kentucky lost their jobs in the Great Depression. Done. 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. To prevent operating at a loss, on February 16, 1931, the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association decided to cut all wages by ten . This was not just a flashy slogan, and the truth of it is . Interviews with residents of Hazard who discuss the coal miners' union, the harassment union miners faced from large mining companies, and the unofficial strikes that are being organized in Hazard County. "If we could monitor these inspections, perhaps we could cut down on the fatalities," he says. When Barbara finishes her answer, Wirtz raises a clenched fist and says, "Right on!" It is not all Duke's fault by any means. But will Norman Yarborough ever agree to recognize the UMW? The money was . Blaine Sergent, coal leader, putting up his check at the end of a workday in Harlan County, Kentucky, in 1946. The nearest ridge is green with spruce and pine. 8 N.L.R.B. But you must remember I am an immoral man. I'm standing at 2800 feet above sea level. Forty percent of the county's dwellings lack some or all of plumbing, water, or toilet facilities. "We run because we wanted to testify, and if we hadn't run, he woulda had us in jail." 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. Bill Doan says, "When I got hurt, I couldn't find Jim Miller, the man who had charge of the sick fund." 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. Wanted to be able to spend their money at a store of their choice besides the Black Mountain Coal Company store. The Kentucky mining camps still had the paternalism idea in their mists and the ever-independent Appalachian people were not having it. Or all you're gonna get's a chunk of Harlan County coal. "I've seen some hurt and some killed. 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. 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 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. As the motorcade approached a single shot rang out in the air. 1938) Copy Citation . Mrs. Herschel Gaw, wife of the ailing jailer, locked them all up. (Eastover offered fifty cents a ton.) 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. "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. During the big coal boom in the early 1900s, Harlan County was amongst the largest contributors. Looking for protection by the Kentucky National Guard, many were surprised to find that they broke the picket lines instead. These women have organized a special kind of feminist movement, and the issues to them are life-and-death issues. There were constant beatings of the miners by the Sheriffs deputies. 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. HARLAN COUNTY COAL OPERATORS ASSOCIATION. Some seventy-five state policemen were on hand as the crowd gathered. Project Summary. Here, too, are some of the richest natural resources in the countryand some of the poorest people. 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. Why are people allowed to dump raw sewage in the streams? [ 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%. 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. 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." These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Most of the land is owned by the mining companies. They're trapped. They want the terms of the standard UMW contract or better. 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. Genders. 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. James Willard Pope officiating. 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. Abstract. The miners and the coal owners were still having disputes. Someone had planted dynamite in his automobile and when he started it up the car blew up. In response, the United Mine Workers of America attempted to organize the miners. While their main objectives were a steady job, a decent wage and a program of safety checks . HARLAN COUNTYHarlan County, Kentucky, is a rural county located in a major coal-mining region in the Appalachian Mountains. The miners express extreme dissatisfaction with Eastover's medical and retirement benefits. After nearly 40 years of working in coalmines, David . 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. Miner Curtis Cress, 34, says towns that . 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 . Pricing; Switch; Big firm; 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. It comes to a bill of about $20,000 a week for the national union. I can see twenty-five miles to the southeast, five ridges. 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. Whitfield recalls working in his father's coal mines during the first years of commercial mining in Harlan County, and he describes the conditions. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to . He said that when the coal industry was at its height in 1928, the peak of . Trailer parks called Walnut Grove, Mobile Manor, and Mesa Village Mobile Manor. Talking to Aaronson, I am reminded of an old tin sign I saw tacked on a tree along the highway as I left Harlan. He hopes the other side will do the same. We soon get into a discussion about Dreiser's 1931 inquiry. The sign man for R C Cola has worked this territory well. 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. Si Kahn says that Eastover tried for a time to operate the mine with "scabs," but that the mine was shut down when the coal miners' wives and other women joined the men on the picket line. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Which Side are You on? Betty Eldridge is a mildmannered, well-dressed woman of about forty. The miners speak of other dissatisfactions with Eastover and the old Southern Labor Union contract. Free shipping for many products! The final straw was when the Harlan County Coal Operators Association cut miners' wages by 10%. Its profits in 1973 were $90 million, up 14 percent from the year before. The mining company had ordered a motorcade to deliver food and supplies to the strikebreakers known as Scabs. Si sticks a wad of Red Man chewing tobacco in his cheek and begins to fill us in on the background of the Brookside strike. In Harlan County, Kentucky, the 1931 Battle of Evarts ended in four deaths. But is it really hurting? Here at Kentucky Tennessee Living we fully support the coal miners and their families. The men's life depended on my job, but I knowed if I protested I'd a got fired. Source for information on Harlan County: Encyclopedia of the Great Depression dictionary. "The personal is political" was a rallying cry of second wave feminism. 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. What will happen now that the first full year after the union election is ending? The UMW union called in the National Guard to help them. He then answers a question he wasn't asked. Jacqueline Brophy is the daughter of Pat Brophy, who went into the mines when he was twelve, and who, in 1926, ran against John L. Lewis and lost. Violence erupted that would periodically repeat itself for the next eight years. "We want safety all the time, not just when the inspector comes," Jerry Johnson says. Another press member criticizes Barbara Bode for having raised a clenched fist during the women's testimony. Strikebreakers were often beaten. 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. Others claim that his death was caused by an election concerning slot machines into the county. Funeral Wednesday March 1 at 11 a.m. at Grays Knob Bible Church. In response, the coal owners and operators decided to sell their fuel at below cost to increase the national dependency on coal. Yarborough replies. Documentary of mining practices in Hazard County, Kentucky. The company also agreed to abide by any agreement reached between the . Their activities began with a demonstration and march in Harlan on September 27, 1973. 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. She's been picketing with the other women. There is a hard edge in her voice, and her blue-gray eyes are flashing. 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. It was Miller who defeated W. A. The Harlan County Coal Wars lasted from 1931-1939. I have taken several classes in Journalism as well as in the Appalachian History, Literature, and Sociology during my time at those schools. . Finally, in 1939, the coal companies agreed to allow unions in their coal mine operations. . Over one thousand shots were exchanged during those fifteen minutes. The miners say that, somehow, management always knows when the government inspectors are coming. He is dressed more like a miner than a mining executive. . 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. Captain James Cromer of the state police later tells news reporters, "The women are a problem. Why couldn't Eastover live with the same national UMW contract that so many other companies have accepted? Some of the women cut switches and joined the picketers. 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. They are demanding the standard UMW provision requiring the company to pay a royalty of seventy-five cents a ton on mined coal into the UMW Welfare & Retirement Fund. Lois Scott, a woman of about forty-five, begins to speak first. Garbage along the roadside. I remind her that Duke and Eastover executives were invited, and have refused to appear before us. But relatives did come and take the children. I've got five living children and four dead. Prior to Miller's election, the union had become corrupt, dictatorial, and a frequent collaborator with the mine owners. Several folk singers and other artists toured the United States to raise money during the strikes. "I cain't get a job nowhere in this county. Our drive takes us upstream along the yellow-brown Clear Fork River. But mostly the scenery is depressingly bleak. Miners die, and last year was the deadliest in American coal mines in more than a decade. Middleton died on the scene. "Dreiser, Woman Indicted," one headline reads. Three of the federal reports state that there was no safety committee at Brookside, as required by law. When fuses blow, they are not immediately replaced; the cable is spliced or "hot-wired" around the fuse. We come into Harlan County at dusk. Our driver points out Norman Yarborough's two-story frame house, across the highway from the camp and up out of the river bottom. Four men were arrested in connection with this murder. The SLU was largely seen as serving the interests of the mine owners rather than the workers. by Ron Soodalter. Even pop culture cannot ignore its impact with such shows as Justified. Capitalizing on the general . Dan Pollitt reads a letter from Carl Horn, Jr., president of Duke Power Company, respectfully declining our invitation. Under this Act, the right to organize in ones workplace was granted as well as it outlawed any discrimination whether employed or seeking employment based on union membership. ", What about the Southern Labor Union? The group publishes policy papers on the benefits of coal for Kentucky and sponsors the "Friends of Coal" initiative. So we lay down in the road." The judge's fines and sentences were appealed. Brophy's was the last reform insurgency against UMW leadership until Joseph Yablonski's fatal try. With the opening left by the United Mine Workers union the openly Communist (NMU) National Miners Union tried to help the miners to organize. In "Bloody Harlan" in the 1930s, miners and union organizers faced bayonets and many died fighting the coal bosses, helping to fuel a national wave of organizing. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. "I don't try to blacklist anybody," he says. J. D. Skidmore says, "I have no chance of getting a job in Harlan County if this strike is not settled." While it succeeded in organizing thousands of miners, it failed to complete a bargaining agreement with Harlan County's coal operators. "I don't know nothing about the electrical part." Harlan, city, seat of Harlan county, southeastern Kentucky, U.S., in the Cumberland Mountains, on the Clover Fork Cumberland River. Some of the miners also claim that the state police have tried to intimidate them. 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. Lifelong resident of Harlan. I have an Associates Degree from Hazard Community College and Technical School. It was a nearly decade-long conflict, lasting from 1931 to 1939. . 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. It is thought that Middleton was assassinated for backing troops who were present in the County to protect the miners. 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. They are merely a service organization, Yarborough says. Done Citation. The prospects for settlement do not look good unless Duke begins to feel public pressure. Source Citation [ }] Descriptive Note Contributors from initial SNAC EAC-CPF ingest. Sometimes, they'll be a black scum on the rag." The members of the Inquiry panel leave the Community Center to visit the coal camp at Brookside-rows of delapidated frame houses, identical except for their weathering gray, green, red, and beige paint. "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." 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. ", We break for lunch, prepared by the women of the Evarts Community Center. The women furnish the panel with a copy of a report from the Harlan County Health Department, dated October 12, 1973, which states that the drinking water in the Eastover mining camp, where approximately thirty of the striking Brookside families live, is "highly contaminated" with fecal bacteria. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. It is home to lawyers, doctors and coal operators; it has a hospital, several banks and a few fast-food . I have been married to David W. Sergent since May 4, 2013. This was thirteen percent of the workers showing up for their scheduled work times. She talks about the women being armed with sticks, mace . Past that, the other undulating ridges are blue and hazy. It read: RE-ELECT GAW, JAILER. "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. The company will probably demand a new election. 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 Harlan County Coal War is one of the . Some of the women say they haven't had a drink of water since moving to the Brookside camp. 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. The next morning the toothpicks were still in place, it was said. The coal miners, lean and tough from Kentucky mountain life, knew how to fight back. Here and there, we also see white-blossoming pear and dogwood trees. There's water in the mine because the pumps often won't work. The slab of slate, more than 51 feet long, and 17 feet wide and weighing tons, was dodged by two men. Five men and their titles are listed and all are doing all they can.. 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 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. Only to be escorted to the county line and told not to return. 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. There was an addition to where miners could choose their own representation for these negotiations. Where will the families go? 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. Killed - 12. "But if they call me and ask if a man works for me, I simply say yes or no.". Duke Power Company appears to be the key to breaking the deadlock in negotiations. The county was once part of Knox County, only becoming official in 1819. Yarborough says that he will not agree to the contract applying to Eastover's subcontractors. There were shots exchanged and all three deputies and one striker were killed. When they went to jail, they say, some of the women took their children with them. The issues had been narrowed down to Eastover's demand for a "no-strike clause" and a limit on the power of the safety committee. The Brookside labor dispute erupted spontaneously soon after Miller's election. The Great Depression of 1929 through the late 1930s hit Harlan County Kentucky. No. "Not at all," Yarborough says. He sentenced nine men and seven women to six months in jail and fined them $500 each. 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. corporateBody associatedWith : Heyl & Patterson, Inc . 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. The miners say that they often have to stand knee-deep in water while handling 440-volt electrical cables. On the plane with me, it turns out, is another member of the Citizens Inquiry, Jacqueline Brophy, who is the director of the Labor-Liberal Arts Program of Cornell University's School of Industrial Labor Relations in New York. But what of the people of Harlan County? 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 . There were ten lodges that were chartered for the National Miners Union. He tells me that the miners plan to picket on Wall Street, hoping to give Duke problems with its stock. The unrest continues in Harlan and surrounding counties as there have been many strikes. We first hear from a number of the striking miners about safety conditions in the Brookside mine. Bright yellow forsythia has begun to bloom in the yards of Harlan and Brookside and Evarts. Only three of the families in the camp have indoor toilets. the foreman would just say, "We gotta run coal. There are very few vacant houses in Harlan County and virtually no available land to build on.
Fake Doctors Note With Signature Pdf,
Nyit Basketball Roster 2019,
Articles H