Five miles north of Harlan, we drive up Inspiration Mountain. It is home to lawyers, doctors and coal operators; it has a hospital, several banks and a few fast-food . Duke Power Company of North Carolina, he says, is the sixth largest utility company in the world. But is it really hurting? In one of these, the septic tank has been out of order for several months. In 1973 the 13-month Brookside Strike brought almost 200 workers to battle Eastover Coal Company's Brookside Mine and Prep Plant, a company owned by Duke Power. 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. One of the towns that were a refuge was Evarts, Kentucky. had them make me go in and pin it because it wasn't done right the first time. Copy as parenthetical citation. Strikebreakers were often beaten. The miners say that, somehow, management always knows when the government inspectors are coming. 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. When filmmaker Barbara Kopple traveled to Harlan County, Kentucky, the resulting Academy award-winning documentary, Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976) captured a historic story. To prevent operating at a loss, on February 16, 1931, the Harlan County Coal Operators Association decided to cut all wages by ten percent. corporateBody associatedWith : Heyl & Patterson, Inc . However, they did make a greater effort than the United Mine Workers with relief as they opened soup kitchens around the county. There were constant beatings of the miners by the Sheriffs deputies. by Ron Soodalter. October 31, 2016. Si says Harlan is a dry countyno legal liquor and no beer. Other times, he says, "Roof was workin', rock was a-hangin', and it sounded like thunder. They made several attempts at holding strikes against the coal companies, but these failed in Harlan County. 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. 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. A reporter asks us again how we can expect to make an unbiased report when we've heard only one side. I have taken several classes in Journalism as well as in the Appalachian History, Literature, and Sociology during my time at those schools. 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. Done. Blair. USBM Final Investigation Report (1.7 Mb) Successful Rescue . 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. 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. "Roof falls are a constant hazard, but the bosses just keep on rushin'.". Fifty miners and their wives have at one time or another been held in contempt of this order. What did the foremen say on those occasions? Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. On February 16, 1931, the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association reduced wages for miners in that part of eastern Kentucky by 10 percent. Toilet paper clings to the bushes and tree limbs five or six feet up from the rushing stream. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Office files covering topics such as "accounts receivable," "baseball club," "coal production," "garnishment orders," "Harlan Coal Operator's Association," "labor conditions," "medical conditions . 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. 1 negative : glass ; 4 x 5 in. 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 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. Make your practice more effective and efficient with Casetext's legal research suite. "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. 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." He is a sturdily built, self-assured man of about fifty, with a strong, square jaw and a rough, weathered face. At Washington's National Airport, I board Piedmont Airline's fat little silver jet on a Sunday afternoon in early March. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The aftermath of this battle led to wider strikes in the Harlan County area. Leroy Helton says miners often have to splice electrical cable, even though they're not qualified to do so. Whitfield recalls working in his father's coal mines during the first years of commercial mining in Harlan County, and he describes the conditions. Our drive takes us upstream along the yellow-brown Clear Fork River. Capitalizing on the general . 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 mining company had ordered a motorcade to deliver food and supplies to the strikebreakers known as Scabs. ", What about the Southern Labor Union? . At Brookside, this would amount to $400,000 a year. 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. As correspondent Bob Simon reports, 47 miners died, six of them from just one county in eastern Kentucky . Three Point, Harlan County, Kentucky September 16, 1943 No. 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." Outlining the legal framework for labor unions and management relations to improve the working conditions for workers. We look back on the film, which screens this Sunday, February . On Friday, March 25, a continuous mining machine operator was killed by a wall collapse at the Huff Creek No. Mr. Altogether, it is a heavy financial burden for the UMW. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. A rural county of 27,000, Harlan County's average household income is about $29,000. There are nearly 40,000 people in the county, a drop of 36 percent since 1960. Toilets are built out over the river, and the water has obviously been much higher in the recent past. Her daughter, Bessie Cornett, an attractive young brunette, says, "I'm not in jail today because you people are here." The United Mine Workers union also cited that they did not have the resources to help in the battle. Willard Wirtz asks how it will all come out, how the strike will end. Faith Primitive Baptist Church. It is also women's day before the Citizens In-quiry. It does not store any personal data. Some of the miners also claim that the state police have tried to intimidate them. Miners die, and last year was the deadliest in American coal mines in more than a decade. Over one thousand shots were exchanged during those fifteen minutes. [Verse 2] I got 27 peopl coming over to this house. 2011: $1,161,330. The women are nervous about testifying, afraid of retaliation. A young woman from the Associated Press asks me, aren't we getting only one side of the story? 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. Eight miners were sentenced to life in prison for the actions that were taken on May 5, 1931. 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. Their General Secretary recently released some facts which help to illustrate the reason for much of the unemployment in the county. . Each of us makes a statement. 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. There are still ongoing strikes today and the violence in Harlan County Continues. The Brookside mine is capable of producing only about a half-million tons of the 15 million tons of coal Duke uses each year. As part of his New Deal, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt presented and had passed the National Industrial Act. I am the only man in the United States who would do that sort of thing.". The sign man for R C Cola has worked this territory well. "But if they call me and ask if a man works for me, I simply say yes or no.". What a marvelous view! The money was . This active organization is made up of those who represent the leader in the mining industry. The Price of Coal, Part II. He is dressed more like a miner than a mining executive. 1938) Copy Citation . The accident was the second worst mine fatality in the history of Harlan County coal mining, the worst being Harlan Fuel Company . Its profits in 1973 were $90 million, up 14 percent from the year before. Unemployment in 2017 was 9.4 percent, far above the national average. Louis Stacy that he has several times been running a defective roofbolting machine when word came that inspector was on his way. Bright yellow forsythia has begun to bloom in the yards of Harlan and Brookside and Evarts. Or all you're gonna get's a chunk of Harlan County coal. Sometimes, they'll be a black scum on the rag." The miners and the coal owners were still having disputes. Norman Yarborough, head of Eastover Mining Company, is not coming either. In Harlan County, Kentucky, the 1931 Battle of Evarts ended in four deaths. These disputes were still brewing when on December 8, 1934, the United Mine Workers Union was threatened by deputies and mine bosses. Enforcing the operators' political will, both within and outside the law, was the Harlan County Coal Operators Association. the meeting room. 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. or smaller. "They sent me to 'Waterhole No. No. Only 23 percent of those in the county over the age of twenty-five have completed high school. 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. I was born in Florida and grew up in Burdine, Kentucky. The decrease in wages, unemployment, and irregular employment caused "poverty, hunger, and disease.". Harlan County sits in the sweet spot of coal mining in southeastern Kentucky. Done. Mr. Blanton explained the reasoning behind coal camps. Get a Demo. KCA traces its origin to a statewide association of coal operators who united their efforts in 1942. The union abandoned its efforts after less than a year. He says that, standing. Harlan County Coal Operators' Association. 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. Rev. those in the Harlan County Coal Operators . 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. Soon after the "Battle of Evarts," novelist Theodore Dreiser led a citizens' group to Harlan County to find and publicize the bloody facts. National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions Jul 5, 1938. "We've took about all we can take," he says. They just laughed about it, and we kept on cuttin' coal. I remind her that Duke and Eastover executives were invited, and have refused to appear before us. Crossing the Clinch River, we turn onto Highway 421 and leave the modern world. Harlan Daily Enterprise, September 17, 1943. 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. Freda Armes says, "I run him off. 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. I've talked to Norman Yarborough, and you ain't bringing no union down here. There were shots exchanged and all three deputies and one striker were killed. No concessions or deals were made between the two factions and the membership of the United Mine Workers union plummeted. Miners laid in an ambush on the day of May 5, 1931, near the Evarts railroad crossing. He sentenced nine men and seven women to six months in jail and fined them $500 each. The next morning the toothpicks were still in place, it was said. 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. Pierce mentions the "toothpick incident." These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Someone had planted dynamite in his automobile and when he started it up the car blew up. Did she find the stick on the ground? An organic shape, small and shiny and pinkish white, sits . We never would find out what happened. He was transferred to a worse section, he says. There were only nine hundred miners working and 5,800 miners were idle and striking during the first strike. Segment Synopsis: Lois Scott continues her conversation from her previous interview. On May 5, 1931, the Battle of Evarts began. Is the safety provision in the UMW contract the sticking point for Eastover? On February 16, 1931, in order to prevent operating at a loss, the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association cut miners' wages by 10%. But mostly the scenery is depressingly bleak. Mostly, the miners were fighting for improved working conditions, higher wages, and better housing options for their families. He discusses the formation and activities of the Harlan County Coal Operators Association . (That is a tough point.) The Great Depression of 1929 through the late 1930s hit Harlan County Kentucky. Coal companies refused to back down while the Red Cross refused to give aid . He run all the way down the stairs and out of the jail." Working barns of gray-black weathered wood. She pays $10 a month for rent and $10 a month for electricity. (There is such a provision in the standard UMW contract.). 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. ("Tony") Boyle for the national presidency of the UMW in 1972 in an election closely supervised by the federal government. They had no safety committee, the miners say, and the federal reports bear them out. 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. A Brief History of Harlan County, USA. "I've got so many duns from the hospital that I just quit lookin' at them. "We took the sticks with us," she says. There were ten lodges that were chartered for the National Miners Union. The group included John Dos Passos, Sherwood Anderson, and a number of other writers and artists. 4 . "We want safety all the time, not just when the inspector comes," Jerry Johnson says. (This . She says that the women decided that they couldn't fight guns with switches and that they had taken sticks with them the next time. Interment at Resthaven Cemetery, Keith, Ky. Visitation 6-9 p.m. at the Grays Knob Bible Church. 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. 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. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. 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. Frame houses with rusty tin roofs. 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. But I ain't leaving because this is my home.". My brother died at the age of forty. (Brookside) were the only two mines of the Harlan County owner/operators association who rejected a 10% pay increase in 1933. Burger Chef. 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. 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. A month later, back in Washington, I meet with Bernie Aaronson at UMW headquarters. How does the Harlan County Coal Operators Association fit into the picture? Three of our Inquiry members plan to talk with the president of Duke Power Company. It is too early for dolor. 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. But, Aaronson says, Norman Yarborough had then called back to say, simply, that there was nothing of further interest to them in the negotiations More public pressure on Duke is needed, he says. I don't like- workin' in them kind of conditions." I have an Associates Degree from Hazard Community College and Technical School. After breakfast, we travel fifteen miles east to Evarts. 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.