Today’s film is this 1974 British documentary on the horrors of strip mining for coal in Appalachia. Good thing we’ve learned so, so much in the last 47 years that I’ve been alive. T
There’s nothing Republicans won’t turn into a full culture war these days, as this is really all they have. That includes in West Virginia, where the state legislature is considering using
These are the graves of Thomas Hatton, Lewis Davies, and other victims of the Avondale Colliery coal mine fire. What I’m going to do here is paste my Labor History on Avondale with some addition
On January 2, 2006, a coal mine near Sago, West Virginia exploded. Thirteen miners were trapped inside and only one of those survived the two days it took to get the miners out. Yet another example of
I can see why Appalachian white workers are so hopped up on their Democrat War on Coal signs and bumper stickers. After all, when has the coal industry not paid off for the everyday worker? It’s
On August 29, 1933, the National Miners Union shut down mines in Gallup, New Mexico. This labor action, which in many ways pitted Mexican miners against Navajo miners, demonstrates the racial complexi
On December 6, 1907 the Monongah Mining Disaster in West Virginia killed at least 362 workers but probably over 500. This remains the most deadly mining disaster in American history. Coal mining was a
On October 12, 1898, a racialized battle over strikebreaking broke out in the southern Illinois coal mining town of Virden, Illinois. The so-called Battle of Virden demonstrates the ways that employer