Battle of Evartshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Evarts, National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/new-deal/national-industrial-recovery-act-of-1933/, Battle of Evartshttps://pipiwiki.com/wiki/Battle_of_Evarts, Battle of Evartshttps://wiki2.org/en/Battle_of_Evarts, Harlan County Warhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_County_War, A Brief History of Harlan County, USAhttps://labornotes.org/blogs/2019/08/brief-history-harlan-county-usa, Harlan County Warhttps://everipedia.org/Harlan_County_War, https://appalachiancenter.as.uky.edu/coal-strike/background-coal-strike, https://appalachiancenter.as.uky.edu/coal-strike/local-elite, https://appalachiancenter.as.uky.edu/coal-strike/new-york-writers, https://appalachiancenter.as.uky.edu/coal-strike/national-miners-union-and-other-radical-groups, The Wagner Act of 1935 (National Labor Relations Act)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, BOMB IN AUTO KILLS KENTUCKY OFFICIAL; Harlan County Attorney Predicted Assassination for Backing Troops in Election.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, Elmon Clay Middleton https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70804679/elmon-clay-middleton, KENTUCKY HOLDS FOUR IN AUTO BOMB KILLING; Harlan Prosecutors Death Is Laid to His Fight Against Slot Machines.https://www.nytimes.com/1935/09/06/archives/kentucky-holds-four-in-auto-bomb-killing-harlan-prosecutors-death.html, Blackjewel Bankruptcy Leaves Damaged Lands and Miners Compensation in Limbo, https://ohiovalleyresource.org/2021/03/22/blackjewel-bankruptcy-finalized/, This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/?fbclid=IwAR21nYphw4Dul-_EwuAmSWgzsvPLNwsMM0FtV75j0y-mGUHq-lCZjJxZot8, For more about us, you can visit our Facebook at:https://www.facebook.com/kytnliving, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs0oV5gFzIS2JdMJ3HvTOgA, When we forget our past and who we are as a people, then we become who they say we are. Chicago citation style: Harris & Ewing, photographer. USBM Final Investigation Report (1.7 Mb) Successful Rescue . Many of the houses have no running water, and these families have to carry all their water from a common outdoor spigot. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. We look back on the film, which screens this Sunday, February . The Harlan County Coal Wars lasted from 1931-1939. He tells me that the miners plan to picket on Wall Street, hoping to give Duke problems with its stock. The Benham Coal Company records (151 cubic feet, 302 Boxes; dated 1911-1973) focus primarily on the early years of Benham Coal through the 1940s. 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." 1931, only $13.5 million. It has assets worth $2.5 billion. 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.". Sometimes, they'll be a black scum on the rag." ", We break for lunch, prepared by the women of the Evarts Community Center. 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. Five men and their titles are listed and all are doing all they can.. Apparently, this is one of Eastover's major objections. In response, the coal owners and operators decided to sell their fuel at below cost to increase the national dependency on coal. Harlan County U.S.A. by Felicia Elliott, August 2, 2016. A young woman from the Associated Press asks me, aren't we getting only one side of the story? Midway in the trial, Judge Hogg dismissed the jury and directed a verdict of guilty. The county was once part of Knox County, only becoming official in 1819. A Committee was formed and conducted by Activist Theodore Dreiser under the auspices of the National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners (NCDPP). Harlan, district mine inspector of the State Department of Mines and Minerals, and James Bryson, safety director, Harlan County Coal Operators Association. Those with running water rent for around $20 a month, plus electricity. The miners charge that Eastover has hired what they call "gun thugs." However, after the dust was clear, the anti-labor coal country would end up being represented by unions. It is an area of Kentucky that you only go to if you are intentionally going to the county. Brophy's was the last reform insurgency against UMW leadership until Joseph Yablonski's fatal try. Before this war was over it is not known exactly how many miners, coal operators, deputies, and bosses would be killed. The decision caused unrest in the county among the miners. Bill Doan says, "When I got hurt, I couldn't find Jim Miller, the man who had charge of the sick fund." 5355, atEvarts . Others claim that his death was caused by an election concerning slot machines into the county. 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. . The unrest continues in Harlan and surrounding counties as there have been many strikes. 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 miners express extreme dissatisfaction with Eastover's medical and retirement benefits. It is too early for dolor. Sadly, the state and federal troops would occupy the county several times. 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. Whitfield's family was from Alabama where his father had been in the coal business. Pic from Harlan County USA of a Coal Camp. Pricing; Switch; Big firm; "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. These disputes were still brewing when on December 8, 1934, the United Mine Workers Union was threatened by deputies and mine bosses. 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. 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. We return to our series on the Coal Wars of the United States with Bloody Harlan and the Battle for Evarts. Where will the families go? He discusses the formation and activities of the Harlan County Coal Operators Association . Harlan Fuel Co. Download PDF. A reporter asks us again how we can expect to make an unbiased report when we've heard only one side. I have two children and four grandchildren from a previous marriage. Over one thousand shots were exchanged during those fifteen minutes. Harlan County sits in the sweet spot of coal mining in southeastern Kentucky. On February 16, 1931, in order to prevent operating at a loss, the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association cut miners' wages by 10%. Grace Elizabeth Hale. And you wondr why I keep running my mouth . After breakfast, we travel fifteen miles east to Evarts. The Harlan County coal miners campaigned and fought to organize their workplaces and better their wages and working conditions. If any attractive woman became interested in me, I'd think it was a very lovely thing. "Then he'd come out looking like a sheep-killing dog and get in his truck and run. The kind of house she would like, if she could find one, would rent for about $50 a month, but she and her husband cannot pay that much. "I don't try to blacklist anybody," he says. The warrant was never served. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. He hopes the other side will do the same. At first, there were little battles with gunshots being exchanged between the strikers and the private guards, and the local law enforcement agents. James Willard Pope officiating. Kentucky communities discussed include Artemus, Burdine, Jenkins, Jellico, Van Lear, and Wheelwright; and Kentucky counties include Bell, Clay, Floyd, Harlan . My brother died at the age of forty. In one of these, the septic tank has been out of order for several months. He says that he will not agree to the Brookside contract applying to "all" of Eastover's operations. All during the day they worked in shifts, trying to penetrate to the point where the explosion occurred. "The danger's just the same," they say. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Harlan, city, seat of Harlan county, southeastern Kentucky, U.S., in the Cumberland Mountains, on the Clover Fork Cumberland River. The Great Depression of 1929 through the late 1930s hit Harlan County Kentucky. They had no safety committee, the miners say, and the federal reports bear them out. 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. 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. I glance at the new Piedmont magazine, Pace. This active organization is made up of those who represent the leader in the mining industry. Here and there, we also see white-blossoming pear and dogwood trees. Why couldn't Eastover live with the same national UMW contract that so many other companies have accepted? Done. Mr. Blanton explained the reasoning behind coal camps. 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. 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. Documents the 1973 Kentucky coal miners' strike against the operators of the Brookside mine and the Duke Power Company, which resulted from the company's refusal to honor the . Barbara says that she was reacting spontaneously to the spirit and determination exhibited by the women, that their testimony was the highlight of our hearings. Toilets are built out over the river, and the water has obviously been much higher in the recent past. (Brookside) were the only two mines of the Harlan County owner/operators association who rejected a 10% pay increase in 1933.