The Mother Jones grave/monument off of I-55 exit 44 on the north side of Mt. Olive in southern Illinois is well maintained and worth a visit if passing by.
A few important things to remember about the southern WV coalfield counties:
(1) Logan (later split into Logan and Mingo,) Boone, Wyoming, McDowell, Mercer, Raleigh, and Fayette Counties were secessionist to the bone. The coalfield counties had the largest slave populations outside of Kanawha Co. They voted for secession as part of VA, and they were incorporated into WV in 1863 against overwhelming opposition. They were dragged into WV literally kicking and screaming.
(2) Until the completion of Appalachian Corridor G in 1997, these were extremely isolated communities. To get to, say Van or Oceana, from Charleston, Beckley, or Princeton-Bluefield meant driving on a windy, narrow two-lane US Highway with a speed limit of 45 if you were lucky. If you weren't lucky, it meant an even narrower state highway that you shared with coal trucks.
(3) A lot of the turn-of-century miners were immigrants and sons of Union Army veterans who were not particularly welcome in those communities. They had the advantage of mobility, which meant that when the Mine War was over, and they found higher pay in the mines in Colorado or Montana or Idaho, they left.
(4) A lot of the later miners who formed the backbone of UMWA District 17 vamoosed during the rapid depopulation of southern WV in the late 70s and early 80s. When US Steel quit McDowell Co. and moved to Alabama, a big chunk of the population of Welch and Gary went with them.
(5) Stoking racism has been a go-to tactic in WV since before there was a WV. John Brown's ill-conceived slave revolt started (and ended) in what is now WV, and hoo, boy, how the pro-slavery scandal sheets of the time played that for effect. As statehood loomed, Secessionists regularly claimed that the Unionists intended to give white-owned land in the coalfield counties to freed slaves. The mine companies spent 50 years threatening to replace striking white workers with African-Americans.
(6) The public ed system in WV has been broken for years. In the early 90s, they were making good progress, then Joe Motherfucking Manchin sabotaged the Democratic candidate for Governor, Republican Cecil Underwood took over, and public ed money disappeared. Other than a brief comeback under Bob Wise, it's been a lot of bad news ever since.
Don't get me wrong. I have a lot of affection for that area. I spent 4 years in Mercer County as an undergrad. My best friend is the son of a Wyoming County coal miner. My roommate of two years (and close friend of 28 years) grew up in Williamson. I'm happy to say that I get to hear that peculiar southern WV accent pretty regularly since an old friend from Chapmanville moved here after his divorce.
That said, a lot of them folks ain't right. As my buddy from Chapmanville once told me, during the height of the media's opioid coverage: "All the kids who wanna make something of themselves leave as soon as they graduate. Anybody with any skills leaves. Anybody with any work ethic leaves. [Logan County] is being distilled down to its essence -- ignorant, backward, lazy, and racist."
Coal:WVa as Old South:MS. Cheeto keeps telling them that both will come back. It’s easier (albeit delusional and self-destructive) to believe him than to face the truth. Like snake-oil cures, just tell the people what they want to hear, rather than what they need to know. It goes down easier.
Hopefully nobody uses this as an opportunity to cast blanket aspersions on the residents of my home state. That some are complicit in their own victimization by the GOP and coal industry doesn't change the fact they're still humans that need our help.
"Here’s an interesting tidbit for you. The 2018 West Virginia teachers’ strike, which started a new round of teacher union activism, started in the same counties as the coal wars. These are also the most pro-Trump counties in West Virginia."
I've been trying to understand idiots for roughly the past 20 years. I gave up about 2 years ago, because they keep voting to cut taxes on billionaires, so that we'll all have less Social Security and Medicare, they don't want affordable healthcare, but they do know that the liberal elites in the Democratic Party are holding them back. Sure, shitheads, whatever.
Trauma is passed down through generations. And then it gets mixed with modern events. How to reconcile the history of coal mining with the present day collapse of the industry and the void of opportunity? People fought and died, gave their lives to companies, suffered in bad health. Today, what is left of all of that toil and anguish?
Imagine though if we understood and broke the paradox of a fierce people, passionate about fighting for a better life, who are now supporting the anti-union, anti-healthcare, anti-education political class. Where is Mother Jones today?
They (many of the PAB voters) know something is wrong, but they don't identify the actual source of the wrongness. It's not the black man, or the recently arrived immigrant. It's the feudal lords. Like the PAB. As it has always been.
Thanks again Professor Loomis for another great post on labor history in this messed up country.
The Mother Jones grave/monument off of I-55 exit 44 on the north side of Mt. Olive in southern Illinois is well maintained and worth a visit if passing by.
"Governor William Glasscock". I could not make up a more fitting moniker.
... I *really* don't think the striking teachers in WV voted for Trump.
Ta, Erik. Great summation.
John Sayles film "Matewan" should be required viewing.
Today I realized Erik Loomis is also a name familiar to me from LGM.
I'm not gonna say the streams have crossed, but ...
A few important things to remember about the southern WV coalfield counties:
(1) Logan (later split into Logan and Mingo,) Boone, Wyoming, McDowell, Mercer, Raleigh, and Fayette Counties were secessionist to the bone. The coalfield counties had the largest slave populations outside of Kanawha Co. They voted for secession as part of VA, and they were incorporated into WV in 1863 against overwhelming opposition. They were dragged into WV literally kicking and screaming.
(2) Until the completion of Appalachian Corridor G in 1997, these were extremely isolated communities. To get to, say Van or Oceana, from Charleston, Beckley, or Princeton-Bluefield meant driving on a windy, narrow two-lane US Highway with a speed limit of 45 if you were lucky. If you weren't lucky, it meant an even narrower state highway that you shared with coal trucks.
(3) A lot of the turn-of-century miners were immigrants and sons of Union Army veterans who were not particularly welcome in those communities. They had the advantage of mobility, which meant that when the Mine War was over, and they found higher pay in the mines in Colorado or Montana or Idaho, they left.
(4) A lot of the later miners who formed the backbone of UMWA District 17 vamoosed during the rapid depopulation of southern WV in the late 70s and early 80s. When US Steel quit McDowell Co. and moved to Alabama, a big chunk of the population of Welch and Gary went with them.
(5) Stoking racism has been a go-to tactic in WV since before there was a WV. John Brown's ill-conceived slave revolt started (and ended) in what is now WV, and hoo, boy, how the pro-slavery scandal sheets of the time played that for effect. As statehood loomed, Secessionists regularly claimed that the Unionists intended to give white-owned land in the coalfield counties to freed slaves. The mine companies spent 50 years threatening to replace striking white workers with African-Americans.
(6) The public ed system in WV has been broken for years. In the early 90s, they were making good progress, then Joe Motherfucking Manchin sabotaged the Democratic candidate for Governor, Republican Cecil Underwood took over, and public ed money disappeared. Other than a brief comeback under Bob Wise, it's been a lot of bad news ever since.
Don't get me wrong. I have a lot of affection for that area. I spent 4 years in Mercer County as an undergrad. My best friend is the son of a Wyoming County coal miner. My roommate of two years (and close friend of 28 years) grew up in Williamson. I'm happy to say that I get to hear that peculiar southern WV accent pretty regularly since an old friend from Chapmanville moved here after his divorce.
That said, a lot of them folks ain't right. As my buddy from Chapmanville once told me, during the height of the media's opioid coverage: "All the kids who wanna make something of themselves leave as soon as they graduate. Anybody with any skills leaves. Anybody with any work ethic leaves. [Logan County] is being distilled down to its essence -- ignorant, backward, lazy, and racist."
Coal:WVa as Old South:MS. Cheeto keeps telling them that both will come back. It’s easier (albeit delusional and self-destructive) to believe him than to face the truth. Like snake-oil cures, just tell the people what they want to hear, rather than what they need to know. It goes down easier.
Hopefully nobody uses this as an opportunity to cast blanket aspersions on the residents of my home state. That some are complicit in their own victimization by the GOP and coal industry doesn't change the fact they're still humans that need our help.
"Here’s an interesting tidbit for you. The 2018 West Virginia teachers’ strike, which started a new round of teacher union activism, started in the same counties as the coal wars. These are also the most pro-Trump counties in West Virginia."
I've been trying to understand idiots for roughly the past 20 years. I gave up about 2 years ago, because they keep voting to cut taxes on billionaires, so that we'll all have less Social Security and Medicare, they don't want affordable healthcare, but they do know that the liberal elites in the Democratic Party are holding them back. Sure, shitheads, whatever.
Trauma is passed down through generations. And then it gets mixed with modern events. How to reconcile the history of coal mining with the present day collapse of the industry and the void of opportunity? People fought and died, gave their lives to companies, suffered in bad health. Today, what is left of all of that toil and anguish?
Imagine though if we understood and broke the paradox of a fierce people, passionate about fighting for a better life, who are now supporting the anti-union, anti-healthcare, anti-education political class. Where is Mother Jones today?
They (many of the PAB voters) know something is wrong, but they don't identify the actual source of the wrongness. It's not the black man, or the recently arrived immigrant. It's the feudal lords. Like the PAB. As it has always been.
Thanks again Professor Loomis for another great post on labor history in this messed up country.
"On April 18, 1912, coal miners along Paint Creek and Cabin Creek in West Virginia went on strike to protest the terrible conditions of their lives."
Wonder how many people told them they were soft, lazy gits who just needed to man up.
OT: Once again, I have to apologize.
I said some pretty rough things yesterday.
At the very least, I should have found some better ways to say them.
Thank you.
Just found out a co-worker that is 18 just got diagnosed with a brain tumor. Found him crying in a corner.
Is the paradox an example of right wing, 'I don't care until it happens to me'?