Tucked in a small, remote holler in a county where Trump got 86% of the vote sits a museum dedicated to telling the story of class war and worker solidarity. I finally had the chance to see it mysel.
Labor history is not taught in US schools. It’s a censored topic. Of course, I taught it in Appalachian Studies at the university. But that’s a pretty select group of students.
Howard Zinn's book: "A People's History of the United States should be in everyone's library.
My mother's family were Union Organizers in West Virginia, Maryland & Ohio. The stories that got passed down are hair raising. Stay Strong, Stay United. Unionize!
wV born and raised --16 years of WV education and never learned about this until the movie "Matewan" was released. Yet WV today is as red as they come! SMDH😡
I had the same experience of going through 12 years (old enough that there was no kindergarten back then) and never heard about Blair Mountain at all. I've been fortunate enough to visit Matewan and to participate a few miles in the walk to Blair Mountain a few years ago. We have such a wonderul labor history in WV! It needs to be taught!
As an old union activist trained in labor history, I went to see the 1987 movie "Matewan." The recent history of the area is in Les Leopold's book /Wall St.'s War on Workers/ as explained in my main comment.
Ugh will be coming back to read this more thoroughly, having just discovered Muriel Rukeyser's work, including The Book of the Dead (about silicosis -WV mining but you prob already know this) through Adrienne Rich's work. So much I didn't know. What would we be like as a country with different history, govt instruction?
Thank you for sharing this. Such an important story. I teach ESOL but I include as much “deleted” history as I can because if they don’t get it for me, they’re not getting it from anyone. Have you read Lies My Teacher told me? It’s a whole book about how history textbooks teach history to US students, what the slants are, and what they leave out entirely. It’s fascinating! I also have to recommend The Earth Shall Weep for critique of colonizer treatment of Native Americans. That book is packed full of extremely disturbing history that I had never heard, and I’m someone who seeks out stories from the marginalized!
I was a blue collar union activist for 28 years and a former local Dem campaign mgr. My grandpa the logger was a Wobbly (I.W.W.) In the late '60s, I was taught about labor history and strategy by people who'd been CIO organizers in the 1930s. I lived through and fought the neolib unfriendly takeover of the D party and their dumping of the New Deal and abandonment of the majority working class.
Read Les Leopold's meticulously researched 2024 book /Wall Street's War on Workers (How Mass Layoffs and Greed Are Destroying the Working Class and What to Do about It.)/ Especially Ch. 2 titled "Mingo Capitalism" subtitled 'How Wall St. Destroyed Jobs in WV, PA, MI, and WI and How That Cratered Support for the Dems.' Of course we nobodies knew HRC's "a basket of deplorables" meant us all. Leopold tells of how in 2016 she also had one for Mingo Co. WV, which lost more coal jobs than any other county. "We're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business." With a proposal for retraining in clean energy, community health care, blah, blah. Not believed. Why? Because the Clinton and Obama Dem admins had done NOTHING in their 16 years to rebuild in any of the areas with the destroyed jobs!!!
Yet the Ds and their upper middle class loyalists are bewildered as to why they lose.
I taught a social justice course to seniors in a central Illinois Catholic school, for almost a decade. Every year, seniors watched Matewan. It had a powerful impact on the students.
Important history to be remembered and rediscovered. Learned from and prayerfully never repeated. Human dignity and compassion the same way Jesus's example of living was explained
Powerful histories that are erased from public view by powerful people. Thank goodness there are others who care enough to bring them into the light. Thank you! And have you thought about telling it to 60 minutes or PBS?
My daughter (8th grade) just did a research project for National History Day on this event! (We live in Indianapolis) It was great to learn about it. I'm going to share your article with her!
Several great books on this subject, some might be available at the museum or in town. There was also a half-decent dramatization of the Matewan massacre in the late ‘80s, maybe?
Labor history is not taught in US schools. It’s a censored topic. Of course, I taught it in Appalachian Studies at the university. But that’s a pretty select group of students.
Great article. The histories untaught are the important ones.
Thanks, and I completely agree.
Howard Zinn's book: "A People's History of the United States should be in everyone's library.
My mother's family were Union Organizers in West Virginia, Maryland & Ohio. The stories that got passed down are hair raising. Stay Strong, Stay United. Unionize!
wV born and raised --16 years of WV education and never learned about this until the movie "Matewan" was released. Yet WV today is as red as they come! SMDH😡
The "why red" is explained in my main comment.
I had the same experience of going through 12 years (old enough that there was no kindergarten back then) and never heard about Blair Mountain at all. I've been fortunate enough to visit Matewan and to participate a few miles in the walk to Blair Mountain a few years ago. We have such a wonderul labor history in WV! It needs to be taught!
As an old union activist trained in labor history, I went to see the 1987 movie "Matewan." The recent history of the area is in Les Leopold's book /Wall St.'s War on Workers/ as explained in my main comment.
Really excellent--thank you for writing this and sharing this buried history. Very important work!
Thanks! I really appreciate what the museum is doing.
Ugh will be coming back to read this more thoroughly, having just discovered Muriel Rukeyser's work, including The Book of the Dead (about silicosis -WV mining but you prob already know this) through Adrienne Rich's work. So much I didn't know. What would we be like as a country with different history, govt instruction?
That’s such a haunting question. Sadly we may never know. America, the great “What If.”
Thank you for sharing this. Such an important story. I teach ESOL but I include as much “deleted” history as I can because if they don’t get it for me, they’re not getting it from anyone. Have you read Lies My Teacher told me? It’s a whole book about how history textbooks teach history to US students, what the slants are, and what they leave out entirely. It’s fascinating! I also have to recommend The Earth Shall Weep for critique of colonizer treatment of Native Americans. That book is packed full of extremely disturbing history that I had never heard, and I’m someone who seeks out stories from the marginalized!
I was a blue collar union activist for 28 years and a former local Dem campaign mgr. My grandpa the logger was a Wobbly (I.W.W.) In the late '60s, I was taught about labor history and strategy by people who'd been CIO organizers in the 1930s. I lived through and fought the neolib unfriendly takeover of the D party and their dumping of the New Deal and abandonment of the majority working class.
Read Les Leopold's meticulously researched 2024 book /Wall Street's War on Workers (How Mass Layoffs and Greed Are Destroying the Working Class and What to Do about It.)/ Especially Ch. 2 titled "Mingo Capitalism" subtitled 'How Wall St. Destroyed Jobs in WV, PA, MI, and WI and How That Cratered Support for the Dems.' Of course we nobodies knew HRC's "a basket of deplorables" meant us all. Leopold tells of how in 2016 she also had one for Mingo Co. WV, which lost more coal jobs than any other county. "We're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business." With a proposal for retraining in clean energy, community health care, blah, blah. Not believed. Why? Because the Clinton and Obama Dem admins had done NOTHING in their 16 years to rebuild in any of the areas with the destroyed jobs!!!
Yet the Ds and their upper middle class loyalists are bewildered as to why they lose.
Thank you for your work.
I taught a social justice course to seniors in a central Illinois Catholic school, for almost a decade. Every year, seniors watched Matewan. It had a powerful impact on the students.
A great film!
Important history to be remembered and rediscovered. Learned from and prayerfully never repeated. Human dignity and compassion the same way Jesus's example of living was explained
Powerful histories that are erased from public view by powerful people. Thank goodness there are others who care enough to bring them into the light. Thank you! And have you thought about telling it to 60 minutes or PBS?
Mary Harris Jones comes to mind regarding this too. Well done. I'm subscribing.
The movie made it to Australia where we had our own coal mining struggles but with a lower body count
My daughter (8th grade) just did a research project for National History Day on this event! (We live in Indianapolis) It was great to learn about it. I'm going to share your article with her!
Several great books on this subject, some might be available at the museum or in town. There was also a half-decent dramatization of the Matewan massacre in the late ‘80s, maybe?
The museum has a great book selection!
1987 movie by John Sayles; anything by him is good. This one of course heart wrenching as well.
I was about to suggest that. Great soundtrack, too.
Thank you for sharing this forgotten history.