A little while ago I was in Southwest Virginia at a political meeting. Next comes Nimrod Workman, the miner and singer whose story and song make for an incredibly affecting moment. These tunes were made from the last breaths of miners crushed by a mine roof collapse and the deathly rattle of black lung. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. As I walked toward Nolan and Elizabeth, who were already heading to the car, I set my back to these thoughts and the surrounding peaks. Display a Gravatar image next to my comments. They say in Harlan County, there are no neutrals there, Florence Reece sings. They are also dependent upon support from people near and far, which explains why folks came from out of the woodwork to stand with the miners. And we know who Florence Reece is, the woman who wrote Which Side Are You On? in the Bloody Harlan battles of the 1930s and who shows up at a rally to sing it one more time for the miners two generations removed from its inception, for them and for her father, dead of black lung, for her husband, dying of black lung. In other words, can I make a batch for 25-30 people. Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. Thats not to suggest that the mood was tense or unfriendly; it felt like changing shifts. copyright 2018 the revealer all rights reserved. Perhaps this was ultimately why labor issues burn people up so terribly, because they always come down to familythe families were born into along with the ones we raise, and the brotherhood and sisterhood that work creates for us, especially down in the mines, and for men like Ferguson and Johnson. This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates. But Harlan is also an emblem of the hard times that have fallen on coal country. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. Search above to list available cemeteries. Sheriff J. H. Blair, backed by the Harlan County Coal Operators Association, who counted my relatives among their members, deployed close to two hundred deputized mine guards to snuff out both unions. But Jack would not sign a union contract, Johnson explained. Later, he considered his family fortunate because neither he nor his seven siblings died from the cold that engulfed the house. She lived across the railroad track from the mine and camp where her father worked for his uncle Bryan W. Whitfield, owner of the mine. His bet? Do you think this would work? Most of the men are rail-thin, gray cadavers, too polite to push their pamphlets across the divide. The story surrounds the Brookside miners efforts to have Duke Power sign the UMWA national contract, as well as the group Miners for Democracys attempt to clean up the union after decades of corrupt leadership under president Tony Boyle. There are no volunteers for this cemetery. The strike began in July 1973 and lasted 13 months. They didnt want to make a lot of enemies because you might have to marry into their families., The real story is people coming in here and stirring up controversy. This was my third trip to Harlan. Barbara Kopple never responded to my requests for an interview, but I did talk to Anne Lewis, associate director of Harlan County, USA. Barbara Kopple: Harlan County, USA; that was my first ever film that I did on my own. Hows that for historical? Nominally a documentary about the 1973 strike by Kentucky mineworkers, the 1976 Oscar-winning Harlan County U.S.A. observes the evolution of a movement, made urgent by circumstances (miners'. I had heard that the coal miners memorials in downtown Harlan listed twice as many names as all of the towns war memorial statues combined, and I wanted to see for myself. In a cocktail shaker, muddle the basil leaves. Its due to the loose handling of facts that frame the strike at the beginning of the film. Eleven deaths were directly linked to those conflicts, during which the National Guard was called in twice. . Her voice wobbling like its about to fall down, her face shrunken like an old apple, her eyes behind her big goggle glasses like little explosions: Shes weak and tired, but shes as angry as she was forty years ago. Oops, something didn't work. We do them no favor when we dont show them where the trends are going, he said. tina childress dillon. (Elizabeth told a story of when Hollywood producers came to the Kitts Creek mine in the late 1970s, scouting locations for the film Coal Miners Daughter. Subscribe to the Oxford American. He then told me a story about my family Id never heard beforeabout my grandfathers cousin Jack, who was running the mine at Kitts Creek. . Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. It was enough to feed the Fergusons and their four kids, ages two to thirteen, until a van concealing a machine gun pulled up to his brother Tommys house and opened fire, shooting sixteen holes into the slide of a swing-set Tommy and his wife had just purchased for their children; nine holes into the house; and one into the babys swing. Looking at it long-term, it seems that neither side won. Its okay, one of them said. Cans of coffee, cracker tins, Radio Girl perfume, dresses with sweetheart necklines, and shoes in their original boxes all sat on the shelves, ready to be sold. Are you sure that you want to remove this flower? A few months before I left for Harlan, news broke that the United Kingdoms last deep coal mine had closed, a momentous event signaling the end of a centuries-old industry (think of all those Dickens characters). It rippled cross the country I remember running into a camouflaged crew in Southern Illinois thatd just set a fox they said was rabid on its way down into a mine full of scabsbut I never was able to figure out who won. You can always change this later in your Account settings. Not the famous oneslike Which Side Are You On? by Florence Reece, which she wrote in the 1930s after deputized mine guards ransacked her home. An illustrated postcard from 1915 shows the town pleasantly nestled in a crook of the river and bears an optimistic motto: Harlan, Ky., Aint What Its Going To Be.. Me and him put it behind us. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Some, like Danny Stewart, an unemployed fifth-generation miner, are placing their hopes in a Donald Trump presidency to revive the moribund coal industry. My family is never mentioned by name in Harlan County, USA, but it is alluded to in many passages about the countys history. This sticking point became moot when, a few years after the strike, the UMWA folded the agreement won by this group of workers into a global contract. Hazel Dickens's folk song lyrics of 'United we stand, divided we fall' and Florence Reece's lyrics for "Which Side Are You On?" Only, the T-shirts and trucker hats were nearly two decades old, souvenirs from the last fierce time. Many of his friends have faced similar challenges and left the area, but Danny says he has no plans to move because he has a lot of family nearby. There were close to one hundred mines back then. My father, the only college graduate among his nine siblings (as I am the only one among my parents four children), had eventually grown tired of being poor and left the church to go into business as a roofing contractor. Receive a FREE subscription when you take the Reader Survey today. By JEFFREY COLLINS today. You could make good money. Was this man singing and talking about my grandfather, my grandfathers cousin, or my great-great-uncle? The documentary is a bracing, dramatic David-and-Goliath story about coal miners pitted against Duke Power. Tom Hansell, Patricia Beaver and Angela Wiley, This page was last edited on 27 December 2022, at 06:42. Im not talking about the fact Harlan County went Union a hundred and ten years before the union fight documented in the film. (It happened so quickly and suddenly it takes your breath away. Hearing those words made me feel like Henry had bitten the rattle off the snake and handed it back as some sort of peace offering. None of the miners inHarlan County, U.S.A. have names. It could have turned out real bad there, if one shot had been fired. Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. Their stories were often told through the songs. In fact, he was born out of wedlock in Harlan in 1946, raised by his grandmother until he was about seven or eight years old. what happened to basil collins harlan county. And thats still too vague. Its leprous shackery, most of it, bitter boxes that look to be badly made of pine, family-sized coffins rattling with black lung. At one point, we ran into Donna G. Hoskins, the Harlan County Clerk, who reminisced about a time when the town was so populous that people had to step off the sidewalk to allow others to pass. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Chester found work in a gear factory, but home beckoned a dozen years later when one of his children died just three days after being born. Include gps location with grave photos where possible. What drink to make with basil? Try again. We drove past meadows washed in golden sunlight and headed into a thick forest where we parked by a stream. He traveled as far as the Canadian border and worked as many as 12 days in a row. He worked in dog hole (or low vein) mines, hauled and sold liquor for bootleggers, and built fires at four A.M. to heat the local schools. Eastern Kentucky has been especially hard-hit: The number of miners employed in Harlan County fell from more than 3,000 in 1988 to fewer than 1,000 in 2014. They also liked to gamble. Greene quoted a New York Times story published in 1938: A Harlan County camp is no weekend resort for sissies.. It did feel as though the town had gone from Technicolor to black and white since the last time I visited, in 2004. No one was hurt. There was janitors up there from the school., The other men chimed in. cemeteries found in Claiborne County, Tennessee, USA will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Like an article of faith, you had to believe in Harlans future to see it. This is ours., Johnson sounded as though he had walked straight out of a Woody Guthrie song. Its stood the test of time and makes the list of the International Bartender AssociationsIBA official cocktails, meaning it has an official definition. She went on to live in the region for twenty-five years, making films focused on social and environmental issues with the renowned regional media and arts center Appalshop. I thought again of Johnsons story about my grandfathers cousin Jack. Duke Power didnt want that to be filmed, he said. I dont mean down in the mines, I mean in their company housing. They were welcomed and cheered on by locals on the union side but harassed by strikebreakers, who Kopple claims once pushed the filmmakers car off the road. We have set your language to A lot of people, he continues, dont understand that that electricity burning over therea sweeping gesture that takes in the whole city, shiny and modern, one giant black lung, reallytheres a man dying every day for that. My grandfather went into the mines with his men every day and he died of lung cancer, she later wrote. In: A. McColl. Sorry! The phone book listing my grandparents number at Brookside, a long-distance call at that time, dangled from a cord by the telephone. (Most every able-bodied person I met in Harlan was either still working, or yearning to work; hard work defines this place.) Danny Stewart, 30, is a fifth-generation miner who began working in the industry shortly after graduating from high school in 2004. I had to get on to college. In the documentary, his mother can be seen breaking down during his funeral, screaming and being carried away by male attendees. Eastover and Duke Power paid a hefty fine and put an end to the practice of paying less to men under the age of twenty-five and over the age of fifty. Please received our heartfelt . Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. Next came a scene of a wizened old man singing and talking about how his bosspresumably the prior owners of the Brookside minesaid his mule was worth more than him. The countys median household income is $25,186, less than half the national median ($53,482). By God, you fight fire with fire. "Harlan County, U.S.A. movie review (2006)", "Complete National Film Registry Listing", "Sight and Sound Publishes Top 50 Documentaries List | IndieWire", "The Best Documentaries of All Time | Sight & Sound", "Barbara Kopple Reflects on Joys and Dangers of Filming Harlan County, USA", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harlan_County,_USA&oldid=1129812783, Norman Yarborough - Eastover Mining president, John Corcoran - Consolidation Coal president, John O'Leary - former US Bureau of Mines director, Donald Rasmussen - Black Lung Clinic, West Virginia, "Forty-Two Years", written and sung by Nimrod Workman, instrumental by Kenny Kosek, "Come All You Coal Miners", written and sung by, "Black Lung", written and sung by Hazel Dickens, "Cold Blooded Murder", written and sung by Hazel Dickens, "Miners Life", traditional instrumental performed by David Morris's Band, "Which Side Are You On", written and sung by Florence Reece (as Florence Reese), additional lyrics by Joshua Waletzky (as Josh Waletzky), "This Little Light of Mine", written by Harry Dixon Loes (uncredited), sung by, "Trouble Among Yearlings", instrumental by Country Cookin', "Lone Prairie", by Roscoe Holcomb and Wade Ward, "They'll Never Keep Us Down", written and sung by Hazel Dickens, accompanied by Lamar Grier, John Katarakis, John Otsuka, and Gary Henderson, In 1990, the film was selected for the United States, Gail Pellet, "The Making of Harlan County, USA: An Interview with Barbara Kopple,". That is, until one night, away from the picket line, when a pro-company manalso known as a scabmurders twenty-three-year-old Lawrence Jones, leaving behind his sixteen-year-old wife, four-month-old daughter, and elderly mother, who collapses with grief at the funeral. cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. At Kopple, among others. Harlan would have likely remained sparsely populated if some of the countrys richest seams of bituminous coalalso known as steam coal, which is medium grade and full of a tar-like substancehad not been discovered in its hills. Learn about how to make the most of a memorial. I loved the mines, Ferguson told me. Unlike many union people I contacted, he was willing to share his experience from that time. At her apartment, I found photos on display of all her grandchildren and great-grandchildrenall except for me. When images of the Brookside camp are cut with ones from a welfare camp that is in far worse shape, their distrust of the film is solidified. From an early age, Floyd developed a hobby of exploring caves. Ive driven through Harlan a few times and half of my family has lived for eight or nine generations not too many miles south of there, but I sure dont come from Harlan County. Authors of recipes you'll want to make again and again. Alex Murdaugh's family long dominated the legal scene in his small South Carolina county but for the past six weeks, Murdaugh has been on the other side of the courtroom, standing trial on murder charges in the shootings of his wife and son. Managed by: Carlton William Greve . I grew up far from the world of Harlan, Kentucky, It may have been Prohibition, Greene told me as we sat on an overstuffed couch at the Little Inn, the Harlan bed-and-breakfast where I stayed, but there was moonshine going all over the place. [4] The miners were concerned that accepting such a provision would limit their ability to influence local working conditions. Basil Collins in Kentucky. Whatever the reason, new industry has been painfully slow to materialize. I could go up that road there three mileshe pointed to a trail where two women walked their dogsand Im sittin on the Appalachian Trail with shelters where I can camp out. A common refrain was that it was misleading. In 1973, Ferguson was working the roof bolt machine at Highsplint, which helps to stabilize the mine roof. I was intensely aware that if someone came upon the place with violent intentions, Elizabeth and I would have been trapped. When it runs down, he says hell decide whether he wants to have a new one installed. In one scene, Scott pulls a pistol from her bra. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. I dont think they got dental. At the beginning of my trip, I assumed most of my conversations would fixate on the paston the strikes of the 1930s and the 1970s, and the local repercussions of Kopples film. I was picked up in a Chevrolet station wagon or, to my profound embarrassment on the rare occasion that my father arrived, a Chevrolet pickup with a hot-tar kettle for roofing attached to the back. Its tart and bubbly, with fresh herbs and cucumber. But the injunction did not apply to the miners wives. Share this memorial using social media sites or email. Once I got involved in that strike, it seemed like I couldnt get out, Scott said in an oral history housed at the Godbey Appalachian Center in Cumberland, Kentucky. Resend Activation Email, Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox, If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map. Please report any issues toinfo.crmnyu@gmail.com. A system error has occurred. Try again later. The Highsplint miners lost their bid for the UMWA in favor of the company-friendly SLU. Basil Collins Duke Power's Henchman I didn't know it then, but Mr. Blanton was a military man a Master Sargeant awarded two Bronze Stars one for serving in the Battle for Okinawa and . The nearest interstates were about sixty-five miles away in opposite directions, adding to the mines aura of isolation. This account has been disabled. There are no neutrals there Chester Napier grew up in the 1940s in a one-room log house in the woods of Smith, Ky. As a boy, he learned to hunt squirrel, groundhog and deer from his father, Fred Napier. One of the issues is water. The meat and dairy cases stood waiting for someone to fill them up and turn the power back on. Uncle Bryan was later succeeded by my grandfathers cousin Bryan W. Whitfield II, who sold the mine to Eastover Mining Company on the day I was born three hundred miles to the south: July 25, 1970. Eastover refused to sign the contract, so the Brookside miners went on strike. What happens in the movie is this: The men of the Brookside Mine in Harlan go on strike because the Duke Power Company refuses to recognize their right to join the United Mine Workers of America. "[5], Film critic Dennis Schwartz liked the documentary, yet found flaw in it providing only one point of view. I had one of these last night at an event and it was lovely. Miraculously, only two people got shot. You could make a batch of the main ingredients in a pitcher and have people do equal parts mix and soda water (it would be slightly more watered down but still taste great). based on information from your browser. It's hard to take Basil seriously until he's shooting. Rowlett moved back after securing a coveted position at the railroad company less than an hour away. Jerry Johnson, one of the striking Eastover miners, attributes the conclusion of the strike to the presence of Kopple and her film crew: "The cameras probably saved a bunch of shooting. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments. My grandfathers cousin Bryan didnt much care for his fancy home in Florida, so he was still living next door. Lewis joined him and took a job in a sewing factory until they moved back to Kentucky to make films together, including, Thank God they signed that contract or Id probably still be in prison, Johnson said, speaking again of the strike documented in. They also liked to gamble. Greene quoted a, This year also marks the fortieth anniversary of the release of, There was no truth in that movie, Henry said over the phone, reacting as though I had passed a rattlesnake through the line when I said I was a fan of, At the restaurant, I sat quietly to listen and learn; I hadnt come all this way to argue or seek validation for my beliefs. Ferguson faced the possibility of losing his black-lung benefit, as did Nolan. Miners went down there and got him and drug him out of his office and put a tin bucket around his neck like a drum. A third of the community lives in poverty; a quarter of working-age residents are disabled. The miners had relatively little complaint about their pay; they wanted better benefits and increased safety. Home Recipes Drink Recipes Cocktails. Her immediate familys occasional subtle cues that my siblings and I were fruit from a lesser tree were rarely lost on me, but her father and his Whitfield family were almost always warmly affectionate. Four generations of Roberts family have worked in the mines, including his grandfather, Charlie Simpson, his father, Bobby Simpson (p. 28) and his son-in-law, Danny Stewart (p. 28). Youre safe here with us.. He agreed to take my call because he worked for and loved my grandfather. 0 cemeteries found in Claiborne County, Tennessee, USA. Im home where I want to die at, in these mountains here, he says. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request, There is an open photo request for this memorial. But this is not made explicit, and it grates some locals. Rumors flew that a "hippie crew from New York" was sniffing around the strike. I grew up far from the world of Harlan, Kentucky, and far from the wealth of my coal-operating Whitfield kin. Im also resolutely on the side of the films pro-union stanceIm a union member myself, at New York University. Marcy, and said: You made it out of Harlan alive! Johnson, a retired UMWA Brookside miner (and the ex-husband of filmmaker Anne Lewis), was riffing on Darrell Scotts song, Youll Never Leave Harlan Alive., Even after the strikes successful completion, Johnson felt that the system was stacked against him and his fellow picketers. Back then, Nolan, the security guard, worked for Eastovers Highsplint mine, located nine miles away from Brookside. Billy and Mary Lou Ferguson sent the kids up to their grandmothers place on Black Mountain. It was a pretty rough time, Nolan told me. It must have been written all over my face, because Johnson said, Theys a lot better ways to have done thatbut thats what they did. These boys had uniforms! The Pittston Strike of 1989. Its not just for pesto. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. At times, I preferred him to my mother for his ability to be real, as I put it as a teen. Last year, his administration announced $14.5 million in federal grants for job retraining and other initiatives to help displaced coal and power industry workers. Ferguson and his fellow Highsplint strikers couldnt receive strike pay, but the UMWA gave them a box of food every week. Edit. Learn how your comment data is processed. Heres a deliciously bubbly drink thats calling your name (and ours too): the Basil Collins! We set off in his white Crown Vic for a tour of the Smoky Mountains, which appeared as inviting as pillows stacked five deep on a hotel bed, a sharp contrast to Harlans rugged peaks. 7. We was treated like dirt. All weve got down here is grocery stores and restaurants.. The scabs discussed the strike and Harlan County, USA interchangeablyand registered plenty of complaints about the film. A calendar from that year still hung on the wall. Resend Activation Email. This mine, called Brookside, attained national notoriety in the early 1970s after my family sold it to Eastover Mining, a subsidiary of Duke Power, one of the countrys largest energy corporations. When I arrived, the air smelled toasty and warm, like a ski lodge, from the kiln curing wood. To compare it to a museum would be inaccurate. Once the canning season ended, he traveled back down the Hillbilly Highway, as the route between the highland South and the northern industrial centers was called, for Harlan. A year after losing his Highsplint job, Johnson was hired back at Brooksidethen owned by Eastover. But to me, Harlan is different. (Greene told me that 1920s-era Harlan had the highest murder rate in the country, beating out Al Capones Chicago.) Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. I still see people and they turn their head and walk away from me. You couldnt starve me to death., The Brookside strike and the union changed Johnsons life for the betterbut so did Kopple and Lewis. Jerry Johnson opened the door of his house in Greeneville, Tennessee, a cozy five-room home he shares with his seventh wife,Marcy, and said: You made it out of Harlan alive! Johnson, a retired UMWA Brookside miner (and the ex-husband of filmmaker Anne Lewis), was riffing on Darrell Scotts song, Youll Never Leave Harlan Alive.. The mines, I mean in their company housing the mine roof collapse the! Painfully slow to materialize care for his ability to be confirmed make for an incredibly affecting moment moved... And ten years before the union changed Johnsons life for the betterbut so did Kopple and Lewis didnt. Mines aura of isolation it takes your breath away an hour away thats calling name! To share his experience from that year still hung on the < b > Done button < /b to... 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