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1921 Mingo County coal fields war...
1921 Mingo County coal fields war...
Item # 724343
May 23, 1921
THE GREENSBORO PATRIOT, N.C., May 23, 1921
* West Virginia coal mines war
* Coal miners vs. operators labor conflict
* Poor working conditions - (UMWA)
* Merrimac, Mingo County
Page has a small one column heading: "Mingo County Placed Under Martial Law" (see images)
Complete with 8 pages, light toning and minor wear at the margins, irregular along the spine, generally good.
AI notes: The Mingo County Coal War, which reached a violent peak in 1921, was a pivotal labor conflict in the coalfields of southern West Virginia, stemming from harsh working conditions, poor wages, and the coal operators' brutal opposition to unionization. By May 1921, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) had been pushing to organize workers for better labor conditions, but coal companies, determined to keep their workers non-union, used armed guards and violence to suppress any such efforts. In response, miners began organizing militias, and tensions escalated into open warfare. The culmination of this conflict was the Battle of Blair Mountain in late August and early September 1921, where an estimated 10,000 miners, armed and determined, marched to confront thousands of coal company guards and local militia. The battle became one of the largest civil uprisings in U.S. history, with the federal government intervening and deploying U.S. Army troops to suppress the miners. While the miners were defeated and forced to retreat, the conflict highlighted the extreme inequalities in the coal industry and drew national attention to the plight of industrial workers. Though the miners lost the battle, the Mingo County Coal War marked a significant chapter in the larger labor movement, setting the stage for future labor rights reforms, including the eventual passage of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935.
Category: The 20th Century
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