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. I was wary that I was violating the same family code that had prompted my maternal great-aunt to write me off for attending Reed College, a Communist, leftist, anti-American institution. My family never forbade me to do much of anything, but I knew they felt that the film was one-sided, a setup, or propaganda. Most of all, they were beside themselves over the fact that they had grown up at Brookside and knew next to no one in the film. I was trying to work my way out. The National Geographic Channel reality show, Kentucky Justice, about a Harlan County sheriff, portrays the communitys very real desperation. Shake for 15 seconds until cold. Failed to report flower. Thinking about this made my blood start to tell me what my conscienceunderstanding all that I had come this far to learnwanted me to deny: that in the face of violence, I would have stood with my mothers family, even if this meant betraying the very principles that had so long pitted me against them. Oral History Interview with Daniel H. Pollitt, April 17, 1991. cemeteries found in Claiborne County, Tennessee, USA will be saved to your photo volunteer list. These storylines are interspersed with scenes of Harlans poverty; discussions of the industrys risks and hardships, including early child labor practices and the prevalence of black lung; and passages about Harlans notorious 1930s. 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. Top with soda water and garnish with additional cucumber slices and basil. He grew up at Brookside and worked for Eastover during the strike. I envisioned Harlans patchwork of people, the fabric of a community being made across two womens hands, a woman of means unknowingly and inextricably linked to a woman without. Nolan, age seventy-one, is a retired miner. The strike is settled soon after, but the UMWA contract quickly expires. Old men recall being paid six cents an hour for fourteen-hour days inside unsafe mines, and claim that the state government, the Catholic Church and the old union worked with coal officials against the miners. 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. I loved the mines, Ferguson told me. Jackie Stump says: There may not be a real fighting union again in his lifetime. This pastime led to the discovery of Crystal . She took some heat from the union, too, which was concerned that she and her crew were getting too close to the miners. 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. Things are looking up for the couple. It quickly began to seem as though a labor war reminiscent of that of the 1930s was about to get under way. Its tart and bubbly, with fresh herbs and cucumber. COLLI It exposed the politics of that county. Kopple felt it was important to continue filming (or pretend to, even when they were out of film) because the presence of the crew and staff support seemed to help keep the violence down. I had to get on with my future. After Kopple screened the 1954 film Salt of the Earth, which portrays striking miners in New Mexicoa film that had been blacklisted owing to its Communist leaningsfor the miners, the union dropped her funding. Harlan County, U.S.A. is a ghost story. I still see people and they turn their head and walk away from me. [citation needed], Gary Arnold of The Washington Post praised the film, saying that Kopple "has emerged with a stirring, revealing testament to the courage, tenacity and dignity of Appalachian men and women whose livelihood depends on coal mining. 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). We didnt have no rights. Fearing also for the safety of their film, Kopple and her crew began to smuggle their footage out of the county. Billy, seventy-two, with stage 4 black lung that requires him to be on oxygen, looked up from his chair by way of a greeting. When the labor union known as the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) left town at the end of 1931 citing lack of funds, the National Miners Unionbacked by the American Communist Partyarrived. Harlan County USA divides us into two groups: Those that love it and those that hate it. Just another site. Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. It just so happened that this particular side was our family. The scabs discussed the strike and Harlan County, USA interchangeablyand registered plenty of complaints about the film. Its okay, one of them said. Ive walked other empty, nearly desolate downtowns. But this is not made explicit, and it grates some locals. Danny cares for his 7-year-old son, Aiden, and occasionally hunts ginseng on the nearby mountains to sell for a few dollars per pound. I said [the work] would be gone in a year, and I was right, Blair said. Me and them that worked up at Highsplint was good buddies, Ferguson continued, but after that strike nobody of them would never speak to each other, never look at each other, nothing else. 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. Jones was well liked, young, and had a 16-year-old wife, and a baby. Then they leave and were left with all this animosity., The news media wants to push us down and thats why I hate the news media; they write very few good things about Harlan County., Id give anything to go back down there in those mines.. There are lots of ways to use this peppery fresh herb in cocktails! A common refrain was that it was misleading. 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. Tragically, one of them died. They went around and showed the most dilapidated houses you could find. The U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts that natural gas will replace it as the nations primary source of electricity in 2016. 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. But there was some on that picket line that had nice homes and nice cars and nice everything. The words KY MINE SUPPLY CO. stood up on the roof of a nearby vintage brick warehouse in white, as if issuing a challenge to the mountains behind it. Once you add the cucumber slices, you can muddle with a little more force. I thought of the ribbons gathered by Johnsons grandmother, ribbons that were very likely tied around arrangements made by the hands of my own grandmother, who owned the flower shop in town. The intensity in his voice crescendoed, pride and defensiveness coming through loud and clear. Looking at it long-term, it seems that neither side won. (Greene told me that 1920s-era Harlan had the highest murder rate in the country, beating out Al Capones Chicago.) document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. Oops, something didn't work. Miners wives are dragged off the line and thrown into jail. Jesus Plus Nothing: How American Fundamentalisms Power Elites Shaped the Faith of a Nation and the Politics of an Empire. Billy Ferguson had the thick build of a man who has worked hard his entire life but whose energy has been sapped by illness and age. The film also has a segment on the use of breaker boys, or child laborers who picked slate from coal. Learn more about contributing; Edit page. I know which side Im on, but I cant find it. The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional. Thanks for your help! So Im a little out of my jurisdiction in declaring on its regional identity. A lot of the miners dont have it. I think [the film] saved a lot of people from getting killed, he said. People are trying to dig roots to survive.. He was unmoved. Before I left for Kentucky this springfive years after I first saw the movieI set up interviews with people on both sides of the conflict, including one man who I was told could speak to the company perspective. He doesnt want to have to depend on anyone. Please try again later. They were the sounds of coal raining from a conveyer, of a coal car running down the track, of an RC Cola rattling in a miners lunch pail, the sound dampened by a MoonPie underneath. What is it? Found more than one record for entered Email, You need to confirm this account before you can sign in. It cost him his lungs and his life, says Stephens. . Parts of the documentary troubled me, though. Thats still to be determined as we sit here today.) When I asked the men if I should refer to them as scabs, or if they preferred a less pejorative word for people who stand on the company side during a strike, they just laughed. (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. Its hard to take Basil seriously until hes shooting. He agreed to take my call because he worked for and loved my grandfather. Trivia. This flower has been reported and will not be visible while under review. I fantasized about meeting the people captured on film; they were heroes to me. Its not good, says Napier. No unionized mines remain in the state. Soon, he was building support for the UMWA among his fellow Brookside miners. Only, the T-shirts and trucker hats were nearly two decades old, souvenirs from the last fierce time. In choosing my handsome preacher father for a husband, a man whose harsh Depression-era Georgia tenant farm upbringing was closer to that of a coal miners than to that of my mothers company familys, she had married down in her relatives eyes. Billy Ferguson lives in a double-wide in Redbud, Kentucky, an unincorporated community near Evarts, and eleven miles from Brookside. The people had to line their walls with mattresses."[13]. . This basil cocktail is a summer spin on the Tom Collins, featuring cucumber and that peppery fresh herb you might be growing in a pot or your garden. . Take the opening scene, when miners descend into a mine. Theres people that still hate me. We would also visit my mothers parents at their oceanfront condo in Jupiter Island, Florida, near where my coal-operating kin lived in one of Palm Beach Countys more subdued communities, Jupiter Inlet Colony, where Perry Como, Tammy Wynette, golf pro Toney Penna, and the Bissells (of vacuum cleaner fame) were their neighbors. Some people hold grudges their whole life, said one of the scabs. I asked if he meant by the union or the company. Kopple also alleges that Basil Collins threatened to kill her. 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. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again. When I asked him what inspired him to join the cause, he said, I was fighting for myself and everybody else. Rather than using narration to tell the story, Kopple chose to film the words and actions of the people themselves. Bobbys wife, Becky, who died in 2013, was a lifelong advocate for the people of Harlan County. Harlan County, USA is a 1976 American documentary film covering the "Brookside Strike",[1] a 1973 effort of 180 coal miners and their wives against the Duke Power Company-owned Eastover Coal Company's Brookside Mine and Prep Plant in Harlan County, southeast Kentucky. Thats what I call a ghost story. Hundreds of volunteers came each year to fix porches, hang dry wall and mend roofs. "[12], In a 2015 interview with Variety, Kopple was asked if she was in danger while working on this film. In Redbud, Kentucky, an unincorporated community near Evarts, and the! Line their walls with mattresses. `` [ 13 ] this window, and was! Most dilapidated houses you could find 16-year-old wife, Becky, who in... Defensiveness coming through loud and clear sponsor of a Nation and the Politics of an.. Account before you can sign in they were heroes to me with a little more force as! 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