#West Virginia Coal

[intheholler]

it is absolutely BONKERS to me, the number of people in the united states i have talked to who have never even heard of the battle of blair mountain. how the largest labor uprising in our history manages to skirt by so many leftists unknown is just downright astonishing. the largest labor uprising, and the largest armed uprising, period, since the civil war.

did yall even hear me?

THE LARGEST ARMED UPRISING!! besides the civil!!! fucking!! war!!! was fought in 1921 in the name of LABOR RIGHTS AND UNIONS by TEN THOUSAND RIGHTEOUSLY PISSED, STRIKING COAL MINERS

these absolute fucking LEGENDS marching out the hollers of west virginia, wearing their red bandanas and wielding their papaw's shotguns pointed at the lawmen. waging war against the fucking UNITED. STATES. MILITARY!!! for their right to work safely and be paid fairly!!!

and people just like. don't know about that? put some fucking respect on west virginia!!! and fellow appalachians, yall best just own it when ignorant people call you a fucking redneck cause our ancestors did that shit and they did it for us

[zanderism]

coal city, wv

[vandaliatraveler]

Thomas and Douglas share a common legacy as historic coal mining and lumber towns, both of which reached their zeniths in the first half of the 20th century. The artifacts of area's industrial past, some of which are now being reclaimed by nature, are still evident along Douglas Road, which forks out of Thomas and follows the North Fork of the Blackwater River to Douglas. These include the beehive coke ovens that once lit up the night nonstop to produce coke for local blast furnaces. In addition to the abandoned structures, a number of coal company buildings have been preserved and added to the National Register of Historic Places, including the Davis Coal and Coke Company Administrative Building and the Buxton & Landstreet Company Store, which is now home to the Buxton & Landstreet Gallery and Studios. The area's bittersweet past includes a legacy of human exploitation and racial injustice. Like its brethren, the Davis Coal and Coke Company paid its miners in company scrip that was only redeemable at the company store, which charged inflated prices for goods and ensured it could reclaim their wages at a premium. The area was also home to the Coketown Colored School, a segregated school at the center of an important civil rights victory in 1892, when Carrie Williams, a teacher at the school, teamed with J. R. Clifford, the state’s first African-American lawyer, to defeat an effort by Tucker County to reduce the school’s term. The victory ensured equal pay and terms for African-American schools in West Virginia. The Coketown Colored School closed in 1954 when segregated schools were found unconstitutional.

[dampbasementspitgirl]

House of god.

[henk-heijmans]

Coal miner's daughter in a company town, Kempton, West Virginia, ca. 1939 - by John Vachon (1914 - 1975), American

[leesmithvibes]

Broken glass around the foundations of old miners’ homes in Nuttallburg, West Virginia

[morganbritton132]

My thought process lately with my TikTok saga:

Me: I’m going to make Eddie be originally from my home state and that’ll be fun! I can include little cultural things.

Followed by: What is the culture of the place I’ve lived my entire life????

Followed by: I live so close to the Ohio border, am I even really from West Virginia?? Have I ever truly experienced the culture of (again) the state I’ve lived in my entire life.

[ahedderick]

Wind, Coal, West-by-god-Virginia

Interesting to see an article about a place so close to where I live:

I think that, on a national level, we should do a better job of supporting people whose livelihoods are being eliminated. Yes, we need to support wind and solar and get rid of coal. We must and will do that. However, people and whole towns are suffering pretty badly in the transition.

[wildliferehabstudent]

https://gofund.me/a0a870c8

I know water crises are global these days, but the coal miners in west Virginia are getting chemical burns from their water.

And before all the "anti-fossil fuel" people come at me- coal miners are not your enemy. All the creatures that depend on this water are dying. The government is claiming it's safe because they're only testing for bacteria- it's too toxic for most of the bacteria that they test for to survive. You can't boil the smell of paint thinner out of water.

This isn't just a human rights and welfare issues, it's also an extreme environment crisis. These are impoverished, exploited people desperate for help.

Explanation of the GoFundMe is under the cut

This fundraiser is raising money to purchase safe drinking water for people in Wyoming and McDowell Counties in West Virginia's coal camps. All proceeds will go directly to Sweet Springs Institute, Inc, a West Virginia local 501(c)3, and 100% of funds raised will be used to purchase water for local residents.

Currently, thousands of people in these two counties, the poorest counties in the United States, are without access to safe water. Their water comes out in shades of gray, black, and brown, smells like paint thinner, and causes immediate rashes and lesions on the skin. It is not safe to be consumed or even touched.

Independent tests show lead, arsenic, and aluminum levels hundreds of parts per million over the legal safe limits. Local residents have had stream water tested to reveal the water has surfactants in it-- an industrial chemical used to separate coal from impurities.

Residents are collecting water from roadside streams because they cannot afford to purchase water from grocery stores.

The coal and natural gas industries have created horrifying living conditions for West Virginians who have suffered exploitation and poverty to power the country and keep the lights on for over 150 years.

If we end up raising more money than is necessary for the local demand for water, or if state or federal emergency efforts finally respond by providing water, then we will use remaining funds to provide other emergency response provisions to locals that may include food, clothing, water filtration, or independent testing of soil and water safety.

[federer7]

Coal miner’s daughter doing the family wash. All the water must be carried from up the hill. Bertha Hill, West Virginia. 1938.”

Photo by Marion Post Wolcott Farm Security Administration

[eopederson]

Coal Barges, Monongahela River, near Morgantown, West Virginia, 1969.

[intheholler]

cr. Alain Le Garsmeur. Bluefield, West Virginia, 1979

[girl-xinterrupted]

Coal Mine

[vandaliatraveler]

It’s not so hard to imagine the hustle and bustle of life in this historic Appalachian railroad town at the peak of North-Central West Virginia’s coal and glass industries. In the mid-1800s, the B&O Railroad completed the first trans-Appalachian line through Grafton, and the sleepy backwater along the Tygart River was transformed within a year into an economic boomtown. During the Civil War, Union and Confederate forces fought for control of Grafton’s strategic railroad juncture, which was critical to the Union’s logistical movement of troops and supplies. After the war and through the first half of the 20th Century, growth and prosperity continued, and the town was gifted with two magnificent Beaux Arts edifices to cater to a steady stream of visitors: the B&O Railroad Station and the Willard Hotel. The town also hosted the first Mother’s Day celebration, now commemorated by the International Mother’s Day Shrine. But nothing lasts forever, and with the decline of the area’s coal and glass industries, so too has Grafton seen it’s best days get behind it. But I’m a railroad and history buff, and I admire this town’s noble decrepitude - like that of almost every other Appalachian town whose bittersweet contributions to the making of America seem increasingly lost to history.

[thefreethoughtprojectcom]

Today is the 104th anniversary of the Battle of Matewan. Never heard of this #HiddenHistory? There might be a reason for that.

Read More: https://thefreethoughtproject.com/be-the-change/battle-matewan-america-coal-wars

[hope-ur-ok]

I have the sleep schedule of a drunk racoon