Coal news and updates

Coal miners of all colors have played an important role in West Virginia history since the early 18th century.

 

From sunup to sundown, those who work in Appalachian mines have faced obstacles and hardships. Black coal miners faced discrimination on a daily basis by the institution and fellow miners while trying to make a living.

 

Today, black coal miners will be recognized at the Charleston Marriott as part of the seventh West Virginia All Black High School Sports and Academic Hall of Fame Ceremonies. This event is sponsored by the Dunbar School Dr. A.J. Major Historical Education Museum Inc., and takes place over the course of three days.

 

Helen Jackson-Gillison, the president and CEO, said the museum will continue to preserve and celebrate African-American history (prior to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education) in the state.

 

“This is the first time it will have happened in the state of West Virginia,” she said. “We are honoring those coal miners in what they had to go through and what they have accomplished — there are so many stories that can be told.”

 

She said nearly 50 African-American coal miners will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, next to people like actor Lou Myers, former NBA player Earl Lloyd and singer and “America’s Got Talent” winner Landau Murphy Jr.

 

During the recognition ceremony, a speaker will give a two-minute presentation of each coal miner to tell the story of what it was like working in the mines and their everyday experiences. By recording their stories they will help preserve that history, something Jackson-Gillison said has “largely been uncharted.”

 

Joe Trotter Jr., a nationally recognized scholar, author and Giant Eagle Professor of History and Social Justice at Carnegie Mellon University, said African-American coal miners migrated to West Virginia from neighboring states and the Deep South for improved living and jobs in the mines.

 

“Between the late 19th century and World War II, African-Americans migrated into the coalfield in large numbers, particularly in southern West Virginia,” he said, adding that African-Americans made up roughly 30 percent of the population in the southern counties of the state. “They became a major part of the coal mining industry in McDowell, Mercer and Fayette — within these southern counties they were especially prominent.”

 

For years Trotter has focused his research on the labor and working-class history of African-Americans, and has written several books including “Coal, Class, and Color: Blacks in Southern West Virginia.”

 

He said a multi-racial and multi-ethnic labor force migrated to the state to work in the coal mines as well, and found that West Virginia was a better place to live politically as well as economically.

 

Scholars debate to what degree segregation and discrimination affected life in the coal mines. Some think there was less of a divide underground, but Trotter disagrees.

 

“In reality, throughout the coalfields you would see sections of the coal community that were predominately black and predominately white. Boundaries may have blurred but I think the pattern was of segregation and race,” he said. “Segregation was a reality.”

 

While there were some instances where miners worked together (in particular to fight for better conditions in the mines), African-American coal miners faced difficult experiences including institutional discrimination.

 

“There is some pretty clear evidence that black miners found it difficult to become a foreman or supervisor. They were limited to the hand loading and general labor jobs rather than the supervisory jobs,” he said, adding there is also evidence that African-American coal miners received less quality housing and services.

 

Jackson-Gillison said the Hall of Fame Ceremonies will continue Saturday with a “portable museum” from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., which is open to the public. There will be memorabilia from many of the 38 known all-black schools that existed as well as the school’s history. Dinner that evening will feature a program where they will highlight the coal miners.

 

Saturday will end the three-day-long celebration with a white tie, red carpet event following a dinner and dance known as the “farewell gala.”

 

 

 

Source: http://www.charlestondailymail.com/