Also Virginian, yeah I remember learning about it, although I don’t recall it being all that much. My parents are from WV and I know they learned about The Battle of Blair Mountain too, and I’m pretty sure I’ve heard they don’t teach it anymore.
One thing that’s crazy to me is how WV has largely become anti-union despite this history. They want more coal mining and fewer union, even though the only reason they view coal mining as even halfway decent for making a living is because unions saved them from the coal company exploitation.
we didn’t learn about blair mountain. this is a great tragedy. my elementary school serves an old mining community. my farm growing up had an entrance to the old mine on it. our teachers had an old miner come in to talk to us about how it used to work and the environmental impact. he started telling us about how he volunteered for the civil war, got on a train to head north to fight before they shuffled him out of the room. they said he was old and confused. it took me 20 years to realize he was telling us the realist thing anyone had ever told us. there was a living monument to what it takes to make the world better in our classroom, right in front of me. he’d taken a lever action rifle, got on a train, and headed to blair mountain. he was ready to die. he told his wife and his children goodbye because he didn’t want his children to be abused the way he was. he didn’t know if they would ever see him again, but he knew if he did nothing the world would remain static, and the status quo would be sustained.
the outcome of that battle was weekends. we have weekends where we don’t have to work because of him and men like him. that’s what it took to get that basic dignity given to us. and i’m sure it weighs heavily on him that he survived. that he saw so many of his friends cut down by the pinkertons. if he were alive today, i wonder what he’d think about the pinkertons filling in for the striking hospital police in town. perhaps i’m glad he’s not alive to see the inheritors of the world he and his friends built through their own bloodshed voting to undo all that, to go back to how it was before.
but it’s also an inspiration. our grandfathers and great grandfathers fought fascism because it’s what they had to do. now in the name of them, and for me and you, i’m gonna fight fascism too.
Also Virginian, yeah I remember learning about it, although I don’t recall it being all that much. My parents are from WV and I know they learned about The Battle of Blair Mountain too, and I’m pretty sure I’ve heard they don’t teach it anymore.
One thing that’s crazy to me is how WV has largely become anti-union despite this history. They want more coal mining and fewer union, even though the only reason they view coal mining as even halfway decent for making a living is because unions saved them from the coal company exploitation.
we didn’t learn about blair mountain. this is a great tragedy. my elementary school serves an old mining community. my farm growing up had an entrance to the old mine on it. our teachers had an old miner come in to talk to us about how it used to work and the environmental impact. he started telling us about how he volunteered for the civil war, got on a train to head north to fight before they shuffled him out of the room. they said he was old and confused. it took me 20 years to realize he was telling us the realist thing anyone had ever told us. there was a living monument to what it takes to make the world better in our classroom, right in front of me. he’d taken a lever action rifle, got on a train, and headed to blair mountain. he was ready to die. he told his wife and his children goodbye because he didn’t want his children to be abused the way he was. he didn’t know if they would ever see him again, but he knew if he did nothing the world would remain static, and the status quo would be sustained.
the outcome of that battle was weekends. we have weekends where we don’t have to work because of him and men like him. that’s what it took to get that basic dignity given to us. and i’m sure it weighs heavily on him that he survived. that he saw so many of his friends cut down by the pinkertons. if he were alive today, i wonder what he’d think about the pinkertons filling in for the striking hospital police in town. perhaps i’m glad he’s not alive to see the inheritors of the world he and his friends built through their own bloodshed voting to undo all that, to go back to how it was before.
but it’s also an inspiration. our grandfathers and great grandfathers fought fascism because it’s what they had to do. now in the name of them, and for me and you, i’m gonna fight fascism too.
Women had a lot to do with the labor rights we enjoy today.
100%. black women especially