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Appalachia: Social History and Cultural Change in the Elkhorn Coal Fields Oral History Project

Project Summary

These interviews focus on the social and cultural changes in the Marrowbone Creek area of southern Pike County (the Elkhorn coal fields) in the 1920s and 1930s, when the largely agrarian economy became an industrial one. The living standards, labor practices, and working conditions that marked this transformation of local, independent farmers into industrial wage-laborers required adjustments and provoked intense resistance and labor activism among residents. Miners, operators, labor organizers, and area residents discuss Elkhorn City, the Edgewater mining camp, and the Wolfpit, Dunleary, and Weeksbury mines. Other topics include union organizing activities in the 1930s, labor violence in the coal fields, the Henry Clay Coal Mine strike (1934--1941), the United Mine Workers of America, the Roving Picket Movement, the black lung movement, immigrant miners, black miners, coal camp wages, company stores, mine accidents and fires, Miners for Democracy, women's roles in mining, mechanization, schoolteachers, child care, mountain farming, logging, Appalachian Volunteers, churches, Marrowbone Creek, United States Steel, Joseph Yablonski, Thomas Ratliff, and Curt Caudill.

Project Code

appelk

Project LC Subject

African American coal miners--Kentucky--Pike County   Agriculture--Kentucky   Agriculture--Kentucky--Pike County   Child care--Kentucky--Pike County   Churches--Kentucky--Pike County   Coal mine accidents--Kentucky--Pike County   Coal miners--Kentucky--Dunleary   Coal miners--Kentucky--Edgewater   Coal miners--Kentucky--Elkhorn City   Coal miners--Kentucky--Pike County   Coal miners--Kentucky--Weeksbury   Coal miners--Kentucky--Wolfpit   Coal miners--Labor unions--Kentucky--Pike County   Coal mines and mining--Kentucky--Dunleary   Coal mines and mining--Kentucky--Edgewater   Coal mines and mining--Kentucky--Elkhorn City   Coal mines and mining--Kentucky--Pike County   Coal mines and mining--Kentucky--Weeksbury   Coal mines and mining--Kentucky--Wolfpit   Company stores--Kentucky--Pike County   Dunleary (Ky.)   Edgewater (Ky.)   Immigrants--Kentucky--Pike County   Industrial relations--Kentucky--Pike County   Industries--Kentucky--Pike County   Labor disputes--Kentucky   Logging--Kentucky--Pike County   Marrowbone Creek (Ky.)   Miners for Democracy   Picketing--Kentucky   Pike County (Ky.)   Pike County (Ky.)--Social life and customs   Social reformers--Appalachian Region   Strikes and lockouts--Coal mining--Kentucky--Pike County   Teachers--Kentucky   United Mine Workers of America   United States Steel Company   United States Steel Corporation   Violence--Kentucky--Pike County   Weeksbury (Ky.)   Wolfpit (Ky.)   Women coal miners--Kentucky--Pike County   Women in the labor movement--Kentucky--Pike County   Yablonski, Joseph A., 1910-1969


Interviews in this Project (18 Total):

Interview Accession Number: 1987oh186_app109
Interviewer: Nyoka Hawkins
Restrictions: No Restrictions
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Interview Accession Number: 1987oh187_app110
Interviewer: Nyoka Hawkins
Restrictions: No Restrictions
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Interview Accession Number: 1987oh188_app111
Interviewer: Nyoka Hawkins
Restrictions: No Restrictions
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Interview Accession Number: 1987oh189_app112
Interviewer: Nyoka Hawkins
Restrictions: No Restrictions
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Interview Accession Number: 1987oh190_app113
Interviewer: Nyoka Hawkins
Restrictions: No Restrictions
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Interview Accession Number: 1987oh191_app114
Interviewer: Nyoka Hawkins
Restrictions: No Restrictions
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Interview Accession Number: 1987oh192_app115
Interviewer: Nyoka Hawkins
Restrictions: No Restrictions
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Interview Accession Number: 1987oh193_app116
Interviewer: Nyoka Hawkins
Restrictions: No Restrictions
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Interview Accession Number: 1987oh194_app117
Interviewer: Nyoka Hawkins
Restrictions: No Restrictions
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Interview Accession Number: 1987oh195_app118
Interviewer: Nyoka Hawkins
Restrictions: No Restrictions
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Interview Accession Number: 1987oh196_app119
Interviewer: Nyoka Hawkins
Restrictions: No Restrictions
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Interview Accession Number: 1987oh197_app120
Interviewer: Nyoka Hawkins
Restrictions: No Restrictions
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Interview Accession Number: 1987oh198_app121
Interviewer: Nyoka Hawkins
Restrictions: No Restrictions
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Interview Accession Number: 1987oh199_app122
Interviewer: Nyoka Hawkins
Restrictions: No Restrictions
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Interview Accession Number: 1987oh200_app123
Interviewer: Nyoka Hawkins
Restrictions: No Restrictions
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Interview Accession Number: 1988oh085_app131
Interviewer: Nyoka Hawkins
Restrictions: No Restrictions
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Interview Accession Number: 1988oh086_app132
Interviewer: Nyoka Hawkins
Restrictions: No Restrictions
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Interview Accession Number: 1988oh087_app133
Interviewer: Nyoka Hawkins
Restrictions: No Restrictions
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