National Sacrifice Zone
May 7, 2017 9:44 PM Subscribe
Blair Mountain is the closest thing to Gettysburg that the American labor movement has. Its historic significance is immense. It also happens to sit in the poorest region of a state that is in desperate need of tourism dollars and economic development. Drive on Route 17 to the speck of a town called Blair, though, and all that you will find is a single historic marker for the battle, along with a trailer-sized post office, two churches, and a handful of houses. There is no museum. There is no trail. You cannot even wander up Blair Mountain yourself, because it is private property, owned by coal companies and patrolled by their private security. In fact, those coal companies have, since 2009, been waging a legal battle to prevent the Blair Mountain site from being added to the National Register of Historic Places, so that they can strip mine it instead of preserve it.- How West Virginia Lost the Workers' Revolution
May 19, 1920: The Matewan Massacre
The Second Battle Of Blair Mountain
It gets mentioned in two of the links, but I will just put in a plug here for John Sayles' film Matewan. It's worth a watch if you can still find it.
posted by Nerd of the North at 12:48 AM on May 8, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by Nerd of the North at 12:48 AM on May 8, 2017 [4 favorites]
having read the article and the first comment and grown up in Roanoke, Virginia (the first "big city" down the highway from Beckley and therefore the first stop for a lot of WVa's refugees), I can speak to the truth being somewhere between the tragic District 12 narrative of the article and the opinion of a Californian who spent 2 years there before going back home.
here. Coastal Liberals Look Out: the Working Class Is the New Face of Activism. This is about Nic I worked with at Kroger.
posted by floweringjudas at 7:56 AM on May 8, 2017 [9 favorites]
here. Coastal Liberals Look Out: the Working Class Is the New Face of Activism. This is about Nic I worked with at Kroger.
posted by floweringjudas at 7:56 AM on May 8, 2017 [9 favorites]
Why Black Lung Disease Is Deadlier Than Ever
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:28 AM on May 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:28 AM on May 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
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posted by Apocryphon at 11:40 PM on May 7, 2017 [5 favorites]