Centennial: Battle of Blair Mountain, WV, Largest US Labor Uprising, Aug -Sept 3, 1921, Anniv Events

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Mon Aug 23, 2021, 11:07 PM - Edit history (1)

- Striking miners surrender their rifles to federal troops after the battle of Blair Mountain in late August of 1921.
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- 'Events Across the State To Commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Mine Wars, Battle of Blair Mountain,' West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Aug. 5, 2021. - Ed.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Blair Mountain. Organizations and communities in southern West Virginia are already commemorating the centennial. The Battle of Blair Mountain is one of West Virginia’s largest moments in American history. As part of the Mine Wars, coal miners marched near the Boone-Logan County line from late August to Sept. 3. The march was the largest labor uprising in U.S. history.

- NPS, Battle of Blair Mountain
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-battle-of-blair-mountain.htm

It happened in the early 1900’s after coal miners in West Virginia endured years of dangerous conditions underground and brutal political and cultural treatment above ground. By 1921, the miners decided to fight for their fellow miners in the Mingo County town of Williamson, who were locked up without trial. They were charged with violating martial law, an act that gives absolute power to the federal military during times of “war, rebellion, or natural disaster.” The battle ended when martial law was declared again, and U.S. Army troops disarmed the miners.

The uprising has been largely underreported but organizations and communities are hoping the events this year will provide more opportunities for people to visit and learn about America’s labor history. Dozens of events are taking place online and in communities that played an important part in the Battle of Blair Mountain and the Mine Wars. Some of those towns include Matewan and Williamson in Mingo County, Madison, in Boone County and Welch in McDowell County.

Some of the groups working to organize the events include the Mine Wars Museum in Matewan, the West Virginia Humanities Council, and the National Coal Heritage Area Authority. The next event is a performance of the play “Terror of the Tug” in Summers County at Pipestem Resort State Park amphitheatre on Saturday, Aug. 7 at 8 p.m.
The main events are happening Sept. 3 and Labor Day, the first Monday of the month, Sept. 6. Some of the events include outdoor plays, reenactments, tours, virtual roundtable discussions and retracing the march to Blair Mountain.

The anniversary is Sept. 3, so Labor Day Weekend marks the 100th anniversary of the centennial. You can find a list of events commemorating the 100th anniversary at this site...
https://www.wvpublic.org/section/arts-culture/2021-08-05/events-across-the-state-to-commemorate-the-100th-anniversary-of-mine-wars-battle-of-blair-mountain
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* Complete Schedule of 'Blair 100' Commemorative Events, Late Aug.- Sept. 2021, West Virginia Mine Wars Museum, Matewan, WV, https://www.blair100.com/

* West Virginia Mine Wars Museum, Matewan, WV,
https://wvminewars.org/



- Mother Jones, fierce labor activist speaks to an assembled crowd in Montgomery, West Virginia in 1912 ahead of the Paint Creek, WV Miners Strike. (WVU)

[underpants]

1. An amazing story that I knew about before Tulsa or Wilmington, or recently Danville VA

[appalachiablue]

2. I knew of Tulsa, OK and Wilmington, NC

but I had to look up Danville. The Danville, Va Riot of 1883, awful yet no surprise, sorry to say. https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/danville-riot/

There were also attacks and murders against Asian workers on the west coast, Portland, Seattle, etc., late 19th, early 20th cent.
https://time.com/5834427/violence-against-asian-americans-history/

(TIME).. This type of language boiled over into deathly violence time and time again. In 1871, at least seventeen Chinese immigrants were hanged in makeshift gallows by a large white mob in Chinatown in Los Angeles. In 1885, an armed mob forcibly drove a Chinese population out of its Tacoma, Wash. homes, menacing its community with rifles, breaking into houses and smashing doors and windows. The same year, white workers in Wyoming massacred 28 Chinese coal miners.
In each instance, these vicious attacks did not result in increased protections for Asian Americans, but further institutional debasement. In Tacoma, the city’s mayor, Jacob Weisbach, participated himself; in Los Angeles, the manslaughter convictions of eight men were ultimately overturned on a legal technicality. In 1882, the widespread anti-Chinese sentiment was burnished into law with the Chinese Exclusion Act, marking the first time the U.S. had ever barred a specific ethnic group from immigrating to the country...
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- Zinn Report: The Danville Riot occurred on Nov. 3, 1883.

White supremacists resented the biracial Readjuster Party which controlled the city council seats in the majority African American city of Danville, Virginia in 1882. An attack by white supremacists left four Black and one white man dead.

In the aftermath, armed white men patrolled the streets of the town, preventing most African Americans from voting and allowing the Democratic Party to regain political power in the town. Read more in the Encyclopedia Virginia.

[gademocrat7]

3. My great grandfather was a miner in Logan County,WVA.

This is a very important part of the labor movement.

[Tanuki]

4. West Virginia Mine Wars Museum, Matewan, WV

https://wvminewars.org/

[TexasTowelie]

6. I posted another article about the revolt:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10832340

[appalachiablue]

7. Thank you