Donation From Retired Union Leader Supports Preservation Of Labor History

The West Virginia Mine Wars Museum is getting a sizable donation from retired union leader Cecil Roberts.  

The $50,000 donation comes from the Cecil E. Roberts Legacy Fund, established to raise money to expand education on labor history when Roberts retired as president of the United Mine Workers of America last year after 30 years of service.  

Thursday’s donation raises Roberts’ total contribution to the museum to $100,000. Last September, he contributed $50,000 and has pledged another $50,000 next year.  

“We believe the younger generation needs to know the truth,” Roberts said in a press release Thursday. “The rights our young people inherit today were paid for in advance by the blood, sweat, and tears of workers who marched, organized, and sacrificed everything for a better future.” 

Nancy Peyton, development coordinator for the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum, said the donations have put the museum on secure footing to preserve West Virginia’s labor history.  

“The museum has grown so much in the last few years. Just from this time last year, the staff size has doubled,” she said. “We have eight staff members at the museum, seven who are full time and one part time. (Director Kenzie New Walker) really wanted to figure out ways to diversify the income and help to put the museum on secure footing to help continue telling this untold history that is so important to this area.” 

The funding led to the creation of Peyton’s position who in turn helps bring in more grants and funding for the museum to expand youth education initiatives aimed at keeping true labor movement history alive. Its a history Peyton said she only learned recently. 

“This history was erased and hidden for a long time, and being able to bring it back to the forefront and bring it back into conversation has been a wonderful thing to see,” she said. “Especially for myself as someone who’s lived in the county where the Battle of Blair Mountain happened, and having not even learned about it in school whenever I was growing up and now seeing the types of lessons that are going on and people that are starting to talk about this history. The museum has played a pretty large role in bringing that back to the forefront. Having someone like Cecil to support that mission and that effort is very meaningful because he created the history and we’re helping to tell that story.”