This week, the federal government has taken back millions of dollars set aside for public radio stations. Allegheny Mountain Radio is among those fighting to stay on the air. Also, a book by a West Virginia artist illustrates the tiny worlds of mountain critters, like a lizard that changes color. And, geocaching gets folks outside to play detective and find hidden treasures.
Some of the thousands of armed West Virginia coal miners who marched from Marmet to Blair Mountain from Aug. 25 to Sept. 2, 1921. West Virginia Archive
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More than a hundred years ago West Virginia was home to our nation’s most violent labor uprising.
For some, the Battle of Blair Mountain was a watershed moment when coal workers decided their rights were worth fighting and even dying for. The armed insurrection pitted 10,000 coal miners against 3,000 heavily armed coal industry guards and state troopers. The conflict came to a head because of the social and economic forces that hit West Virginia’s coal country after World War I.
It was the largest labor uprising in American history and the largest armed conflict since the Civil War. And yet, the Battle of Blair Mountain is largely unknown to most Americans, including West Virginians.
To learn more, Us & Them host Trey Kay follows the path of the miners on their march to Mingo, and learn what precipitated the battle.
The episode was honored with an award from The Virginias Associated Press Broadcasters.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council and the CRC Foundation.
Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond. You also can listen to Us & Them on WVPB Radio — tune in on the fourth Thursday of every month at 8 p.m., with an encore presentation on the following Saturday at 3 p.m.
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Historian Charles Keeney (author of The Road to Blair Mountain: Saving a Mine Wars Battlefield from King Coal) takes Us & Them host Trey Kay to retrace the “March from Marmet to Mingo.”
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The boarded up Whipple Company Store in Whipple, W.Va. was built around 1900. As a company store, it remained in operation until August 1957, when the New River Company mine closed.
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Singer/songwriter Mary Hott explores the old Whipple Company Store — one of the last remaining coal company stores in Fayette County, WV. The songs on Hott’s album “Devil In The Hills” focuses on the culture of the company store and its effect on women.
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United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts speaking at a rally in New York City in July 2021. UMWA miners protested outside of the Manhattan headquarters of BlackRock, which is listed as the largest shareholder of Warrior Met Coal. For months, the UMWA has protested Warrior Met for better wages and employee benefits.
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UMWA protest in midtown New York City in July 2021.
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Actor Susan Sarandon speaking at a UMWA Rally in Midtown Manhattan.
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Actor Susan Sarandon speaks with Us & Them host Trey Kay at a UMWA Rally in NYC in July 2021
This week, the federal government has taken back millions of dollars set aside for public radio stations. Allegheny Mountain Radio is among those fighting to stay on the air. Also, a book by a West Virginia artist illustrates the tiny worlds of mountain critters, like a lizard that changes color. And, geocaching gets folks outside to play detective and find hidden treasures.
If you’ve ever been on TikTok or Instagram and seen short, quirky videos of English people talking about Marshall University football, or in this case, soccer, those are the brainchild of independent British filmmaker Daniel Johnson.
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This week, we speak with the author of a new graphic novel about the West Virginia Mine Wars. Also, professional storyteller James Froemel invents quirky characters, like a sign maker who can’t spell. And, one of the most common animals to get hit by cars are opossums. But, there’s a kind of animal rescue called pouch picking. We talk with author Laura Jackson.