Working in Appalachia.

40 Pages·2007·1.86 MB·English

DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 313 198
RC 017 335
AUTHOR
Arnow, Pat, Ed.
TITLE Working in Appalachia.
INSTITUTION
East Tennessee State Univ., Johnson City. Center for
Appalachian Studies and Services.
PUB DATE
88
NOTE
41p.
AVAILABLE FROM
Now and Then, CASS, Box 19180A, East Tennessee State
University, Johnson. City, TN 37614-0002 ($2.50).
PUB TYPE
Collected Works - Serials (022) -- Creative Works
(Literature,Drama,Fine Arts) (030)
JOURNAL CIT
Now and Then; v5 nl Spr 1988
EDRS PRICE
MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.
DESCRIPTORS
*Coal; Employment; Essays; Geographic Regions;
Interviews; *Mining; Occupations; Personal
Narratives; Poetry; *Work Experience
IDENTIFIERS
*Appalachia; Appalachian People
ABSTRACT
This journal issue focuses on a variety of
Appalachian occupations, particularly but not exclusively, coal
mining. The lead article is an interview with John Sayles about his
movie, "Matewan." Sayles sees the Matewan massacre as a great movie
theme, "like a classic American Western...but with a difference--the
violence was collective, and it was political." The afterword to
Matewan, the Battle of ,.air Mountain, is the subject of Denise
Giardina's novel, "Storming Heaven." In an interview Giardina says,
"I see coal as a curse." She envisions Appalachia without coal as
Vermont or New Hampshire, clean and prosperous. The magazine also
includes profiles of coal miners, a farmer, a rug hooker, and a
shoeshine man; poetry about mining and Appalachia; and photos of past
and contemporary Appalachian workers. An interview with a traditional
farmer explores the place of the worker who resisted modernization
because "hillside farming and all didn't suit a tractor." Films about
novelist Harriet Simpson Arnow and the Banner Mine disaster, books
about making "Ma,.ewan" and southern cotton mills, and television
shows about the Mud Creek Clinic and the Frontier Nursing Service are
reviewed. (DHP)
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
5.1fauther 1
newoudt
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'TMs
document has been reproduced as
from the person or omatfizahon
ongmahng It
0 Mmor changes have been made to miorove
reproduction oualdy
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Pants of mew or opirtons stated in thd docu-
INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."
ment do not nectssanly represent official
0E141 posMon or policy
BES1 COPY HVAILHIA.1
"Now, I didn't make no
baskets back when I was
able to work. Maybe one
now and then to use. Just
now and then. I didn't have
basket.
time to look at
a
Needed one, made it. Or
somebody, one of the
neighbors wanted one, I'd
maybe make one."
Jesse Joshes, SO, has spent most of his life working his Scott County, Va., farm. During the last
15 years, he's cut back on his farming and begun devoting more time to the only slightly less
physically denstiding process of producing fine Appalachian white oak baskets. Jones fells
the white oaks he needs, prepares the splits and does all the final weaving. His work has been
Baskets and Basket Makers in Southern Appalachia.
featured in John Rice Irwin's
Contents.
Now and Then
Editorial Board
2-3
COLUMNS
Closed Eyes
17
Ron Johnson
With this issue we welcome five new members
FEATURES'
Robert J.
Reerement Living
17
to our editorial board. They join
(Jack) Higgs. Marat Moore
Rita
and
Sheryl Nelms
Where .the Rubber Meets
Quillen,
our charter members. The editorial
the Road
board provides us with a generous supply of
Our Minister's Other
good ideas, writing and encouragement. Our
John Sayler
5
Heaven .....
23
.
new advisors are:
Itifarat Moore
- Bert Allen,
Randy Oakes
associate professor of
psychology at Milligan College, Milligan, Tenn.,
Fighting 'Sack
29
Diamond Jenny *5
. . .
was the guest editor of our "Appalachian
.
Denise Giardina
Veterans" issue. A Vietnam veteran himself, he
Jone HickS
has worked with other Vietnam veterans and
Tim Boudreau
with exprisoners of war. This year he is working
36
The Runner
at the Veterans Administration Medical Center
Lives in Coal
11
Georgeann Eskieuich Rehberg
at Mountain Home, Tenn., in a project for
37
homeless veterans.
3(
Onions
Ed Cabbell
Mary Alice Basconi
directs the John Henry Memorial
Foundation in Princeton, W. Va. Through the
Kelly Cogswell
Another Side .....
14
foundation, he publishes Block Diamonds
Magazine and puts on the John Henry Folk
Carol Moore and JenapRockett
REVIEWS
Festival (this year to be held in Pipestem, W. Va.
Photos by Kenneth Murray
September 2.4). He teaches Appalachian Studies
Harriette.Simpson Arnow
at Concord College and is working toward his
Dr. Enuf is Still here .
17
1908=1986
.24
doctoral degree in history at West Virginia
John Hart
University. He was the guest editor for our
film-by-Herb E. Sm!th
"Black Appalachians" issue.
Robert J. Higgs
"I never did change
Pauline Cheek's
Appalachian Scrapbook is
published by Appalachian Consortium Press.
things here"
20
Black Coal Miners
She has studied the history of the rug hooking
Jane Woodside
hi America-
industry that sustained the economy in the
......
1930s near her home of Mars Hiil, North
26
bY Ronald L. Lewis
Majestic
. _22-
Carolina. (and has written a story about it that
G.E,NeaSrnan and
Lany.
Ed Sniidderly
appears on page 35). She was the guest editor
Makes
for the "Appalachian Childhood" issue
24
Letter from a Writer
- Mary Chiltoskey
was the editor of our
CnOvicts,,Coali. and
"Cherokee" edition. She has been a teacher and
Harriette Arnow
librarian in Cherokee, N.C., for more than 40
Banner Mine Tragedy
years. Over the years she has collected folklore,
Hooking Past to Future
33
. . .
by Robert David Ward and
which she has published in books including
Pauline Cheek
27
William Warren Rogers
.
Cherokee Cook lore and Cherokee Plants and
Their Uses.
Jim Odom-
34
. . . .
Appalachian WorkOut
Fred Waage
teaches English at East
Tony Feathers
Tennessee State University. He is the author of
Thinking in' Pictures
two chapbooks: Minestrone and End of the
by John Styles
28
World: California Stories. He has served on the
POETRY
Richard-Blaustein
publishing staff of the Frimds of the Earth.
published and edited the literary magazine
4
Ain't No Pie Jobs
Storming Heaven
Second Growth and is founding editor of Now
29
and Then.
by Denise Giardina
Jenny Galloway Collins
Laurie Lindberg
. . .
Discussion at Age Seven 4
=1 =1 =1
Like a Family
Georgeann Eskieuich Rettberg
by Jacquelyn Dowd Hall
The Strikers
12
and others . .
30
Staff
.
Joseph Barrett
Director - Richard Blaustein
Marie Tedesco
the answer is blowin'
Associate Director - William Cook
Mud Creek Clink
31
Editor - Pat Arnow
12
in the wind
video by Anne. Johnson
Poetry Editor - Jo Carson
Bob Henry Bober
Mary Swaykus
Research Associate - Jane Woodside
Working Mother 13
Support Staff - Carolyn Cerrito, Ruth
.
Frontier Nursing . . .
31
.
Hausman, Margaret Liu, Terena
Rita Quillen
video by Anne Johnson
Slagle, Kathy M. Smith, Cathy
13
Summer of 1908
Jo Ann Crawford
Whaley and assistance from
Glenn McKee
Allison Puranik
Kingsport, Tennessee
©Copyright by the Center for Appalachian
Fixing Supper
13
by Margaret Ripley Wolfe 32
Studies and Services. 1988.
Suzanne Clark
Edward L. Ayers
SBR No 130-024-87
Now and Then/1
From the
involvement. in
edialikg,
et
consulting projects
Editor
and service to
public schools.
All of this has
been like casting
When John Sayles' coal. mining
bread upon the
opened in New York
movie,
Matewan,
waters; the Center
and other large cities in the fall of
has grown and
1987, I heard wonderful things about
because
f )unshed
it. This independently produced movie
of the support it
brought to life a dramatic moment of
has given to its
West Virginia coal mining history and
faculty members
was a crusading union film.
and fellows.
I was thinking about calling Marat
Today, however,
Moore, an ex-coal miner who is now a
Brenda Wilson, coning department, LeowFerenbach,
despite its record
reporter for the United Mine Workers
Johnsoi /City, Tenn., 1973.
of accomplishment,
of America's
hoping she might
Journal,
From the
the Center for Appalachian Studies
be able to track t?own the filmmaker
and Services is at a critical point of
for an interview. Before I could get
Director
development. Excellence costs money,
around to it, she called me. She said
and the requests for support we are
that she had already seen
Matewan
receiving will soon outstrip our
three times, it was a great film, and
This latest issue of
Now and Then
is
resources unless we can build up a
she had interviewed John Sayles and
going to press just as we are in the
substantial endowment for the CASS
wondered if I might like to have that
midst of putting together our budget
Fellowship Program. Preparing a
for Now and Then.
You bet.
and action plan for the fifth year of the
typical book manuscript costs between
John Sayles is not the only artist
Center for Appalachian Studies and
$600 and $1,000; publishing a major
gaining recognition for focusing on the
Services. At times the work has
book or phonograph record can cost
coal mine wars in West Virginia in the
seemed endless, but there have been
between $5,000 to $10,000; major
1920s. Denise Giardina's nationally
plenty of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards
films can cost much more.
acclaimed novel Storming
Heaven
during the past few years. There is
Publishing a magazine of the quality
covers that same time and place.
nothing more satisfying, from my point
is not an
of Now and Then
Giardina, who lives in Eastern
of view, than to work with talented,
inexpensive proposition, either. If you
Kentucky, also sees the parallels
creative people and to see promising
haven't subscribed yet, I urge you to
between now and then. She talks
ideas become exciting realities. We
do so now. Even at the modest cost of
about that, and her own activism in an
have seen the CASS Fellowship
$7.50 per year ($10 for institutions
interview with Tim Boudreau on
Program support the diverse activities
and libraries) every subscription helps,
page 9.
of regional artists, scholars and public
and if you can help us even more by
It was hard to tear ourselves away
service advocates, resulting in books,
giving a gift subscription to a friend or
from coal mining stork s in this issue.
records, films, radio programs, school
your favorite library, that would be
Besides the inherent high drama, coal
residencies and other projects directly
better yet. If you are able to make a
mining brings up endless economic and
benefitting our region; we have been
larger donation and would like to know
social implications for Appalachia.
able to add new courses and seminars
more about the work of the CASS
But it is the goal of Now
and Then
in family practic- and anthropology;
Fellowship Program, please call or
to portray the many dimensions of
we have helped our faculty members
write me in care of CASS, Box
Appalachia, not just the most obvious
write grant proposals to support
19i80A, ETSU, Johnson City, Tenn.
and dramatic.
regional writing residencies and a
37614-0002, 615.929-5348. We've
This issue is filled with stories and
seminar on the cultural and historical
come a long way in a short time, but
poems about a variety of occupations
links between Scotland and
we need your help now more than
and lifestylesfrom manufacturing
Appalachia. We have sought to help
ever. Stay with us.
soda pop to shining shoes, from
our colleagues grow professionally by
plowing Ix hind a horse to peeling
sponsoring travel to conferences, by
Richard Blaustein
onions.
subsidizing the preparation of
This edition is dedicated to all those
manuscripts and by encouraging their
who work in Appalachia.
O 0 0
Now and Then Magazine
Pat Arnow
Now and Then haS been published since
addressed stamped envelope. We will be
1984 thieetimes a year by the Center for
careful but not responsible for all materials.
Appalichian Studies and Services at East
Address all correspondence to: Editor, Now
Earl R
Yates was editor/photographer of
and Then, CASS, Box 19,180A, ETSU,
Tennessee State Untversity. SUbscriptkrns
Throwster, a newsletter of the Leon-Ferenbach
O 0
-are $7.50 per-year ($10.00 for institutions
Johnson City, TN 37614-0002.
Company, from 1963 to 1977 He is currently
and libraries).
East Tennessee State University is fully in
employed at HellQuaker in Johnson City
ISSN. No. 0896-2693
accord with the belief that educational and
'Subinissiors of poetry, fiction, scholarly
employment opportunities should be
The views expressed in these pages are
and peiaonal essays, graphics and
available to all eligible persons without regard
ni
those of the authors and do
ecessarily
lihoti=c-oricened with Appalachian life
to age, sex, race, religion, national origin or
represent opinions of East Ter
are
see State
aecompahied by a self-
handicap.
Univers4 or of the State Boak. vf Regents.
2/Now and Then
From the Archives
By the 1920s Upper East Tennessee
On March 12, 1929, a strike which
est.....,,,shed in Clinton, Tenn., in 1906.
had experienced the boom and decline
began at Glanzstoff and spread to
Collections that contain significant
of the timber industry and the
Bemberg, eventually resulted in the
amounts of strike-related or union-
introduction of the railroads. Railroad
placement of National Guard troops in
related materials include records of the
industrial agents and local chambers of
Elizabethton.
International Woodworkers of
commerce were actively trying to
In an article published by The Nation
America, Local 5-313, and the
entice Northem and foreign industries
in 1929, visiting joumalist Sherwood
Kingsport Press Strike Collection.
to locate in the region with promises of
Anderson ecounted hi., impressions of
Union activities ere further
abundant natural resources, tax
a secret union meeting he attended.
documented in the Bemard H. Cantor
exemptions and cheap nonunion
According to Anderson, when the
Papers (1959 -78). The Cantor papers
labor. In 1913 Carolina, Clinchfield
rumor spread that anyone joining the
focus on his work as a labor
and Ohio Railroad industrial agent
union would be fired, one man
arbitration judge in Johnson City.
F.M. Runnels wrote to S & F
responded: "Well, then we will go back
The archives holds a number of
Manufacturing, a textile manufacturer
to the hills. I lived on birdeye beans
materials related to coal mining. The
in Pennsylvania, that there was "no
before there was any rayon plant and
Marat Moore Collection consists of
better help in the world than this
can live on birdeye beans again."
photographs, and audiotapes (with
mountain type of girl that works ten
Another view of the strike is contained
original and edited transcripts) resulting
hours per day for practically one-half
in the Helen Raulston papers which
from interviews of 35 women coal
the wages that you are forced to pay."
include a transcript of interviews with
miners.
In this same letter, Runnels suggested
three former Bemberg employees who
The Council on Appalachian
that Johnson City, Tenn., might be the
worked through the strike. According
Women Records also contains some
place for the company to escape "the
to Raulston, the local workers were
information on women working in the
annoyance of strikes." Negotiations by
"well satisfied" and the weekly salary
mines. In the Broadside Televisior.
industrial agents and chambers of
of $11.20 was "good wages for people
Collection there are a number of video
commerce with outside capital did
not even used to 20C a week." She
tapes which detail mining and union
bring more industries to Appalachian
maintained that the union was
organizing in the mines.
communities, and industrial work and
responsible for keeping the workers
Photographs of miners can be found
union activities became a part of
agitated.
in the Appalachian Photographic
community life.
While opinions about the strike may
Collection and in the Kenneth Murray
A joint effort by the Johnson City
differ, it has to be admitted that the
Photographs.
two giant rayon plants introduced
and Elizal-,ctliton Chambers of
The Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio
Commerce promising tax exemptions
industrial work and the resulting union
Railroads Records contain extensive
and cheap labor helped to persuade a
activity to Elizabethton and Carter
materials on the location of industries
German company to locate two huge
County on a much larger scale than
in the region and on the railroad's
rayon plantsAmerican Bemberg and
the communities had experienced in
service to the various industries. In
American Glanzstoff Corporations
previous years.
addition, the archives has slide/tape
just outside of Elizabethton, Tenn. The
The Archives of Appalachia holds a
programs on logging and on coal
news was greeted with great
number of sources relating to
mining in southern Appalachia and
anticipation. According to the Johnson
Elizabeth ton's rayon plants in
scattered issues of the Southern
City Staff-News, at opening
particular and the industrialization of
Lumberman for 1926-1927.
ceremonies on October 29, 1926,
the region in general. The Helen
With the industrialization of southem
company officials predicted
Raulston Collection consists of two
Appalachia, industrial work and union
employment of 2,000 persons within
16mm films (and a duplicate on video-
activities have been and continue to be
the next two months. This promise
cassette) of the 1929 strike. Two 1982
an integral part of Appalachia's
was especially encouraging to a town
interviews with three former employees
economic and community life.
whose population, according to United
are included as part of the collection.
The archives desires to continue
States census figures for 1920,
The archives also holds 71 copies of
acquiring materials which relate to
exceeded that figure by only 749. The
the two rayon plants' publ;cation, The
industry, work and unions. For more
Staff-News reported that at maximum
Watauga Spinnerette which includes
information on any of these materials,
capacity the rayon plants would
much information on the employees
please contact the Archives of
employ 10,000 individuals.
and major events at the factories.
Appalachia, Box 22,450A, East
With the beginning of the Great
Another source conceming the rayon
Tennessee State University, Johnson
Depression in the United States and of
City, Tenn. 37614, phone: (615)
manufacturers is an American
labor problems at the two plants in
Bemberg Research Department report
929-4338.
1929, these expectations for
which describes the production of
0
Glanzstoff and Bemberg began to
rayon.
-Norma Thomas and Marie Tedesco
wane. The mountain labor proved to
In addition the archives has the
=3
be dissatisfied with their low wages.
records of Magnet
a hosiery mill
Now and Then/3
Ain't No Pie Jobs
Another motor clOwn
&left has z inch water
cold water seeps into leaky boots
feet stay cold and ache
way past dinner
and finishing up In the shop
Hands swell from concrete too
can't weafa weck:ing band
Discussion At Age Seven
evenon Weekends off
The grinder
manicures some nails twier
My father lifts
The torch bums eyes bright red
his Millers and coughs out
spews hot metal through two shirts
the steel mill.
He's busy
Read the bulletin board at quittin time
resting.
maybe another job up for bid
somebody's got 9 Beale puppies
Iris eyes scan
school's all day on the 25th
the pages of a book
good bass boat for sale-
he's forgetting.
probably'Lonnie's
he never got called back
Cigarette smoke spirals up
through a lamp shade.
No jobs posted
I sit and wait for him to say
could be a lot worse
"I don't remember."
Remember 83?
NO WORK 'TIL FURTHER NOTICE
Georgeann Eskievich Rettberg
Thinking on the way home
of hot suppers and warm kids
trying to keep it that way.
Jenny Galloway Collins
:CâNis
Jenny Gil
Of Letc .;
a
'GeOrgeann_EskieutCh Rettberg ,teaches 'kindergarten and
;214h,
iin Mountain Review,
fourth ark! fifth grade-poetry workshop for the Pittsburgh
others.:,She;
PubliaSchods: Herwork-km been published In
Panhandler, Sojourner and the Mill Hunk
-18"
area.
Herald.
ftddenPo
7
11-41-"-1"it
Where the Rubber Meets the Road
John Say les talks about his coal
mining movie Matewan
Marat Moore
On May 19, 1920, a showdown on the main street of a West Virginia coal town
made history in the American labor movement.
Eleven armed guards from the infamous Baldwin-Felts detective agency came
into the town of Matewan after carrying out forced evictions of pro-union families
from houses owned by Stone Mountain Coal Company.
Mayor Cabell'Testerman and his young chief of police, Sid Hatfield, challenged
the evictions. After the guards attempted to arrest the two with bogus warrants,
shooting broke out.
When the smoke cleared, seven guards, two townspeople and Mayor Testerman
were dead. A local jury acquitted Hatfield in the guard murders, but a year later he
and a friend, Ed Chambers, were gunned down as they walked up the steps of the
McDowell County Courthouse in Welch, W. Va., where they were facing trumped-
up charges.
The murders of Hatfield and Chambers sent shock waves throughout the
coalfields, and triggered the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921, when 10,000 coal
miners marched to do battle against company guards and state militia.
Ikse cucq
Matewan,
With the 1987 production of
John Sayles, a novelist and
014, "1
independent filmmaker, realized his goal of nearly a decade, making a movie
k dew°
based upon the Matewan Massacre.
Sallies has built a reputation and a loyal following outside Hollywood with his
Lianna,
Return of the Secaucus Seven,
thoughtful, offbeat films including
Director John Sayles making the movie
Brother from Another Planet
Baby, It's You.
and
Matewan.
MARAT MOORE: You've had a
consciousness in a whole group of
And I have always been interested in
long interest in Appalachian
the theory of America as the melting
people than to show a loner against
coal miners, since opening your
pothow that does or doesn't work in
the mob, which is what you usually
novel
in the West
Union"Dues
find in Westerns.
this country.
Virginia coalfields. Why did you
I saw those themes, and plus, just a
MM: But the Matewan Massacre
return to this subject in
great movie story. Just the facts are so
was only one chapter in a
Matewan?
much like a classic American Western,
30-year struggle. Why did you
SAYLES: There is no place in
leading up to the showdown, but with
focus on that incident and not,
a differencethe violence was
America like Eastern Kentucky and
for example, on the Battle of
Southern West Virginia. Back in the
collective, and it was political. It wasn't
Blair Mountain which followed
1960s, I hitchhiked through the area,
just the sheriff going out there against
a year later?
and I got a lot of rides from miners
the mob. It was everybody who said,
SAYLES: At that moment in history,
who told me about the black lung
'They're not going to take our sheriff
Matewan was where everything came
movement and the struggles within the
from us.' And then it just kind of blew
to a head. Something had to give
UMWA. But they all said, This is
up, like the opening shot of the film.
somewhere. And that's when it came.
nothing compared to what it used to
When you see the fuse burning down
Sort of like Cabin Creek earlier. Or
be. You should talk to my daddy, or
until it finally explodes. That was the
Ludlow in Colorado. And it was a time
image I had of what happened in
my grandaddy. They could tell you
when the union movement was at a
some tales.'
Matewan.
crossroads. Matewan was the catalyst
SO when I was writing Union Dues, I
Coal mining is, I think, where the
to Blair Mountain. It came down to
rubber meets the road. It is an
started reading about the coal wars.
that one little town that was the hot
And it seemed that in that struggle,
elemental act. In World War I,
spot. And Blair Mountain was more
you had so many American themes in
America fought with the coal that
diffused. You had 10,000 coal miners
marching to battle. A lon5fleEd was
mean, how many movies do you see
caught between individualism, which is
flying, and people were scattered out
such an American thing, and the idea
about cowboys? And that era lasted
everywhere. Using that many extras
of unionism. To have a union, they
for a very short period of time.
was way beyond our budget. That
had to sacrifice their prejudices for
I felt it was time that this sort of
could be the sequel, if we could ever
something bigger than themselves. And
attention should be paid. There are a
raise the money.
even though the operators were taking
dozen stories you could tell. But it's a
MM: How difficult was it to
total advantage of them, that was very
harder story to get across,
finance Matewan?
hard for people to do.
dramatically, to show the rise of a
Now and Then/5
SAYLES: Because of the political
money I'd made writing screenplays.
racism, which was unusual for a union
nature of the film, it was hard to get
Matewan cost just under $4 million.
to do. It was an important risk for
anybody interested. About four years
The period and the size of it would
them to take. The union's message
air), the producers actively started
have cost a studio from $10 to $15
was, 'Don't let the operators divide
trying to raise the money. It was a long
million to make the same movie. But
you, don't fall into this trap.' Racism
haul. They went everywhere. We did
for us, by being very labor-intensive
was one of the strongest barriers the
send it out to the studios, but we
and shooting for seven weeks instead
union faced.
made it very clear that we wanted full
of 15 to 20, we were able to get it
We.talked to people 'from that area
control of casting, editing,
done for under four.
everything.
to do research. One of the nice things
So we weren't surprised when it came
that happened is that once we got
MM: Matewan reflects some
back real quick.
down there with our various
solid research, especially in the
But I knew it wouldn't turn out to be
departments, the art department
dialect of Mingo County. How
the kind of movie I wanted it to be if it
immediately made contacts with local
did you go about digging up the
went through the studio system. They
people, with miners, to get the kind of
history?
might have been interested in it, but it
set dressing we needed. We needed a
would have gotten changed along the
mule and a cart, and old miners are
SAYLES: Since the script sat on the
way. The organizer wouldn't have been
collectors. And when we'd get three
shelf for several years, I had time to
a Wobbly, and somewhere along the
hardhats, we'd get three stories to go
deepen my knowledge of the history
way, he would have said, 'Yeah, I used
along with them.,So we were Collecting
and just about what conditions people
stories while we were collecting other
had to contend with. Looking at it, you
materials.
had to wonder how they were ever
able to build a union.
I read a lot more about the pattern
of immigration. In 1920, one-quarter of
3t
all coal miners in West Virginia were
!Sliiikkl'r
Black. The mines in Alabama were
tapping out, so those men needed the
work and were often offered jobs that
they had no idea were scabbing jobs.
And 1920 was one of the first years
for lynching in American history. There
must have been a lot of trepidation.
West Virginia wasn't
T
Alabamait wasn't as
dangerous to be a Black
man therebut the racial
tension was there.
They were stuck in a
boxcar that was nailed
shut, given some bread and
water, and then two days
later, the door was opened
in West Virginia. And when
that door opened, not only
would miners be throwing
things at them because they
were breaking the strike,
Union leader Sid Hatfield,
1894- 1921(1.)
but the company told the
Actor David Strathairn playing Sid
Blacks they owed $200 for
Hatfield (r.)
Josh Mostel playing Mayor Cabell
train fare, and if they didn't work tc
Testerman in Matewan (I.)
to be a pretty good shot,' and then he
pay it, they'd be arrested as thieves.
Mayor Cabell Testerman (r.)
would have picked up a gun, and he
The Italians were a different story.
would have been there at that
Most of the ones who came to West
MM: Immigration had a great
shootout at the end instead of being a
Virginia were brought right off the
impact on the region. And the
boat. They'd never worked in a mine,
pacifist.
theme of Appalachia as a
After we got it back from the
and very often some guy who didn't
melting potand the struggle to
studios, we went to people who had a
speak any Italian would be telling them
overcome ethnic prejudiceis a
how to put off a shot and then walk
history of investing in small films. The
major theme of the film.
movie almost came together a couple
out. So they were carting out dead
of times and then fell apart. Once we
bodies every day in some of those
SAYLES: In West Virginia at that
were on our way to West Virginia to
mines.
time, the cperators hired what they
shoot and got a call that the loan
Reading the UMW Journals from
called a 'judicious mixture' of one-third
didn't go through. So we made Brother
that time, I was impressed by what a
mountain people, one-third Alabama
From Another Planet in between with
strong stand the union took against
miners, and one-third immigrants from
6/Now and Then
CA
coming in the camp, but they patrolled
Greece or Italy or Yugoslavia. It was
a noose. When the guy
hanging
from,
in between the Black sections and the
an incredible melting pot. The
asked the kiu what it was, ne boy
operators thought they could put them
white sections and the Italian sections.
said, 'That's one of them Baldwins,
in separate coal camps with armed
You couldn't pass between them
you know, the state troopers.'
guards between them. That was the
without a good reason, and'they would
It's like Northem Ireland, where the
company solution to what they saw as demand to know your name. It was
kids feel like they're in a war movie,
like South Africa today, where they
the cancer of unionism.
but the bullets that are flying are real.
keep the workers separated from their
MM: Union sympathizers were
families. The company had the miners
not only targeted as
MM: Religion plays an
under lock and key.
Communists, they were
important role in Appalachian
deprived of their constititional
culture and has been central in
rights. That's something that
MM: In 1985, close to the time
union organizing struggles, both
people from outside the
past and present, In the movie,
you were making the movie,
coalfields have a hard time
church scenes provide a
coal miners in Mingo County
were engaged in the most bitter
counterpoint to the conflict,
believing.
strike since the 1920s against
showing fatalistic attitudes
SAYLES: That's right. In those days,
played against the ideas of
A.T. Massey Coal Co. Were you
foremen were told, 'If you see more
aware of this history coming
social justice.
than three coal miners sitting together
back onto the people of the Tug
SAVLES: I wanted to show the
and talking, break them up and tell us
Valley?
what their names are.' There were
battle went on in the pulpit, with some
SAYLES: Yes, we did hear about
spies. They knew whom they had
company preachers arguing against the
grown up with, whom they could trust
that. One of the UMWA members who
union, saying it was of Satan, and coal
was in the movieplayed a Baldwin
to spread the word.
miners in the pulpit preaching for the
agent, in factwas on selective strike
People were paranoid because they
union as salvation. Like any ideology,
had a reason to be. You see scenes in
against Massey. And when we were
you can interpret the Bible to mean
filming, one man told us he'd been
the film where the organizer is crawling
very different things.
through the coal camp because the
down to Mingo County visiting his
In West Virginia, if you go to a town
family, and his 10yearold nephew
BaldwinFelts guards were everywhere.
of 500 people, you might have 40
was in the backyard with a GIJoe doll
Not only would they keep people from
churches, all different denominations.
James Earl Jones in
a
Coal
Mining Role
Veteran actor James Eari Jones has played many leading roles in film and theaterfrom his
staning role in Fenlei on Broadway to his portrayal of author Alex Haley in Roots. Young
audiences, however, may know him best as the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars. In
Matewan, Jones plays "Few Clothes" Johnson, a Black miner once described as "one of the
fighten'st union men" in West Virginia.
(I was also surprised to find out that zb., many
Lewis was my hero. All my Mends in grade
kids near Beckley didn't know that history. I'd
school thought Franklin D. Roosevelt was
be in the mail there and would ask them if
God. For me it was Lewis. I listened to,him on
they knew about the Matewan Massacre, and
the radio, so even at that age I knew about the
1
most of themhad never heaid of It. It's not
United Mine Workers.
Actor jail* Earl Jones
something that is taught in the schools.
And stir, Lewis, I think the United Mine
Workers has remained an honorable
MM: Todayi-South African miners are
institution. It's a union that hasn't lost.sieht of
engaged in a life-or-death straggle to
Its values.
keep their, union alive much like the
MARAT:MOORE:-At this stage in your
MM: The events surrounding the early organising battles of the UMWA.
career, you could.have youichoice of
Massacre led to thelargest
speaks to the
rolisi'WhYsda you choose a minor
DO you think
Matewan'
Matewan;
armed confrontation in the United'
current situation?
role in I low-budget film about the
'States since the Civil War: Did this
Veit Virginia mine wars?
'JONES:
I don't know how anybody gets over
history surprise you?
being spoiled the way management in South
JONBS:14y:agent had read the script and
JONES:
Africa his been Spoiled for generations. They
It was shocking to me.to realize that
she said, thinmy, thia'Cloesn'tmean any,
after the MateWan Maisacie, during the Battle
have had, essentially, slave lahor.
money or
altirgaiart, big here's a project, you
.Management wanted'that in West Virginia,
of BlaiiMiiintain',"One of the top heroes of:
might be interestecrin.' She was right: Lwanted
they wanted it in Kentucky, they wanted It in
World War I was sent to West.Virginia to fly a
to:work with John Sayler.
Pennsylvania and,Coldrado. They wanted all
bombing mission against.the miners. That
Ware yOu'liiie of UMWA histbry
'.MM:
the advantages. And if somebody hadn't made
makes you realize how high rip in the ranks of
0141d* mat.ewan?
the government was the resistance to the a stand, they could have had slave labor. In a-
JONES:
Very simple way the film tells that story'.
Al a kid-in:Mississippi, John L
miners' cause.
Now and Then/7
I 0