Increased environmental regulations; the retirement of coal-operated power plants; fracking, which has lowered the price of natural-gas extraction; plummeting coal prices, coupled with the higher cost of mining in Eastern Kentucky; and measures such as the Obama administrations Clean Power Plan, which local Republicans and Democrats alike refer to as the War on Coal, have all driven nails into the coal industrys coffin. It contains a famous scene where guns are fired at the strikers in the darkness before dawn, and Kopple and her cameraman are knocked down and beaten. Harlan County, Kentucky: UMWA on a 13-month strike at Brookside mines and on the pick line at Highsplint mine. Its because of that strike.. Both of us got saved at about the same time. This basil cocktail is a spin on a drink that makes our list of top greatest cocktails of all time: the Tom Collins! Coal is the lifeblood of Harlan, where miners fierce battles against deadly working conditions remain a symbol of union grit and militance. And jobs in the industry have been vanishing since the 1980s, thanks to mechanization. For nearly a century, Harlan County, K.Y., has occupied an outsized place in the American consciousness. How can we be the enemy? There were plenty of reasons why the Whitfields could be the enemya point I knew my cousin also understandsbut Harlans mines were not all the same. I felt a crushing sorrow as I talked to Ferguson, who more than once came to tears. Have it in a pitcher, along with cucumber slices and basil leaves for them to help themselves? Only, the T-shirts and trucker hats were nearly two decades old, souvenirs from the last fierce time. Chester had done so well that the company owner tried to entice him to stay with a raise of $1 per hour, from $6.75 to $7.75. The pinstripes, it seems, cant even see the miners, though you cant really blame them. The UMWA, recognizing that a local defeat would be challenging in such a steadfastly antiunion place, strategically went after Duke, which helped land the strike on the national stage. I was intensely aware that if someone came upon the place with violent intentions, Elizabeth and I would have been trapped. You have to forgive, but a lot of people dont forgive. That is, until one night, away from the picket line, when a pro-company manalso known as a scabmurders twenty-three-year-old Lawrence Jones, leaving behind his sixteen-year-old wife, four-month-old daughter, and elderly mother, who collapses with grief at the funeral. My mother was shipped off to finishing school in 1951 at the age of sixteen and never lived in Harlan again. We mourn with the family of Basil Collins for this great loss. Coal mining was Americas most dangerous occupation by the 1970s. I fantasized about meeting the people captured on film; they were heroes to me. Harlan County, Kentucky: Basil Collins miner foreman and leader/manager of the scabs confronts picketers with a 45 in his right pocket. Johnson interrupted my thoughts. You might describe it as the difference between daylight and dark, said Nolan. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. Johnson hightailed it out of Harlan and moved to Ohio to work at North American Coal. Its not that Kopples trying for a collective character, the union en masse; its that her camera is too close, too much part of the fighting, to pluck out individual souls from among the miners. It exposed the politics of that county. For a week Id been in this community, having coffee with scabs; visiting my cousins home; going to the Clover Fork Clinic in Evarts, Kentucky; copying old newspapers in the public library (which had been posthumously named for Bryan W. Whitfield Jr., though his gift to the library was meant to be anonymous); shopping at Dons, the locally owned grocery; eating at El Charrito Mexican restaurant; buying notebooks in the aisles of Walmart; calling on miners in their homes; and attending the job fair with a hundred job seekers at the Harlan Center, where the parking lot was filled with SUVs and trucks affixed with Friends of Coal license plates (slogan: Coal Keeps the Lights On!). Kopple took a cinma-vrit approach to weaving together these threads. [7], Harlan County, USA was preserved by the Academy Film Archive, in conjunction with New York Women in Film & Television, in 2004. Me and them that worked up at Highsplint was good buddies, Ferguson continued, but after that strike nobody of them would never speak to each other, never look at each other, nothing else. Related news. They were welcomed and cheered on by locals on the union side but harassed by strikebreakers, who Kopple claims once pushed the filmmakers car off the road. Things are good for the moment, says Judy, 52, who recently moved from part- to full-time status at Walmart. That was just to razz me in good fun, a show of Harlan Countys enduring frontier spirit. Miraculously, only two people got shot. Sheriff J. H. Blair, backed by the Harlan County Coal Operators Association, who counted my relatives among their members, deployed close to two hundred deputized mine guards to snuff out both unions. Harlan is on the cusp of a very important time right now, one of the scabs had said to me. At the time of the strike, Yarborough, Eastovers president, was living in the house where my mother grew up. See, everything in the mountains has always been kept silent about child labor and mine safety., Even after the strikes successful completion, Johnson felt that the system was stacked against him and his fellow picketers. Miners wives are dragged off the line and thrown into jail. Learn about how to make the most of a memorial. Eastover refused to sign the contract, so the Brookside miners went on strike. When you aint got nothing to start with you dont have anything to lose, he mused. Though Henry taught me that forgiveness is possible. Youll either be a union man Ferguson faced the possibility of losing his black-lung benefit, as did Nolan. When it runs down, he says hell decide whether he wants to have a new one installed. She went on to live in the region for twenty-five years, making films focused on social and environmental issues with the renowned regional media and arts center Appalshop. There is a problem with your email/password. More to explore. Failed to report flower. Jackie Stump says: There may not be a real fighting union again in his lifetime. But when Eastover took over the mine from my family, the workers didnt get to choose which union represented themEastover opened with the company-friendly Southern Labor Union in place. A calendar from that year still hung on the wall. To startwith, lets get at least one thing straight: Harlan County, Kentucky, the location of Barbara Kopples 1976 documentaryHarlan County, U.S.A., isnt really the South, is it? Later that year, Yablonski and his family were found murdered in their home. Basil Collins Duke Power's Henchman I didn't know it then, but Mr. Blanton was a military man a Master Sargeant awarded two Bronze Stars one for serving in the Battle for Okinawa and . Forgiveness in either of these realms can be extremely hard won. There are no volunteers for this cemetery. I attempted to capture a panorama with my phone as the light broke through the clouds, Jesus-ray style. Chester found work in a gear factory, but home beckoned a dozen years later when one of his children died just three days after being born. Robert and his wife, Judy, live on a plot of land off Route 568 in the tiny town of Cranks. [2], When Kopple and her cameraman Hart Perry showed up on the picket line, the locals were suspicious of their intentions. Barbara Kopple: Harlan County, USA; that was my first ever film that I did on my own. She followed them to picket in front of the Stock Exchange in New York City, filming interviews with people affected by black lung disease, and miners being shot at while striking. cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Pine Mountain stood tall to the north; to the south was Cumberland Gap, across which Daniel Boone led settlers. But that doesnt quite get at it, either. This is yours. Some of the politicians say theyll bring the coal back, but the coal will never be back., Bobby Simpson, 79, has been blind for more than a half-century, but still managed to shovel coal. When miners at the Brookside Mine in Harlan County, Kentucky, went on strike against Duke Power Company in June 1973, Kopple went there to film the strike, which the UMWA had helped to organize. I hope its a true one. I kept thinking about being alone at Kitts Creek with just Elizabeth and a handful of employees. Kopple felt it was important to continue filming (or pretend to, even when they were out of film) because the presence of the crew and staff support seemed to help keep the violence down. This browser does not support getting your location. He described the film as "One of the better and more rousing labor strike films that calls attention to class war in America, though it doesn't offer enough analysis or balance on the issues (it sees the struggle solely through the miners' eyes)The film does a good job chronicling the plight of the miners and telling their personal stories in a moving way, and the meaningful catchy coal mining songs add to the emotional impact of the historical event. I had heard that the coal miners memorials in downtown Harlan listed twice as many names as all of the towns war memorial statues combined, and I wanted to see for myself. Priscilla Stephens ticks off a list of companies that have come and gone: a furniture factory, a long-time furniture store, a sock factory. Expert home cooks. Then you had the fact that everybody carried guns. You need a Find a Grave account to continue. But Jack would not sign a union contract, Johnson explained. Fill the rest of the glass with club soda, and give it a gentle stir with a spoon. I know which side Im on, but I cant find it. He roofed housing projects across the state of Georgiaprojects where he often went to live, and where my mother, brother, and I sometimes spent weekends. [4] The miners were concerned that accepting such a provision would limit their ability to influence local working conditions. They say in Harlan County, there are no neutrals there, Florence Reece sings. The strike began in July 1973 and lasted 13 months. Many of his friends have faced similar challenges and left the area, but Danny says he has no plans to move because he has a lot of family nearby. 6. The Miners for Democracy leadership negotiates a new contract with a no-strike clause, but few people in the film are happy with this outcome. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. In childhood, my eldest brother collected rattles from snakes. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. That strike was about Brookside, but most of the movie was filmed at Highsplint and over in West Virginia, said one man. I felt a chill. Mud sucked on my boots. Their stories were often told through the songs. I thought of us as the two faces of Janusshe looking toward Harlans future and I looking to its past, two members of a generation trying to make something of our respective Harlan legacies. Today he wore jeans and a navy hooded sweatshirt, with his neatly trimmed silver-white hair tucked under a Tractor Supply Company cap. When I pulled up to his place behind the Black Mountain Elementary School, children were playing across a rippling creek from his trailer, and the schools American flag flapped in the wind. Shed sell em for about twenty-five dollars apiece. I am proud of my Harlan heritage, in spite of the history I have struggled to accept, and I am proud of Harlan County, USA. As I walked toward Nolan and Elizabeth, who were already heading to the car, I set my back to these thoughts and the surrounding peaks. A meeting of the Brookside women's support group. I aint been back, he says of Chicago. Perhaps this was ultimately why labor issues burn people up so terribly, because they always come down to familythe families were born into along with the ones we raise, and the brotherhood and sisterhood that work creates for us, especially down in the mines, and for men like Ferguson and Johnson. Black Mountain, Kentuckys highest peak, tops out at 4,145 feet, marking the edge of Harlan County and the Virginia border to the east. Many who survived were still killed by coal, albeit more slowly. Try again later. 8 8.what happened to basil collins kentucky 9 9.Interview with Lois Scott, August 27, 1986 - SPOKEdb 10 10.basil collins harlan county obituary - Energy Connection My grandfathers cousin Bryan didnt much care for his fancy home in Florida, so he was still living next door. Looking at it long-term, it seems that neither side won. Nolan, who had a family of four to support, said that he didnt want to get messed up in the thing. But when the Brookside miners moved their picket line up the road to Highsplint, there was no escaping getting messed up in it, which many Highsplint miners resented. He then told me a story about my family Id never heard beforeabout my grandfathers cousin Jack, who was running the mine at Kitts Creek. The lack of voice over and minimal title cards can sometimes create confusion for the viewer, but the strike is fraught with enough dramatic tension to present a cohesive whole. But to me, Harlan is different. Ill call him Henry. In the documentary, his mother can be seen breaking down during his funeral, screaming and being carried away by male attendees. Basil Collins Harlan County Obituary | Death | Basil Collins Dead | Died | Funeral Plans - We heard about the great loss, that Basil Collins is no more and has reportedly passed away. My cousin Elizabeth had an even more powerful reaction to this scene. I had to work where I was going to get work and I didnt see nothing wrong with that., If it hadnt been for Eastover I wouldnt have the life I have today., There was too much intervention for it to be a true documentary. When I first saw Harlan County, USA, I was deeply moved by Workman, whom I had assumed was talking about my family. Although Stewart says hes not much for politics, he harbors hope that Novembers presidential election will bring Donald Trump to the White House and mark a change for him and his family. But a different storyline and song emerged. Thats still to be determined as we sit here today.) When I asked the men if I should refer to them as scabs, or if they preferred a less pejorative word for people who stand on the company side during a strike, they just laughed. It reflected the culture of the people of Harlan County and showed the power of folk music that was a living part of their culture. After that, its just a matter of shaking and straining. I know every weed in the mountains, even here. Just another site. In the meantime, Im posting a short riff from the latest edition of Oxford American, the annual Southern movie issue. About everything is moving, she says. There was a time when coal miners saw themselves as heroically serving the country. What drink to make with basil? Old men recall being paid six cents an hour for fourteen-hour days inside unsafe mines, and claim that the state government, the Catholic Church and the old union worked with coal officials against the miners. 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