The town of Matewan, West Virginia was my home for a majority of my life. I grew up there, I was taught there, and I learned how to mine there. My family consisted of my father, Patrick O’Reilly, my mother, Ennis O’Reilly, and me, Bobby O’Reilly, or just Bob for short. In my earliest of memories in Matewan, I could remember my father leaving in the mornings to serve his shift in the mine like all the other men in the town. My father was a great man of humble upbringings, and I will always remember what he used to tell me every night he got home from his shift, “Bobby, Let us sacrifice our today so that our children can have a better tomorrow.” Today, when I look back at what my father told me, I see it as a testament of his love for his family and his desire that I achieve greatness in my life. I believe that’s what made my father a great man, and until his fateful day on September 29, 1917, I thought that he was invincible. My mother, Ennis, was a magnificent yet rowdy women, and I remember how she used to speak profanities about the mines when I was little. My mother always felt that my father was being taken advantage of down in those mines, and she would let my father have it every …show more content…
The images of that battle were seared into my head, and like many other of the miners who survived the tragic incident it was a testament to our servitude as miners and as union men who stood up to the company. The Battle of Matewan took the lives of ten people that day, including that of our Mayor Cabell Testerman, who took a shot in the gut and died a few days later. The events that were to follow the battle led to the deaths of Sid Hatfield and his deputy, Ed Chambers, were gunned down on the steps of the McDowell County courthouse in the town of Welch. In later years, the Battle of Matewan would become known as the struggle for freedom and
Although each character delivers their powerful and moving account, I would like to focus on one individual and his struggle to organize the miners. Rondal Lloyd struggled most of his life, he knew the coal mines first hand when he had to leave school to help his dad work in the mines to pay off debt to the company store. Unfortunately, this was common back in the times that this story is based upon. In West Virginia as far back as 1901 there are archives that have tried to set some sort of standards for child labor, but we must remember that these children grew up hard and fast. (West Virginia Mine War...
...ing the conditions faced by coal miners and their families in addition to events leading up to the uprising. However, some additional research should be done in regards to the West Virginia Coal Wars and the Battle of Blair Mountain.
The citizens of Matewan, a coal -mining town in West Virginia lived amidst a feudalistic class process. One may think of medieval times in connection with feudalism, but the film “Matewan” directed by John Sayles was based on historical events that took place in 1920. The feudal lord was not a European king, and the serfs were not farming his land. Nevertheless, feudalism existed in this southern town, as the workers did not have the ability to choose their employer. Unlike Capitalism, the members of Matewan could not go out into the free labor market and choose the businesses for which they wished to work. The Stone Mountain Coal Company made choice nonexistent and in doing so gained feudal power over the employees.
The book Outlaw Platoon written by Sean Parnell is a soldiers’ tale of his platoon in one of the most dangerous places on earth. This book is a non-fiction riveting work that tells the story of a platoon that spent sixteen months on an operating base in the Bermel Valley, the border of Pakistan. This mission the men were sent on was part of a mission called Operation Enduring Freedom. This book is extremely relevant to the war that we are still fighting in Afghanistan and the humanitarian work that continues. We still have men in this area fighting and losing their lives everyday. It is the focus of ongoing political debates and the purpose of our involvement there is an ongoing question in the minds of many Americans. In writing this book, Parnell makes it clear in his author’s notes that he indeed was not trying to pursue one political agenda over another. His goal as not to speak of all members of the platoon and expose their identities and the types of soldiers they were but instead to showcase some of the men’s bravery and abilities during the war. Parnell believed that he owed it to the men to write something that would show the world what these men go through during combat in an honest and raw account. Another purpose of Parnell’s in writing this book is an attempt at making sure these men are given a place in American war history.
With the gradual advancements of society in the 1800’s came new conflicts to face. England, the leading country of technology at the time, seemed to be in good economic standing as it profited from such products the industrial revolution brought. This meant the need for workers increased which produced jobs but often resulted in the mistreatment of its laborers. Unfortunately the victims targeted were kids that were deprived of a happy childhood. A testimony by a sub-commissioner of mines in 1842 titled Women Miners in the English Coal Pits and The Sadler Report (1832), an interview of various kids, shows the deplorable conditions these kids were forced to face.
...p;The bombardment had lasted thirty-six hours, and over 3,000 shot and shell had been hurled at the fort. The evacuation of the fort took place the following day on April 14, 1861. The fort had been evacuate, not surrendered. Before the evacuation the citizens of Taunton Mass. had voted Maj. Anderson an elegant sword. New York gave him the freedom of the city in a gold box. Finally, on June 6, 1861, the Chamber of Commerce of New York ordered the execution of a series of medals to be presented to Maj. Anderson and to each man of the garrison. (www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/battle-fort-sumter.html)
passage: "The courage and resistance shown by the Navajos at Big Mountain, by Polish workers,
...ventually limited to 38. Of that 38, a few innocent men were hanged. In the eyes of the settlers, it was justice be done. In the eyes of the Sioux, it was a reminder that nothing had changed.
...nging environment, issues faced by men, and the primitive sadness that women are exposed to by the monstrous result of the coal mines.
I was barely 17 when I returned home. Even though I was so young my father gave me huge responsibilities involving the family mines and other enterprises. Since I was home, my mother focused on my little sister’s education. She took her back to New England to attend a school suitable for proper young ladies. My eight-year-old brother went along, as he w...
While 2001 has proven to be a year of fear, anger, uncertainty and terrible destruction, the years between 1893 and 1904 were equally chaotic for the small mining town of Cripple Creek, Colorado. Tensions began to grow between mining companies and workers over their long hours and low wages. In response, John Calderwood, a former coal miner, established the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) in 1894. Calderwood and five hundred men formed a union in February of that same year. Their demands were simple: three dollars' pay for an eight-hour day. The conflict went on with neither side willing to compromise. Non-union workers and union workers competed for jobs as companies refused t...
Initially, this recognition appears to take the form of a stable income, despite price fluctuations within the marketplace for copper ore. In the book “Holding the Line: Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike of 1983”, Barbara Kingsolver recounts several stories by miners of how the management structures in place within Phelps Dodge (and the mining industry in general throughout the southwest) allowed workers to be segregated into hierarchical classes based on race or gender. These stories demonstrate how structural violence within Phelps Dodge exacerbated discriminatory race relations between Anglo and Mexican Americans as well as the newly embroiling gender discriminations brought on by the increasing presence of women within the rank and file of the unionized mine workers in the
In the early 1950’s America was on the cusp of great change. The fight for equal rights for minorities and women was just over the horizon, a movement that would explode in the 1960’s creating lasting social change within the United States. The miners of Zinc Town, USA, and their families, were a part of this movement. The miners, who were largely of Mexican descent, felt that the working conditions were unsafe and not on par with that of Anglo’s employed at different mines. The miners wives tolling day after day without sufficient plumbing and proper sanitation, felt that their issues were just as important and should be included in the demands of the miners union. Salt of the Earth (1954) looks at the miners strike through
To some people, it is only noise but to me, it was a whole new world. I can still remember the first time I heard a round whiz past my ear, the cars passing by, or SSG Blue yelling at me to get down. At that moment, I realized that I was not training anymore. I was made aware that everything and everyone were out to kill me. I kept telling myself, “I shouldn’t be here.” Mentally, I can hear my mother in the background crying just as the day she did when she found out I joined the military. My life was not the same nor will it ever be the same. In my first combat tour I learned the importance of life, how to mentally prepare myself for the worst outcomes, and I learned how to be a great leader.
Coal mining in the 1920s was extremely difficult job in which miners endured many challenges and hardships. The 1920’s safety was not on everyone’s mind. It was as if the miners were just tools to be used. The equipment the miners used was a marvel for its time, as it was just the start to a technological advancement. Miners faced hardships such as low wages, long hours, and the difficulty of the work conditions.