I am currently working on a documentary on coal mining in McDowell County, West Virginia, deep in the heart of Appalachia.
McDowell County is one of the poorest and most remote counties in the United States. In fact Welch, the county seat, had at one time the highest concentration of millionaires in the United States. Thousands of immigrants came from all over the world to work in the coalfields. Think of the movie Matewan.
Now Welch is scarcely a shadow of it's former self. Still, today more coal is taken out of this area than at any time in it's history, However, mechanization and non-union mining left the county destitute. In Addition, many of the coal companies have treated the people there with disdain and have taken advantage of the miners and their families. .
Black lung, heart disease, diabetes and drug abuse just a few of the problems that have come with poverty in McDowell County. Black lung disease is on the rise among all the miners after several years of decline. Many of the formerly rich towns in the area are now little more than ghost towns and still the only jobs that pay more than minimum wage are the most dangerous jobs in the world - coal mining. Very few people here have health care insurance or access to medical clinics.
The following images are from the past 3 years of my photodocumentary work here. In the context of the national economy where many of us are currently suffering, this project is a reminder that some of our fellow countrymen have had it much worse for a long time and they should not be forgotten.
In fact, they need to be celebrated as heroes. They are reason the lights are still on in our homes. However that is not to celebrate coal - we need to find alternatives and quickly - but as in all decisions involving policy, you cannot forget that people's lives are deeply affected.
And then there is Mountaintop Mining, but that is another story.
all photos copyright © 2011 by les stone · all rights reserved
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Excellent work.
Sadly the situation applies here in Australia, where it was hoped we'd learn from the mistakes of others ...
OWS should link up with the miners and give a voice to their grievances.
The Miners Are, Have Been and Will Always be members of the 99%
I am almost afraid to leave the Inn I am in. Serious.
The 'nice' cops ride through the parking lot. Yikes.
`
Iknow West Virginian activist ref the strip mining.
Thee bath water comes from the faucet gold hued.
When these greedy creeps croak there is doom too.
There will never be a silver lining on the black cloud.
I bought a Cape Breton CD while in Nova Scotia, CA.
I was not aware of the Canadian Mine Disasters. Sad.
`
CBC was airing Specials that educated the` We People.
At home (I am on thee road now) I have` Information.
I hope I make home. It's almost getting a bit scary too.
`
I will Listen to the Cape Breton Coal Miner's Daughter.
I'll get back to You if I get home all/awe in one piece too.
The First Nations believed black coal was a bad omen too.
`
We people need to read the old literature and be wiser too.
No drink Latrobe's Beer. Con Chapman tells readers why too.
If I make through the Catskills I am gonna gulp goat milk too.
`
I know You must be familiar with Wendell Berry's writings ref:
`
Coal Mine Strip Mining. I've met him and Thank You very much.
Fools who violate Nature will croak some day. It will be doom day.
I best hope I no get jailed in PA. Cops stop and say hi-you Oho too.
`
Behave
You do.
You kin.
Fools do`
Live as a`
`
Devil's Tool.
Be silent Too.
No sell Souls.
`
A bunch are
living lives
of misery
and you
see um
on TV.
`
O, gaud
I need
a cup
of tea
no sip
Rolling
Rock
Beer
Ya
pee
and
go
off
to
die
Then?
`
shut
up!
Not
You
Speak
Thanks
My people come from the coal-mining regions of England, although they wound up moving to the city and joining the factory workers in the early 20th century.
Miners do some of the most dangerous jobs in the world, and we do not do right by them.
by comparison, ows is a children's crusade and likely to be useless because of diffuse goals and failure to generate effective vote direction. i don't think this is the general revolt that will aid appalachia.
these pictures could have been taken in the late 1800's, similar were the tools that helped teddy roosevelt begin the process of improving the position of miners. neither he nor fdr had any lasting impact because neither were revolutionaries, and neither could do anything that could not be undone by congress when the public forgot.
Thank you for sharing these wonderful photos with us, and for describing your important work. May I suggest two books to you? I recently finished one of these amazing books, and I'm reading the other slowly to savor each page. They are "Blood Passion: The Ludlow Massacre and Class War in the American West," by L.A. Times reporter Scott Martelle, and the Bancroft Award-winning "Killing for Coal" by University of Colorado Professor Thomas G. Andrews. The history of coal mining in the United States is one of my passions. My grandfather was a coal miner in La Veta, Colo., near the Ludlow Massacre site, and he died with black lung disease.
For those of you who are not familiar with this chapter of our nation's history, the Ludlow Massacre, and the events leading up to it and after it, remain the bloodiest labor dispute in U.S. history. I will definitely blog about it the week of April 20, the anniversary of the massacre. The labor dispute resonates on so many levels with what is happening in the OWS movement. Its anniversary has been overshadowed in recent years by 4/20 smoke-ins and the Columbine Massacre anniversary.
And I still remember the powerful films "Matewan" and "Salt of the Earth," the landmark 1954 film that recreates a labor strike at the Empire Zinc Mine in New Mexico.
I cannot wait to see your documentary.
I do hope that the show will shed light on the melancholic history...and bring some healing.
Now that we have President Obama saying he is going to put them out of business you might as well just turn the lights off now. He is only going to increase the crap that they go through.
Kudos to you for your work. I could say more but this has left me in a reflective state of mind.
I know the coal marketing people are referring to increasingly clean coal burning plants, which is only marginally true.
But the sacrifices required to mine the coal still go unseen by most. I look forward to learning more of your work.
The photos in the aggregate are beyond powerful.
Lee Bergeron
These photos are gorgeous and so moving.
there are a lot of products on sale. Which one is better for 48 years old mom? Handbag,glasses or biniki? Please help.
What's also sad is that so many working class people in coal country seem to have forgotten all that, too. They're willing to shorten their lives and sell their souls for a job that's killing them and their kids. And yet, they'll turn around and vote Republican -- not that WV Democrats are a whole lot better.
By the way, don't know if you've seen the documentary about The Whites of WV, but it's a sad, sad tale, too.
I came back to reread.
I finished commuting.
P.S.
I emailed to a Kentuckian who is a Friend and Neighbor to Wendell Berry. Again. Thanks.
Ig he visits bankers,
government offices`
`
Wendell Berry carries his toothbrush just incase he is jailed doing sane civic duties. You?
Carry two toothbrushes.
Carry in your front pocket.
Carry a tube in Ya rear pocket.
Make sure the cap is on tight.
We do what we can do.
We redeem our time too.
We actually redeem` Self.
The Earth rapist will`See.
They will give an account.
Life is not to pillage/rape.
I'll also never forget the first mountaintop removal I saw while growing up back east. As you say, a whole other story.