image text: THE BATTLE OF BLAIR MOUNTAIN
After years of inhumane living and working conditions, in 1921 the coal miners of Appalachia answered the call to organize. The largest armed uprising in US labor history, 12,000 workers from West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Ohio flooded Kanawha County, WV to set up a union by force. Vehemently anti-union, a local sheriff and the coal companies attacked the miners. Thousands of armed and angry miners rushed into the lush hills and winding paths of Blair Mountain to fight for the union. Federal troops were called in and the miners dispersed in order to avoid further bloodshed. At the time the struggle was seen as a failure, but in retrospect the Battle of Blair Mountain led directly to a much larger and stronger union movement.
CELEBRATE PEOPLE'S HISTORY art: Chris Stain more posters: justseeds.org printed at stumptownprinters.com January 2007
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