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Ohio Valley ReSource

Battle of Blair Mountain Centennial Celebration

WEKU | By Katie Myers

Published September 9, 2021 at 7:55 AM EDT

Throughout 1921, coal miners in West Virginia gathered in secret to organize with United Mine Workers of America. The miners were seeking better wages and working conditions, including an end to the violent practices of mine guards. The struggle culminated in the Battle of Blair Mountain, which remains the largest labor uprising in US history.

Over Labor Day Weekend, a coalition of organizations, including the UMWA and the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum, commemorated the event’s hundredth anniversary with a weekend of storytelling, speeches, and song.

Ohio Valley ReSource

Katie Myers

Katie Myers is covering economic transition in east Kentucky for the ReSource and partner station WMMT in Whitesburg, KY. She previously worked directly with communities in Kentucky and Tennessee on environmental issues, energy democracy, and the digital divide, and is a founding member of a community-owned rural ISP. She has also worked with the Black in Appalachia project of East Tennessee PBS. In her spare time, Katie likes to write stage plays, porch sit with friends, and get lost on mountain backroads. She has published work with Inside Appalachia, Scalawag Magazine, the Daily Yonder, and Belt Magazine, among others.

See stories by Katie Myers

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