The United Mine Workers of America is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today,the Union also represents health care workers,truck drivers,manufacturing workers and public employees in the United States and Canada. Although its main focus has always been on workers and their rights,the UMW of today also advocates for better roads,schools,and universal health care. By 2014,coal mining had largely shifted to open pit mines in Wyoming,and there were only 60,000 active coal miners. The UMW was left with 35,000 members,of whom 20,000 were coal miners,chiefly in underground mines in Kentucky and West Virginia. However it was responsible for pensions and medical benefits for 40,000 retired miners,and for 50,000 spouses and dependents.
Mary G. Harris Jones,known as Mother Jones from 1897 onward,was an Irish-born American labor organizer,former schoolteacher,and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer,community organizer,and activist. She helped coordinate major strikes,secure bans on child labor,and co-founded the socialist trade union,the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).
John Worth Kern was a Democratic United States Senator from Indiana. While the title was not official,he is considered to be the first Senate majority leader,while serving concurrently as chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus. He was also the Democratic vice presidential nominee in the 1908 presidential election.
Henry Drury Hatfield was an American Republican politician from Logan County,West Virginia. He served a term as the 14th Governor of the state,in addition to one term in the United States Senate. Hatfield was nephew to Devil Anse Hatfield,leader of the Hatfield clan.
The Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency was a private detective agency in the United States from the early 1890s to 1937. The agency's members played a key role in the events that led to the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921 and violent repression of labor union members. Significant incidents,later collectively known as the Coal Wars,occurred in various locations. The Pocahontas Coalfield region of West Virginia witnessed some of these events. Among these incidents are the Paint Creek–Cabin Creek strike of 1912 in West Virginia,1913–1914 Colorado Coalfield War,and the Battle of Matewan in 1920.
The Battle of Matewan was a shootout in the town of Matewan in Mingo County and the Pocahontas Coalfield mining district,in southern West Virginia. It occurred on May 19,1920 between local coal miners and their allies and the Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency. The dead included two brothers of the detective agency's founder and Matewan's mayor Cabell Testerman,who supported the union.
The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest labor uprising in United States history and is the largest armed uprising since the American Civil War. The conflict occurred in Logan County,West Virginia,as part of the Coal Wars,a series of early-20th-century labor disputes in Appalachia.
The Paint Creek–Cabin Creek Strike,or the Paint Creek Mine War,was a confrontation between striking coal miners and coal operators in Kanawha County,West Virginia,centered on the area enclosed by two streams,Paint Creek and Cabin Creek.
The West Virginia coal wars (1912–1921),also known as the mine wars,arose out of a dispute between coal companies and miners.
Arnold Ray Miller was a miner and labor activist who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA),AFL–CIO,from 1972 to 1979. Winning as a reform candidate,he gained positive changes for the miners,including compensation for black lung disease. He had difficulty dealing with growing internal union opposition. His last two years as president were particularly tumultuous and he suffered two heart attacks,finally resigning in November 1979 with the title of "president emeritus for life".
Frank J. Hayes was an American miner and president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) from 1917 to 1919. A Democrat,he also served as Lieutenant Governor of Colorado in 1937–39.
Cecil Roberts is a miner and president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). He also sits on the AFL–CIO's executive council. Roberts is the great-grandson of Ma Blizzard.
The Kern Resolution,sponsored by Sen. John W. Kern (D) of Indiana and adopted on May 27,1913,called for an investigation into the then ongoing Paint Creek–Cabin Creek strike of 1912 in West Virginia.
William H. Blizzard was an American union organizer,a commander of the miners' army during the Battle of Blair Mountain,and president of District 17 of the United Mine Workers (UMWA). Blizzard is most remembered for his role in the Battle of Blair Mountain,leading the miners against the forces of Logan County sheriff Don Chafin. For his leadership role in the battle,Blizzard was charged with treason,but was acquitted at his trial on these charges. From that time forward,he remained an important leader within the UMWA and organized labor.
The Colorado Coalfield War was a major labor uprising in the southern and central Colorado Front Range between September 1913 and December 1914. Striking began in late summer 1913,organized by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) against the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel and Iron (CF&I) after years of deadly working conditions and low pay. The strike was marred by targeted and indiscriminate attacks from both strikers and individuals hired by CF&I to defend its property. Fighting was focused in the southern coal-mining counties of Las Animas and Huerfano,where the Colorado and Southern railroad passed through Trinidad and Walsenburg. It followed the 1912 Northern Colorado Coalfield Strikes.
The Illinois coal wars,also known as the Illinois mine wars and several other names,were a series of labor disputes between 1898 and 1900 in central and southern Illinois.
The Coal Wars were a series of armed labor conflicts in the United States,roughly between 1890 and 1930. Although they occurred mainly in the East,particularly in Appalachia,there was a significant amount of violence in Colorado after the turn of the century.
Harold W. Houston was an American labor lawyer who represented union miners during the Paint Creek–Cabin Creek strike of 1912,and defended the UMWA leaders accused of treason in the aftermath of the Battle of Blair Mountain. He also led the legal defense of Sid Hatfield and other defendants who participated in the 1920 Matewan Massacre against members of the Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency.
Charles Everett Lively was an American private detective who worked as a labor spy for the Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency. He played an active role in the Coal Wars in Appalachia and Colorado during the early 20th century.
Sarah Rebecca Blizzard was an American labor activist involved with the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). She was the mother of UMWA officer Bill Blizzard,and was known to the coal miners as "Mother" or "Ma" Blizzard. UMWA President Cecil Roberts is her great-grandson.
