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The history of coal mining goes back thousands of years, with early mines documented in ancient China, the Roman Empire and other early historical economies. It became important in the Industrial Revolution of the 19th and 20th centuries, when it was primarily used to power steam engines, heat buildings and generate electricity. Coal mining continues as an important economic activity today, but has begun to decline due to the strong contribution coal plays in global warming and environmental issues, which result in decreasing demand and in some geographies, peak coal.
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The Pittston Coal strike was a United States strike action led by the United Mine Workers Union (UMWA) against the Pittston Coal Company, nationally headquartered in Pittston, Pennsylvania. The strike, which lasted from April 5, 1989 to February 20, 1990, resulted from Pittston's termination of health care benefits for approximately 1,500 retirees, widows, and disabled miners. The strikers also cited the refusal of the company to contribute to the benefit trust established in 1950 for miners who retired before 1974 and the refusal of the company to bargain in good faith as grounds for their action. The company cited declining coal prices, decreasing demand, and recession as its reason for limiting health care benefits.
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The Pana riot, or Pana massacre, was a coal mining labor conflict and also a racial conflict that occurred on April 10, 1899, in Pana, Illinois, and resulted in the deaths of seven people. It was one of many similar labor conflicts in the coal mining regions of Illinois that occurred in 1898 and 1899.
Daniel Boone is an unincorporated community and coal town in Hopkins County, Kentucky, United States.
People have worked as coal miners for centuries, but they became increasingly important during the Industrial revolution when coal was burnt on a large scale to fuel stationary and locomotive engines and heat buildings. Owing to coal's strategic role as a primary fuel, coal miners have figured strongly in labor and political movements since that time.
The Coal Employment Project (CEP) was a non-profit women's organization in the United States from 1977–1996 with the goal of women gaining employment as miners. With local support groups in both the eastern and western coalfields, CEP also advocated for women on issues such as sexual harassment, mine safety, equal access to training and promotions, parental leave, and wages.
Diana Baldwin was an American hospital receptionist. She and Anita Cherry were the first women to work as underground coal miners in the United States, despite the belief in the coalfields that women were bad luck in mines.
References
- ↑ Armstrong, Holly (22 March 2022). "A Brief History of Women in Mining". DOL Blog. U.S. Department of Labor.
- ↑ Klemesrud, Judy (18 May 1974). "In Coal Mine No. 29, Two Women Work Alongside the Men". The New York Times.
- ↑ "Two Women Make History as Kentucky Miners". Toledo Blade. 26 December 1973. p. 21.
- ↑ Baisden, Harry I. (6 September 1974). "Two Women Break Sex Bar in Modern Coal Mine". The Evening News. p. 48.
- ↑ Gearhart, Dona G. (1995). 'Surely, a wench can choose her own work!' Women coal miners in Paonia, Colorado, 1976-1987 (Thesis). University of Nevada, Las Vegas. doi:10.25669/83uw-c7cr.