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The Harlan County War, or Bloody Harlan, was a series of coal industry skirmishes, executions, bombings and strikes (both attempted and realized) that took place in Harlan County, Kentucky, during the 1930s. The incidents involved coal miners and union organizers on one side and coal firms and law enforcement officials on the other. [1]
Harlan County, USA is a 1976 American documentary film covering the "Brookside Strike", a 1973 effort of 180 coal miners and their wives against the Duke Power Company-owned Eastover Coal Company's Brookside Mine and Prep Plant in Harlan County, southeast Kentucky.
Aug 14, 2019 · Miners in Harlan County, Kentucky, have drawn national attention with their direct action— occupying a railroad track to halt a coal train until the miners get paid the wages they are owed for digging it up. Although these miners today have no union, the mines of Harlan County have a storied history of grassroots labor militancy.
Sep 5, 2015 · HARLAN, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky coal miners bled and died to unionize. Their workplaces became war zones, and gun battles once punctuated union protests.
Though the union had made substantial inroads into the Central Appalachian coalfields by 1930, when miners in Bell and Harlan Counties went out on strike in early May, 1931, the UMWA removed its support.
The trouble started in February 1931 when miners went on strike protesting a pay cut. Throughout the decade, the Harlan County War persisted with lockouts, walkouts, strikes, executions, and bombings as both sides struggled-miners to unionize, management to shut down attempts at unionizing.
The Battle of Evarts (May 5, 1931) occurred in Harlan, Kentucky during the Harlan County Wars. The coal miners desired improved working conditions, higher wages, and more housing options for their families. These reasons, along with other factors, led the miners to go on strike.
