Urgent Blair Mountain Update

The following was emailed to me by the Friends of Blair Mountain. Please take the time to read and act by June 17!

The bottom line is very simple - the coal operators, in conjunction with the State Department of Highways, plan to cut off the only public road to the Blair Mountain battlefield, effectively preventing scholars and the general public from studying and visiting the area.

Here are the details as sent to me...

Recently, coal operators moved a much closer towards eradicating one of the most important labor heritage sites in America. On May 17th, the West Virginia Department of Highways held a hearing on the proposed abandonment of County Route 119/7, which will essentially allow the destruction of key elements on Blair Mountain.


Don't be surprised if you weren't aware of that hearing, because the Department of Highways District Manager where the abandonment is proposed never knew about it either! But thanks to the Friends of Blair Mountain, it has come to my attention that we do still have until June 17th to submit our written comments to persuade the agency to make the right decision.

The coal operators and their land company obviously hope this'll pass without opposition, but with your input we can keep this part of people’s history accessible. And it won't cost you a thing, other than a few moments of your time.

According to archeologist Brandon Nida:

"This area is extremely important, as it is one of the only places where both the defensive positions and the miners' approaches are still relatively undisturbed. While some archaeological research has been done in this portion, much work is still needed to comprehend the dynamics of the battle at this location.


If this (abandonment of right of way) happens, the coal operators will control the only route into the southern end of the battlefield, and access would be completely cut off to the general public.


This would then enable lumbering and coal extraction operations to be undertaken in the heart of the battlefield. In addition, without this access, our ability to monitor the site will be severely impeded."

- As of now, the state of WV does not spend any money whatsoever on maintaining the road. It does not cost the state anything, but has the potential to generate funds in the future.

- Alternative proposals for County Route 119/7 that could benefit the public over the long term should be considered. The road could serve as an interpretive hiking trail that showcases the history of miners' struggles and the battle itself. There are many more possible usages and development ideas for the battlefield in which the road would play a central part, and these alternatives could generate long-term employment and public money.

If passed, the abandonment of right-of-way will grant the coal operators the ability to bulldoze one of the most important sections of the Blair Mountain battle sites. The attorney representing Natural Resource Partners, L.P., has stated candidly that it is the intention of his clients to surface mine the area.

If you're opposed to it, please direct your comments to:

Paul A. Mattox, Jr., P.E.

Phone (304)558-3505

Fax (304)558-1004

E-mail dot.commissioner@wv.gov

And be sure that you get your comments there before June 17!

The Battle For Blair Mountain

If you call West Virginia home, if you have ever called West Virginia home, and if you care at all about its history and culture, please carefully read the following passage:


Mother Jones, the famous labor organizer, once said, “There can be no peace in West Virginia because there is no justice in West Virginia.” When Mother Jones made this statement, the Mountain State was engulfed in what is now known as the West Virginia Mine Wars. Hundreds died and thousands more suffered through evictions, near starvation, the removal of their constitutional rights of free speech and assembly, and the brutality of private armies in the pay of the coal barons. On top of these injustices, the national media branded the coal miners as “rednecks” because of the red bandanas that the miners wore to show worker solidarity. The national media, ignoring the true causes of the violence, blamed the conflict on the supposed backwardness, ignorance, and savage nature of the Appalachian people. The Mine Wars climaxed in the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain, where the army of the coal barons and the Redneck Army of miners riddled the hills with bullets and explosives for several days. Aside from the Civil War, it was the largest uprising in United States history.

Today, few people across this country even know that it happened.

In an effort to preserve this history, activists and scholars succeeded in having Blair Mountain placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The placement of Blair Mountain on the National Register was meant to not only preserve our history and the story of our people, but also to protect the mountain itself.

Enemies of our history, unfortunately, found a loophole.

According to the rules of the National Register, if more than half of the property owners in the battlefield area petition against the preservation of Blair Mountain, then it must be removed from the Register. In January of this year, coal companies submitted a petition of “landowners” in the area and Blair Mountain was removed from the National Register. The motive for this is clear – the coal companies wish to destroy the battlefield via mountaintop removal, and with it an important part of American history. However, after some prudent research by local attorney John Bailey and Dr. Harvard Ayers from Appalachian State University, it has been discovered that parts of the petition have been forged. Two of the supposed landowners of the battlefield are dead – one of them since 1983. Three others are not even landowners in the area. Official documentation has been found proving this forgery and the evidence was submitted to Randall Reid-Smith, Commissioner of the State Department of Culture and History. Reid-Smith, appointed by Governor Joe Manchin, has the power to overturn this forgery and put Blair Mountain back on the National Register where it belongs.

Unbelievably, both Reid-Smith and Governor Manchin have refused to even review the evidence.

Blair Mountain remains off the National Register, and if the Massey Coal Corporation has its way, it will be destroyed entirely.


There is, however, still a glimmer of hope. Carol Shull, the Keeper of the National Register in Washington DC, can overrule Reid-Smith and our Governor. I am calling on everyone who cares about preserving the history of miners and of our state to write her a letter and tell her about this continued injustice. You can write her at the following address:

Ms. Carol Shull, Keeper

National Park Service

National Register of Historic Places

1201 Eye Street, NW

Washington, DC 20005

Mother Jones’ statement about the lack of justice in West Virginia still rings true today. But this is no longer about the Battle of Blair Mountain. It has become the Battle for Blair Mountain. Of course, I have both personal and professional reasons for this new call to arms. I am a native West Virginian. Frank Keeney, the leader of the miners’ revolt was my great-grandfather. Today, I am a professor of history and have published numerous articles on the struggles of working men and women in this state. But for me this is more than a personal crusade or a professional obligation. It is not a liberal cause. Nor is it a conservative cause. It is a just cause. If you care about justice in West Virginia, then do something about it. Write Carol Shull. Tell her who you are and why West Virginia’s culture and history is important to you. Tell her how the coal companies have lied in order to destroy this history, and tell her that the power is in her hands to stop it. We must send her enough letters so that she cannot ignore us. West Virginia is nearly always ignored by the rest of the nation except when it comes to bad press. Let us now give the nation a reason to see West Virginians as people who stand for their history and proudly proclaim their culture.



Do the right thing and write!

Montani Semper Liberi!

The Leaders of the Miners

Bill Blizzard, Fred Mooney, Bill Petry, and Frank Keeney

Students Speak Out on Mountaintop Removal

Blankenship verses Kennedy

Last Thursday, the CEO of Massey Coal, Don Blankenship, and activist/lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. debated mountaintop removal on the campus of the University of Charleston. It was a requirement in my classes for students to watch the debate as well as a humorous segment from the Colbert Report on mountaintop removal. You can watch Colbert’s six minute segment by clicking on the link below:



http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/261997/january-18-2010/coal-comfort---margaret-palmer



Each week, my students are required to write a small essay on current issues. Because I teach at a small college in southern West Virginia, I thought it would be perfect to have them write up a response essay to the Blankenship-Kennedy Debate. Let me be very clear – these students live in the heart of coal country. No one is more affected by mountaintop removal than the people who live in these coal communities. My students are sons and daughters of coal miners. Some of them have even worked in the mines. Suffice it to say, the essays I read were filled with many strong and sincere opinions. I have selected a number of direct quotes from the student essays for this blog. Journalists, scholars, politicians, activists, and capitalists have all spouted their opinions on this controversial topic. Unfortunately, no one ever bothers to ask the people who spend their whole lives around these mines what they think. What follows are their voices, unfiltered and unedited. I hope someone takes the time to listen.



“Before watching the debate I was all for mountaintop removal because I did not realize the impact it had on the environment. I am still not completely against mountaintop removal, but I think the coal operators should be more careful.”

“I can’t even hunt anymore in all the places around where I grew up because of the devastation of forests in the areas around these mines.”

“Having grown up in Boone County, WV, the more I research mountaintop removal the angrier I become. Our culture, which derives from mining coal, is rapidly slipping away. I strongly believe this type of coal mining needs to stop before it completely destroys southern West Virginia’s culture. My grandfather was among the ten thousand men who marched for union rights at the Battle of Blair Mountain. Our society is founded on the beliefs of such men who fought together for union rights. Since Massey has moved into southern West Virginia, the union has weakened. Men work six days a week and twelve hours a day. They make good money, but their family life ultimately suffers. Many are faced with divorce and the mass majority suffer from major health problems. Prescription drug use is at an all time high. Logan and Boone Counties lead the state and West Virginia ranks first in the country for prescription drug use.”

“Our culture’s environment is also a major cause for concern. The machinery used to mine coal is destroying our habitat. Drag lines and triple seven rock trucks are moving earth at a phenomenal rate. In one scoop, the drag line can pick up a football field. This machine runs twenty four hours a day seven days a week. The devastation done to our country because of mountaintop removal can be seen firsthand at NASA.com.”

“Looking from past to present, I see a community that has been blinded by employment. We have made the number one concern jobs while overlooking our culture and environment.”

“The world views West Virginia as a bunch of hillbillies who are having fun blowing up our mountains. They see us a being very destructive and uncaring towards the environment.”

“My Dad is the youngest of 7 children and began working in the mines at a fairly young age. Though there have been some drawbacks in his career – injuries and layoffs – his job in the mines helped him to financially raise me and my four sisters. With the environmentalists standing in the way of the coal industry, his job becomes more at risk every day. While the Colbert Report pokes fun at the situation, others realize its seriousness. If faced with the closing down of mines, every aspect of my life would change. Being in his 50s and lacking a college degree, my father’s financial input would be lacking . . . my family may have to move, which would change our dialect, our quality of life.”

“These blasting sites can damage the property of homes nearby. In fact, it has killed people before. There have been incidents where the boulders would go through the house, hit someone, and kill them.”

“As a grandson of two coal miners and a father that worked in the mining industry for 10 years, I realize that West Virginia’s livelihood depends on coal. The loss of coal operations in West Virginia would be devastating to our economy. Many of the environmentalists are from other states and they do not understand how the coal companies reclaim the land. If you have ever driven back on one of the worksites that they have reclaimed, you can see plant life growing and flourishing.”

“Coal miners understand the risks that come with their jobs. As long as there are willing workers and the benefits outweigh the consequences, coal mining will continue to be West Virginia’s largest industry.”

“Mountaintop removal is ruining our beautiful state.”

“I think that [mountaintop removal in WV] is as popular as it is because it is safer for the miners themselves and the people of southern WV have seen a lot of death in underground mining.”

“To me both sides use methods to misinform and evade truths. Kennedy quoted a lot of people, used colorful language, and emotionalized his answers whereas Blankenship made references to other countries like India and China to avoid talking about issues of this region.”

“I felt that Robert Kennedy came much more prepared for the debate, with real facts and statistics. It was obvious that he feels passionately about stopping surface mining and Blankenship feels passionately abut preserving it. I also felt that Blankenship was a bit disrespectful during the debate. Instead of using more statistics to prove his points as Kennedy did, he tried to act as if everything Kennedy said was dumb and make the audience laugh”

“Even the most extreme environmentalist would be a coal supporter if they went home to a cold, dark house at night.”

“Coal has been a large part of my family and many other families in this area for years and years. I can honestly say I am a friend of coal, but to see the mining industry destroy our mountains like they are is unacceptable. Obviously there are other ways to mine coal, so why don’t we just stick to the basics?”

That's all for now. Cheers.

Soldiers and Stereotypes

For those of you who might be interested, my doctoral dissertation is now available to download for free online. You can find it at:



http://wvuscholar.wvu.edu:8881/R/SGHL24MEEPA91DS8TJBX5PH1HYICRVSH2VLBTTG2V1J3SRC96U-00548


Once you follow the link, just click the pdf file on the left of the screen.

Below is a short summary of the study. I plan to transform the dissertation into a book that will expand my themes. Until then... enjoy this version. Cheers. 


Soldiers and Stereotypes: Mountaineers, Cultural Identity, and World War II


To what extent are Appalachian stereotypes true and how much is pure fabrication? This study seeks to answer this question by examining the experiences of West Virginia soldiers during World War II. Appalachian hillbillies, believed to be culturally backward, uncivilized, isolated, and prone to violence, were often sent straight to the infantry because it was believed that their wild mountain heritage made them inherently better fighters. Using interviews, letters, and a collection of over 1,200 firsthand written accounts of Appalachian veterans collected by West Virginia University in 1946, this study traces the evolution of the cultural and individual identities of mountaineers throughout their time in the United States military. These West Virginia narratives are also compared and contrasted with those of other soldiers in the United States and around the world. Because every single ethnicity and race in the world fought and was exposed to many similar circumstances, the war itself is the ultimate litmus test for the validity of cultural stereotypes. If stereotypes associated with Appalachians are true, then their wartime narratives will reflect different reactions to soldiering and war based on their own inherent cultural traits. If not, then their reactions to war will be similar to those of other soldiers from different regions and nations. This study endeavors to demonstrate what the Second World War reveals about the changing identity of West Virginia soldiers, and more specifically, the culture and stereotypes associated with them.

Pass the Amontillado, I’m Waiting for the Great Pumpkin

October may very well be my favorite month of the year. Granted, I may be a bit biased since I was born on this month, but there are so many other reasons to love it. The mountains transform into rolling red, gold, and orange quilts. Leaves flutter in the air as cars breeze down solitary roads. The days are comfortable and the nights are crisp. Hunters invade the woods and cheerfully blast at everything not wearing orange. Football is in high gear. This year has been an interesting one for a Steelers and Mountaineers fan. The Steelers, coming off their Super Bowl victory have stumbled their way to a 5-2 start. They don’t look like champs, but somehow they are still in the mix. For the Mountaineers, it’s Coach Stew Year Two. Everyone talks about what a nice guy he is and the Mounties are a tolerable 6-2 but I foresee tough times ahead. Does Stew actually know what he is doing? Half the time he’s pacing back and forth on the sidelines with a confused look and grimacing teeth like he really needs to use the bathroom but can’t remember where to find the nearest toilet. And don’t even talk to me about the halftime interviews. Sometimes the rambling, smiling Stew even makes less sense than Lou Holtz dishing out those those incoherent pep talks – and before Stew did it, I thought it couldn’t be done. Meanwhile thousands of prayers go up from the mountains each day imploring God to make Rich Rodriguez fail at Michigan. Stew is still enjoying the fruits of Rodriguez’s recruiting. Unfortunately for Stew and the Mountaineer faithful, the talent well will not be as deep in the near future. But no matter what happens, it is October and each year I hate to see it go.

One of the best things about October is Halloween. Kids get candy, men get to act like kids, and ladies get to dress like tramps. Everybody is happy. For me though, this time of year is great for ghost stories and scary movies. Upon my return to the ranks of the blog world, I have decided to share a few of my favorite things to watch and/or read whenever I get the chance in late October. The first is a sentimental childhood cartoon: “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.” The second is my favorite Edgar Allan Poe story, “The Cask of Amontillado,” and the third is, in my opinion, the best vampire movie of the past thirty years, Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I will discuss them one blog at a time. For now, it’s Charlie Brown’s turn.

As far as I’m concerned, if you don’t like the Great Pumpkin you must be a terrorist. I had not seen it in a few years but was lucky enough to catch it on TV last week. Having seen the cartoons my nieces and nephews watch I’m struck by how different and much more artistic cartoons used to be. The Charlie Brown special would probably not even see the light of day if it had just been introduced to television executives. It is not happy enough, they would say. It isn’t politically correct and sweet and filled with delusional positive messages about how everyone is special and things always turn out okay in the end. But that is what makes the Great Pumpkin so interesting and enduring. It isn’t a “feel good” story. In fact, the show is filled with disappointment. As usual, Charlie Brown takes it on the chin. Lucy still pulls away the football at the last moment, sending Charlie crashing into the leaves. When they go trick or treating, all the other kids get candy; Charlie Brown gets a bag of rocks. Sally doesn’t get any candy either. Because of her puppy love for Linus, she stays with him in the Pumpkin Patch and misses out on all the candy. She finally screams and shouts at Linus before storming off into the dark. She is like so many women who have blind faith in the men that they love only to wake up one morning and realize they’ve wasted a big chunk of their lives. Then there is poor, ideological Linus - ever watchful in the Pumpkin patch. As the night grew darker, he slept alone under his blanket until his sister drags him home and puts him to bed. No Great Pumpkin. How many of us have spent far too much time in our lives faithfully waiting for something that never came? I certainly have. Most tragically, of course, is that Snoopy fails in his dogfight with the Red Baron and is forced to make a crash landing somewhere in the French countryside (By the way, in the scene where Schroeder is playing the piano and Snoopy is dancing while dressed in his World War I flying gear, Schroeder is playing actual songs popular among the soldiers in the First World War – could you ever find as much depth in a cartoon today?)

Our story ends with Charlie and Linus leaning against the brick wall trying to make sense of everything that has transpired. Charlie didn’t get any candy and Linus never saw the Great Pumpkin. Linus is undaunted, however, and vows to find an even better Pumpkin patch next year. “You’ll see!” he shouts to Charlie Brown. He declares that one day he’ll be proven right. Isn't life this way? Most of the time we don’t get what we want. We wait around for things that never happen; we expect candy and instead, life gives us a rock. But like Linus we wait for next year and hope for better things. Maybe one day Charlie Brown can kick that football and maybe one day the Great Pumpkin will show up. In the meantime, we can enjoy the fact that kids can still see and learn from a cartoon that was drawn over a generation ago. Maybe we can still learn from it too. If that doesn’t make the Great Pumpkin a work of art, I don’t know what does.

Until next time...

An Old Poem

This is one of my very first publications – a poem I wrote way back in the early fall of 1999. It recalls an old black and white portrait of a couple (family ancestors, I was told) at my grandparents’ house. The portrait hanged in an isolated room upstairs and it was so old that the couple in the picture looked like ghosts. Some of the grandkids were so freaked out by it that they were too scared to enter the room. Even though it frightened me as a little kid, I still couldn’t keep myself from going in and taking a peak. So I wrote a poem about it and decided to post it here on its tenth anniversary. . . .

The Dead Man on the Wall


****

The dead man on the wall

and his wife stare at me.

In a little room upstairs

in my grandmother’s house

They wait for me behind a closed door

with possum’s eyes

and call to me from up the stairs.

I always go.

Sitting in the room,

wood creaks and my toy red truck

rolls across the floor.

My back itches and the possum’s eyes

crawl up to rest on my shoulder

I always look back,

and behold their decaying cage

of wood and print

Then comes the grin.

How does it form?

Down the steps again.

****

        

                                                                                 September 1999

Corn Day

Today was Corn Day. For those of you who happen to wander across this blog, I'm sure “Corn Day” has no meaning for you. Some of you may have never even treaded through a cornfield. For the majority of my life, however, Corn Day has been a day to dread. Every year on the first week of August my family either purchases or harvests corn and stores it so that it may be consumed over the course of the next nine months or so. The day entails shucking, picking the silk off the ears, carrying numerous trash bins full of husks and corn cobs into the woods and dumping them (the forest animals will eat well tonight), boiling the ears, cutting the corn off the ears, putting the corn into plastic bags, and freezing them. Today my family stored 45 dozen ears of corn in this fashion. The process took a little over twelve hours.

This was my first Corn Day in nearly a decade. For the last seven years I have lived in Morgantown, West Virginia, teaching at West Virginia University and getting a Ph.D. in history. Recently, I moved back to southern West Virginia, near where I was raised, to teach at a new college and therefore, for the first time in a long time, am able to enjoy the bountiful fruits of Corn Day. I am many things, dear reader; a farmer is not one of them. You can guess, therefore, that I began the day less than enthusiastic.

It all started around ten in the morning, when I accompanied my mother down some country road. I’m not talking about the kind of country road that took John Denver home to the place where he belonged (I’ve always hated that song, by the way. It’s not even about West Virginia, but western Virginia). I’m talking about a real country road. It starts out as a two lane, winds around the hills alongside a creek until it becomes a one lane, twists and bends some more until it becomes a gravel road, then your car bumps and trudges a bit until the road is just dirt. There are trailers beside the creek with old folks sitting on their porches giving you suspicious looks as you pass by. There is trash on the creek bank and you wonder where it all comes from. To put it mildly, the pizza delivery boy has never made his way out this far. For me, it’s stunning. I have lived in a college town for a while now and I haven’t been around rural poverty for some time. Even though I grew up around it, I failed to notice it much. I was simply used to it. When you are away from it for years and return to it, the poverty hits you like a slap in the face. Sure, there is poverty everywhere, but to see it all around the community of my youth is depressing.

We eventually make our way to a small farm (I posted a pic of it above) where we purchase the corn for $3.25 a dozen. Not too bad. The farm is run by an elderly couple and a few of their relatives. They are all over sixty. In fact, as we are loading the corn, I look around at the other folks buying corn and I am the youngest person there by at least twenty five years. The matriarch of the farm smiles at me and tells me that she doesn’t see many “youngsters like me around.” The sad truth then dawns on me. I am witnessing a dying scene in Appalachia. The couple’s children have all left the farm and even the state for different careers. There is no one to take over the crops when the couple dies, and both of them are nearly seventy. In a couple of decades you will not be able to buy corn or beans or strawberries from small farmers around here. There won’t be any. At least not in West Virginia. My children, should I ever have any, may only be able to get their corn at Wal-Mart. Now that’s another depressing thought. I don't remember Corn Day being this sad.

The rest of the day was tough and long. I’m tired even as I write this. But I wanted to jot down a few thoughts on the matter. You see, as our society becomes increasingly more industrial, it is not merely the independent farmers that are the endangered species, but communal events like Corn Day will also soon be gone. My entire family is always involved in this event - from my brothers-in-law to my parents, sisters, nieces, and nephews. Sometimes my uncles and aunts are there. As a kid I resented Corn Day because of all the work. I would guess that a lot of kids resent working in or around farms, which is why many of them leave. But living a fair distance away from family for many years has given me a deeper appreciation for the day. It is about more than having home grown, golden sweet corn at your disposal year round. Although that is really nice…… so nice that to this day I refuse to eat corn from a can or in a restaurant. It’s just not good enough. But on a deeper level, time working together is time spent together. Families who live in urban America have nothing comparable with which to spend their time. It's amazing how many people there are in this country who live under the same roof and yet they hardly know the person in the next room. But this example, I think, drives the point home. Earlier tonight as we all prepared to leave my parents’ home (where the work is always done), my nieces each gave me a hug and kiss and one of them, Mattie Ann, told me how glad she was that I was here this year for Corn Day. That made me happy. In a culture where families scatter and most nieces only know their uncle as the guy who shows up for a few days every Christmas, I’m glad my nieces will know me for something more. And I’m glad to still be a part of a dying tradition in a changing society somewhere in the mountains of Appalachia. Maybe I'm being a bit sentimental, or dare I say it, corny ... but there it is.

Still Fighting Blair Mountain

The following article was originally written for the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia:

Still Fighting the Battle of Blair Mountain

by

C. Belmont Keeney

On August 7, 1921, just one week after Sid Hatfield had been murdered on the steps of the McDowell County Courthouse, Frank Keeney, the president of the UMWA District 17, gave a stirring speech to thousands of miners on the capitol grounds in Charleston. He told the crowd that there was no justice in West Virginia and declared, “The only way you can get your rights is with a high powered rifle!” He then told the miners to go home and await the call to march.

And march they did. Over 10,000 miners carved a path of rebellion from Charleston to the doorstep of Logan County. We all know what happened next. Mine guards and miners fought it out until federal troops intervened. Over 500 “rednecks” were charged with treason, murder, and conspiracy to commit murder. The state used coal company lawyers in the prosecution, and our own governor testified against the miners. Among those charged, of course, were the leaders of the movement: Frank Keeney, Fred Mooney, and Bill Blizzard.


Frank Keeney was my great-grandfather. I learned about the Mine Wars and the Battle of Blair Mountain at family cookouts and around my grandparents’ fireplace. My family has a long history in these mountains—I was proudly told. The Keeneys settled in the Greenbrier Valley in 1751 and even have a few rapids on the New River bearing the family name. However, in the decades after Blair Mountain, you did not want to walk into Charleston with the last name Keeney. The name meant treason. For many years, restaurants refused to serve Frank Keeney, but in the working class pubs he never had to buy a drink. Unfortunately, I never learned about any of this in school. In fact, my eighth grade West Virginia history teacher had never even heard of Frank Keeney. But, naturally, she had no trouble naming all of the counties in alphabetical order. As a teenager, I was left to wonder if anybody remembered or even cared what had happened in the coal fields of southern West Virginia.


Thankfully, with the inclusion of Blair Mountain on the National Register of Historic Places, we have another means of remembering and we know that some people care. Remembrance without action is pointless. We are indebted to those who have worked to preserve this historic landmark and save Blair Mountain from becoming another casualty of a coal operator’s greed. To strip mine Blair Mountain is to strip us of our own history, and this cannot be allowed. Blair Mountain reminds us of who we are as West Virginians. I believe Frank Keeney summed it up well when he said, “I am a native West Virginian and there are others like me in the mines here. We don’t propose to get out of the way when a lot of capitalists from New York and London come down and tell us to get off the earth. They played that game on the American Indian. They gave him the end of a log to sit on and then pushed him off that. We don't propose to be pushed off." Blair Mountain reminds us of a time when West Virginians refused to be pushed off the log.


Blair Mountain also reminds us that the fight is not over. In a speech to a crowd of striking miners, Keeney reassured them that the cause for which they suffered was not in vain. “One day there will be no more tent colonies, no more gunmen, because right now you people are going through what you are.” He was right. Today, there are no more tent colonies, and the mine guards are now found only in books or pieces of fiction. But the absence of these things does not signify that the conflict over coal, people, and history in West Virginia has ended. As recent events clearly demonstrate, there are some who would have us forget Blair Mountain. There are those who are fighting to have it taken off the National Register so that the mountain can be open for strip mining. They must be reminded that we will still not be pushed off the log.


A friend of mine once asked me in a joking manner, “You think if Frank Keeney were alive today that he’d have a Friends of Coal bumper sticker?” I responded that Frank Keeney was no Friend of Coal, but he was a friend of coal miners. There is a big difference. If we are to be friends of the miners who stormed Blair Mountain so many years ago, we must keep it on the National Register of Historic Places. If we give up on this fight, then we give up on the ideals of the Redneck Army of 1921. If Frank Keeney were alive today, I believe he would still be fighting.



References

C. Belmont Keeney, “Rank and File Rednecks: Radicalism and Union Leadership in the West Virginia Mine Wars,” Defending the Homeland: Historical Perspectives on Radicalism, Terrorism, and State Responses, Melinda M. Hicks and C. Belmont Keeney, eds. (Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2007): 20-43.

C. Belmont Keeney, “A Republican for Labor: T. C. Townsend and the West Virginia Labor Movement, 1921-1932,” West Virginia History, Volume 60, 2004-2006: 1-23.