Courage in the Hollers

For a century, the West Virginia Mine Wars and the Battle of Blair Mountain were kept out of history textbooks for fear of tarnishing the state’s image, but today these events evoke fascination and pride for many Mountaineers and people across the U.S. The red bandana has taken on new significance as scholars, teachers, and Americans of all backgrounds engage with the history-making fight West Virginia’s coal miners waged for their constitutional rights. Marmet lies within the traditional homelands of many sovereign Indigenous nations, and the Osage, Cherokee, Shawnee, Yuchi, Tutelo, and Moneton are the original stewards of this place. The Kanawha River knows many people of resistance, and colonization has played a role in the exploitation of home and labor while Indigenous access to this land and its care is disconnected, but not disinherited.

Marmet, West Virginia · United States