The Right for Safety and Equality

In New River Gorge, most coal mining companies sought to maximize profits and cut costs, often putting the physical and social needs of workers and their families last. During the West Virginia coal boom from the late 1800s into the 1930s, safety, health, social service, and collective bargaining regulations were minimal to nonexistent. The struggle for collective bargaining and unions led to a 21-year war between workers and mine owners. From 1900 to 1921, employees fought against private security hired by owners, culminating in the West Virginia Mine Wars, the second-largest armed rebellion in U.S. history after the Civil War. The battles and strikes of West Virginia miners became a key force in the American labor movement and in the formation of a vibrant, progressive, and healthy American middle class. Miners who wore red bandanas to show solidarity as pro-union supporters gave rise to the expression "red necks." A leading figure in this fight was Mary "Mother" Jones, an Irish immigrant who had worked in southern textile mill towns and lost her family in a yellow fever epidemic, then devoted her later life to advocating safe working conditions, fair pay, and benefits for miners and other working-class people.

West Virginia · United States