Episodes

Lick Creek Camp Dwellers, 1922 (Image credit: Library of Congress) “You know our rights under the Constitution, that no man should be condemned or jailed until we have had a free and impartial trial. We claim to be citizens of the United States and we ask for the rights of citizenship ; we claim to be loyal to our country, and we are loyal to our country, and all we ask is that we shall have our rights. We claim that we are citizens of the United States of America, according to the amendment to ...

Mother Jones addressing miners in Montgomery, WV Arms confiscated by National Guard on Paint Creek and Cabin Creek “Mother Jones was then about 80 years of age. Her hair was snow white, but she was yet full of fight. With that brand of oratorical fire that is only found in those who originate from Erin, she could permeate a group of strikers with more fight than any living human being. She fired them with enthusiasm, she burned them with criticism, then cried with them because of their abuses....

Trapper Boy, Turkey Knob Mine, Macdonald, W. Va. Image credit: Library of Congress “My first work in the mines was at Borderland, WV, and I was 13 years old. Back then, people think now, when you say you were 13 years old and start in the mines, they think something funny about it. Back then, there was no such thing as a social security card. All you had to do was be big enough to do a days work. I went to helping my Daddy on the track and I was kind of thin and he told me to put on extra pair o...