E10: Battle of Blair Mountain - The Coal Wars
Episode description
The largest labor uprising in American history happened in the southern hills of West Virginia in the summer of 1921. 10,000 coal miners rose up against the mine owners and their hired detectives/mercenaries/thugs known as the “mine-guards''. On their “March to Mingo” the miners are stopped at Blair Mountain and days of guerrilla fighting ensue. Will the union fighters come together to defeat their bosses? Listen in to learn all about Mother Jones, mining music, and the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency in this outrageously overlooked tale of the Coal Wars.
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Theme song by Skilsel on pixabay.com
Oral histories were largely sourced from the West Virginia University digital archives
Background music credit to ZakharValaha and eternityplatform (Pixabay), “Fire in the Hole” by Hazel Dickens and “Dark as a Dungeon” by Merle Travis
Album Art by chnkyraptr
Source list for all episodes found here