Black Days, Black Dust

Black Days, Black Dust PDF

Author: Robert Armstead

Publisher: Univ. of Tennessee Press

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9781572331761

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Armistead retired from the coal mines in 1987, and died in 1998. Here he recounts his experiences and those of his father, who was also a coal miner, so that this engaging memoir also stands as a rich historical document portraying the evolution of the industry. Armistead told his story to S.L. Gardner, a former teacher and librarian who has written about coal camps for the Times West Virginian. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Soul Full of Coal Dust

Soul Full of Coal Dust PDF

Author: Chris Hamby

Publisher: Little, Brown

Published: 2020-08-18

Total Pages: 444

ISBN-13: 0316299499

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In a devastating and urgent work of investigative journalism, Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hamby uncovers the tragic resurgence of black lung disease in Appalachia, its Big Coal cover-up, and the resilient mining communities who refuse to back down. Decades ago, a grassroots uprising forced Congress to enact long-overdue legislation designed to virtually eradicate black lung disease and provide fair compensation to coal miners stricken with the illness. Today, however, both promises remain unfulfilled. Levels of disease have surged, the old scourge has taken an aggressive new form, and ailing miners and widows have been left behind by a dizzying legal system, denied even modest payments and medical care. In this devastating and urgent work of investigative journalism, Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hamby traces the unforgettable story of how these trends converge in the lives of two men: Gary Fox, a black lung-stricken West Virginia coal miner determined to raise his family from poverty, and John Cline, an idealistic carpenter and rural medical clinic worker who becomes a lawyer in his fifties. Opposing them are the lawyers at the coal industry’s go-to law firm; well-credentialed doctors who often weigh in for the defense, including a group of radiologists at Johns Hopkins; and Gary’s former employer, Massey Energy, the region’s largest coal company, run by a cantankerous CEO often portrayed in the media as a dark lord of the coalfields. On the line in Gary and John’s longshot legal battle are fundamental principles of fairness and justice, with consequences for miners and their loved ones throughout the nation. Taking readers inside courtrooms, hospitals, homes tucked in Appalachian hollows, and dusty mine tunnels, Hamby exposes how coal companies have not only continually flouted a law meant to protect miners from deadly amounts of dust but also enlisted well-credentialed doctors and lawyers to help systematically deny much-needed benefits to miners. The result is a legal and medical thriller that brilliantly illuminates how a band of laborers — aided by a small group of lawyers, doctors and lay advocates, often working out of their homes or in rural clinics and tiny offices – challenged one of the world's most powerful forces, Big Coal, and won. A deeply troubling yet ultimately triumphant work, Soul Full of Coal Dust is a necessary and timely book about injustice and resistance.

Daughters of the Dust

Daughters of the Dust PDF

Author: Julie Dash

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2021-06-22

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0593185560

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Drawing from the magical world of her iconic Sundance award-winning film, Julie Dash’s stand-alone novel tells another rich, historical tale of the Gullah-Geechee people: a multigenerational story about a Brooklyn College anthropology student who finds an unexpected homecoming when she heads to the South Carolina Sea Islands to study her ancestors. Set in the 1920s in the Sea Islands off the Carolina coast where the Gullah-Geechee people have preserved much of their African heritage and language, Daughters of the Dust chronicles the lives of the Peazants, a large, proud family who trace their origins to the Ibo, who were enslaved and brought to the islands more than one hundred years earlier. Native New Yorker and anthropology student Amelia Peazant has always known about her grandmother and mother’s homeland of Dawtuh Island, though she’s never understood why her family remains there, cut off from modern society. But when an opportunity arises for Amelia to head to the island to study her ancestry for her thesis, she is surprised by what she discovers. From her multigenerational clan she gathers colorful stories, learning about "the first man and woman," the slaves who walked across the water back home to Africa, the ways men and women need each other, and the intermingling of African and Native American cultures. The more she learns, the more Amelia comes to treasure her family and their traditions, discovering an especially strong kinship with her fiercely independent cousin, Elizabeth. Eyes opened to an entirely new world, Amelia must decide what’s next for her and find her role in the powerful legacy of her people. Daughters of the Dust is a vivid novel that blends folktales, history, and anthropology to tell a powerful and emotional story of homecoming, the reclamation of cultural heritage, and the enduring bonds of family.

A Dust Bowl Book of Days, 1932

A Dust Bowl Book of Days, 1932 PDF

Author: Craig Volk

Publisher: South Dakota State Historical Society

Published: 2020

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781941813294

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"Using the writings of his grandmother, Margaret Spader Neises, and mother, Joan Neises Volk, author Craig Volk creates a one-year diary that details the life and times of a woman during 1932."--

Faces Behind the Dust

Faces Behind the Dust PDF

Author: CORA L. HAIRSTON

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2013-01-09

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 1475958307

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This book begins about a precocious, nosey little girl, who has eavesdropping down to a science. The stories surrounding this coal mining community are about family, neighbors and friends. ClaraBy loves her Daddy. The drama of this book will have you laughing and crying, as she grows into womanhood along this journey. She is struck with sorrow at the loss of her best friend, and worries about her father and brothers when tragedy struck. Also sees her father growing weary over the years as his health deteriorates. Her sister is a fast breeder, who seems to be caught by the BIG BIRD every year or so with cute little gremlins. There are racial issues that took place in the early 1950s and 60s during the period of integration. ClaraBy begins to grow into a lovely young lady who is trying hard not to let her hormones get the best of her. This book is the beginning of her life and she has a lot of living to do. HELLO WORLD!! HER COMES CLARABY ROSE!! (book 2).

The Oxford Handbook of American Immigration and Ethnicity

The Oxford Handbook of American Immigration and Ethnicity PDF

Author: Ronald H. Bayor

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016-06-01

Total Pages: 528

ISBN-13: 0190626186

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Scholarship on immigration to America is a coin with two sides: it asks both how America changed immigrants, and how they changed America. Were the immigrants uprooted from their ancestral homes, leaving everything behind, or were they transplanted, bringing many aspects of their culture with them? Although historians agree with the transplantation concept, the notion of the melting pot, which suggests a complete loss of the immigrant culture, persists in the public mind. The Oxford Handbook of American Immigration and Ethnicity bridges this gap and offers a comprehensive and nuanced survey of American racial and ethnic development, assessing the current status of historical research and simultaneously setting the goals for future investigation. Early immigration historians focused on the European migration model, and the ethnic appeal of politicians such as Fiorello La Guardia and James Michael Curley in cities with strong ethno-political histories like New York and Boston. But the story of American ethnicity goes far beyond Ellis Island. Only after the 1965 Immigration Act and the increasing influx of non-Caucasian immigrants, scholars turned more fully to the study of African, Asian and Latino migrants to America. This Handbook brings together thirty eminent scholars to describe the themes, methodologies, and trends that characterize the history and current debates on American immigration. The Handbook's trenchant chapters provide compelling analyses of cutting-edge issues including identity, whiteness, borders and undocumented migration, immigration legislation, intermarriage, assimilation, bilingualism, new American religions, ethnicity-related crime, and pan-ethnic trends. They also explore the myth of "model minorities" and the contemporary resurgence of anti-immigrant feelings. A unique contribution to the field of immigration studies, this volume considers the full racial and ethnic unfolding of the United States in its historical context.

Encyclopedia of African American Society

Encyclopedia of African American Society PDF

Author: Gerald D. Jaynes

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 2005-02-01

Total Pages: 1113

ISBN-13: 1452265410

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Do your students or patrons ever ask you about African Americans in sports? How about African American Academy Award winners? Or perhaps you′re asked about more complex social issues regarding the unemployment rate among African Americans, or the number of African American men on death row? If these questions sound familiar, the Encyclopedia of African American Society is a must-have for your library. This two-volume reference seeks to capture the ways in which the tenets and foundations of African American culture have given rise to today′s society. Approaching the field from a "street level" perspective, these two volumes cover topics of universal interest in America: rap music, sports, television, cinema, racism, religion, literature, and much more. The Encyclopedia of African American Society is also the first comprehensive yet accessible reference set in this field to give voice to the turbulent historical trends–slavery, segregation, "separate but equal"–that are often ignored in favor of mere facts. This is a definitive, reliable, and accessible entry point to learning the basics about African American society. The encyclopedia is anchored by alphabetically arranged essays on such topics as abolitionism, affirmative action, and the civil rights movement. More than just a "who′s who", these volumes emphasize social issues and events—those filled with significance and consequence through history. Civil Rights, economic growth, law and justice, and politics—with all of their numerous subcategories—receive substantial coverage. The encyclopedia naturally contains hundreds of articles on notable African Americans (Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackie Robinson, Miles Davis), groundbreaking events (Emancipation Proclamation, Los Angeles Riots), sports and culture (Rap Music, Jazz), and significant heritage sites (Apollo Theater). This much needed two-volume encyclopedia should become a staple in collections at school, public, and academic libraries. Readers of all ages, backgrounds, and ethnic or racial groups will find fascinating material on every page. Key Features Nearly 700 signed articles Almost 50 photographs Complete list of African Americans in sports Halls of Fame Cross-referenced for easy links from one topic to another Reader′s guide facilitates easy browsing for relevant articles Clear, accessible writing style appropriate for high school and college students and interested lay readers Comprehensive index and bibliography Topics Covered Concepts and Theories Fine Arts, Theater, and Entertainment Health and Education History and Heritage Literature Media Movements and Events Music and Dance Organizations and Institutions Places Politics and Policy Popular Culture Religion and Beliefs The Road to Freedom Science, Technology, and Business Social Issues Special Populations Sports Advisory Board Sherri L. Barnes, Davidson Library, University of California, Santa Barbara W. Maurice Shipley, Ph.D., Ohio State University William H. Wiggins, Jr., Ph.D., Indiana University

African American Miners and Migrants

African American Miners and Migrants PDF

Author: Thomas E. Wagner

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 2010-10-01

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 0252092732

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Thomas E. Wagner and Phillip J. Obermiller's African American Miners and Migrants documents the lives of Eastern Kentucky Social Club (EKSC) members, a group of black Appalachians who left the eastern Kentucky coalfields and their coal company hometowns in Harlan County. Bound together by segregation, the inherent dangers of mining, and coal company paternalism, it might seem that black miners and mountaineers would be eager to forget their past. Instead, members of the EKSC have chosen to celebrate their Harlan County roots. African American Miners and Migrants uses historical and archival research and extensive personal interviews to explore their reasons and the ties that still bind them to eastern Kentucky. The book also examines life in the model coal towns of Benham and Lynch in the context of Progressive Era policies, the practice of welfare capitalism, and the contemporary national trend of building corporate towns and planned communities.

Making a Living

Making a Living PDF

Author: Chad Montrie

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press

Published: 2009-01-05

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 9780807877647

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In an innovative fusion of labor and environmental history, Making a Living examines work as a central part of Americans' evolving relationship with nature, revealing the unexpected connections between the fight for workers' rights and the rise of the modern environmental movement. Chad Montrie offers six case studies: textile "mill girls" in antebellum New England, plantation slaves and newly freed sharecroppers in the Mississippi Delta, homesteading women in the Kansas and Nebraska grasslands, native-born coal miners in southern Appalachia, autoworkers in Detroit, and Mexican and Mexican American farm workers in southern California. Montrie shows how increasingly organized and mechanized production drove a wedge between workers and nature--and how workers fought back. Workers' resistance not only addressed wages and conditions, he argues, but also planted the seeds of environmental reform and environmental justice activism. Workers played a critical role in raising popular consciousness, pioneering strategies for enacting environmental regulatory policy, and initiating militant local protest. Filled with poignant and illuminating vignettes, Making a Living provides new insights into the intersection of the labor movement and environmentalism in America.

Black Sunday

Black Sunday PDF

Author: Frank L. Stallings

Publisher:

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781571685285

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One giant, black dust storm in April of 1935 became the signature event of a devastating period in the history of the South Plains of the United States. The author, who grew up in Pampa in the Texas Panhandle, gathered a collection of reminiscences, reports, and responses to the storm by individuals who had been in it, and by newspapers that had reported about it, then reflected about the storm during the following years. But this is basically an oral history of interviews with well over 100 people and their personal experiences on that Black Sunday in the mid-thirties.