Coal

Alabama Women, Like Predecessors, are Keeping a Strike Alive

by Kim Kelly

The Warrior Met Coal strike in Alabama has been on for more than 600 days. Labor writer Kim Kelly links miners' endurance to the work of women workers, miners' wives, and other women in past labor struggles. 

The Hidden History of Black Coal Towns

The New River Gorge is one of the newest National Parks. Beyond natural beauty, the region allows visitors to learn the history of African American coal miners and their communities in West Virginia. 

How Decades of Coal Mining Left West Virginia Vulnerable to Flooding

For a century, coal mining companies have taken billions of dollars of wealth out of eastern Kentucky, stripped the land of vegetation that can contain flood waters, and contributed to the climate change making severe storms more frequent, while leaving little for the people who live there. 

Behind Manchin's BBB Opposition, a Long History of Climate Obstruction

"He received more campaign donations from the oil, coal and gas industries than any other senator in the current election cycle."

Bob Murray, Who Fought Against Black Lung Regulations As A Coal Operator, Has Filed For Black Lung Benefits

The coal magnate, who for decades ran the largest privately owned underground coal mining company in the United States, has also been at the forefront of combatting federal regulations that attempt to reduce black lung, an incurable and ultimately fatal lung disease caused by exposure to coal and rock dust.

‘Matewan Massacre’ A Century Ago Embodied Miners’ Struggles

Historian Lou Martin, a board member of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum, recounts the oppressive atmosphere in mining towns that led to a violently repressed unionization drive.

West Virginia Coal Mine Owners Have Blood on Their Hands

by James Green

The bloody history of mine workers in West Virginia is truly as dark as any dungeon, but the recent indictment of a mine owner suggests that maybe the tide has turned.