Reflections
I came to Montgomery, WV from Maryland in 1978, when Social Security hired a bunch of city kids to take claims for the new Black Lung Compensation benefits, recently enacted by Congress. During ten years in Montgomery, I interviewed many coal miners, widows, orphans, bosses, union folks and witnesses to the Appalachian struggles of the 20 th century.
I was befriended by an old Black man named James McGee, who had a taxi cab stand and a phone box on the lamp post outside the office I worked in. Sometimes when I got a break and walked outside he would hail me. Heâd call âHey, Easy Money!â (My favorite and only honorary title I ever possessed.) I would stop and shoot the bull with Mr. McGee and I learned a lot. When he was a boy in the days when the Hawks Nest Tunnel was being built, he worked as a âwater boyâ, leading mules into the hole, packing water for the workers. He was eye witness to one of the worst and most deliberate exploitations of industrial workers in U. S. history. Worst, that is, if we donât count slavery.
The tunnel, which went almost right under my house near Ansted, rerouted New River water from Hawks Nest to the power station just above Gauley Bridge, which made electricity for the steel mill in the valley. That tunnel was cut through almost pure silica and the precautions against inhaling it were non-existent. This was at the height of the Great Depression. Most of the workers were desperately poor Black men who heard of the project and hopped trains from the deep south to come here and work. Their loved ones probably never knew what became of them. Hundreds of them died of silicosis and accidents and were buried in unmarked graves along US 19, south of what is now Summersville Lake. How did I get through school without hearing that history?
I was privileged to come across two used volumes of âThe West Virginia Encyclopediaâ, collected and edited by Jim Comstock who ran âThe Richwood News Leaderâ weekly paper and the âWest Virginia Hill Billyâ news, (which used to put ramps đ± in the ink every year in April.) Talk about hometown pride! Phew!!! My 2 volumes of the encyclopedia were âWest Virginia songs and storiesâ, and a transcript of the U. S. Senate hearings concerning the Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster. My neighbors, Peter and Brucella Jordan created and managed a local African American history museum at Ansted. I gave the Hawks Nest Volume to the museum and still have the songbook. There were other unsung heroes and heroines that I met over the years who told me amazing stories in the process of a Social Security office visit or during one of many outpost interviews and home visits.
Once I interviewed a lady from Paint Creek, WV who was a little girl in 1920. Her family was thrown out of their coal company house during a strike. The only way down from the coal mine land to a place they could set up a camp was along the tracks or along the creek bed. She related how her mother led her through the water by the hand while company guards stood above on the railroad and shot rifles over their heads as a good-bye gesture.
There was a brutal strike soon after I arrived in Montgomery and it went on for three months or so. It was another setback for the United Mine Workers, who never had the best footing this far south and who have been in decline ever since those days. The union also had internal troubles. Their famously corrupt president, Tony Boyle, ran for re-election against a reform candidate, Jock Yablonsky. Suddenly the contender and his whole family were murdered in their home. Boyle went to jail for the crime.
The miners then elected Arnold Miller to run the union. He was a simple miner who fought hard for the members and rose through UMWA ranks, but he was no match for the huge resources and lawyers of the Bituminous Coal Operators Association. He worked himself into a heart attack and retired. I was posted down to the Charleston office the day he came in and filed for Social Security Disability and Black Lung Benefits. I was given the interview and while telling his work history and his medical history, he related some family and community history. I got one hell of an education in a very short time.
Lately, there has been a great deal of interest in the Mine Wars. They were 100 years ago, in 1921, and my buddy, Wess Harris, and others have done a lot recently to focus attention on them. The WV Public Schools and the WV Dept. of Culture and History have always white-washed the stories or ignored them all together.
I was fortunate enough to have a position in the community and to make friends who welcomed me in and taught me the history that school would have never provided.
John W. Doyle
Charleston, WV
BBG is proud to share this perspective for our column: Ghost of John Brown. We welcome your contribution to this unique column. Please submit 600 words or less to crystal@ blackbygod.org
Sign up for our newsletter
Get the latest headlines from Black by God right in your inbox weekly.
More in Community from Black by God
âCapâ Ferguson: A Black Trailblazer
Meet the iconic Army Officer, Educator and Charleston, WV entrepreneur and civic leader
Removing Stigmas And Helping People Succeed
Formerly Incarcerated Women Speaks To WV Legislature
âThe Feelsâ Centers the Joys of Black Womanhood in West Virginia
Meet Creative Director Keiya Smith
WEST BBGâS VIRGINIAâS FIRST LADY OF THE BLUES CROSSES THE RIVER INTO OHIO
Inviting the Ohio River Valley to celebrate Juneteenth in Athens, Ohio.
West Virginia Black Pride Foundation seeks to create a safe space for Black LGBTQ+
âWelcome to the West Virginia Black Pride Foundation.. weâre going to love you." ~Kasha Snyder, Founder and President
Beckley to Host 21st Annual Juneteenth Celebration
Saturday, June 18th, 2022 at New River Park
West Virginia NAACP Chapters
From the mistreatment of students of color to violent hate crimes, the WV NAACP has be a champion for the Black community of West Virginia by illuminating our shared injustices and taking action against inequality.
Local Podcasters Are Paving the Way
From Hip Hop to News Meet BIPOC Media Makers in West Virginia
Black West Virginians Are At A Unique Disadvantage When It Comes To Mental Health
Barriers that impact mental health for Black West Virginians include a scarcity of Black mental health professionals and mental health resources, stigma, lack of proper mental health education, and more. Black therapists discuss how we can change the culture surrounding mental health.
Celebrating Female Entrepreneurs For Womens History Month
BOOK REVIEW: FEARLESS FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS
Bet On Black Women
The question remains, when will we accept that Black women know the truth and the way?
Carnegie Hall hosts exhibits that feature the work of Black West Virginian artists
âWhat I canât put into words, I put it on canvas.â ~ Doris Fields
Historical Black Policy Day Of Action At West Virginia State Capitol
âTell your stories because your story is your glory, in it is your truth.â ~ Delegate Walker
History & Hope
Read BBGs Special Black History & Legislative Edition
Lady D Is West Virginia Thriving
âThe whole country thinks West Virginia is those people they see on the news. And I just want there to be an acknowledgment of Black people, who we are, who we were, what we did, especially in the context of music.â
SHELEM RAPPER OF THE MONTH
Beckley, WV native Shelem is a 25-year-old hip-hop artist known for his hands-on approach to engaging his audience.
Kevin & Kayln
BBG Love Stories
âAlmost Heaven âTil We Get Thereâ
Black Miners and Blair Mountain
Mountain Mama Hoodoo Medicine
Lessons from when John the Conqueror visited the salt plantation in West Virginia reminding - âmama medicineâ
Mentored By The Ancestors
Black Birth Workers In West Virginia
BBG Founder/Publisher Crystal Good on the BBG delivery route
5,000 copies have been distributed across West Virginia!
Blaquity
Thar Is Black People Gold In Them Thar Hills!
Black Farmers Struggle For Finance And Support In West Virginia
"We are used and then left out"
Phat Daddy's On Da Tracks- Opening Following Thanksgiving Weekend đŠ
A new employee-owned take-out restaurant, Phat Daddyâs On Da Tracks-- located at 480 Railroad Avenue, West Side, Charleston, West Virginia-- is set to officially open its doors following Thanksgiving weekend.
The House of Campbell- Rebuilding My Family's History and the Significance of Black Death, Wealth, and Discovery
A Familyâs History and the Significance of Black Death, Wealth, and Discovery In West Virginia
Community Events week of Nov. 2, 2021
Community Events week of Nov. 2, 2021
Welcome to BBGâs New Website
Black By God The West Virginian's New Website - November 2021
After Julian: Who Will Revere Empathetic Black Boys
Survivorâs Guilt by Julia Mallory is a monumental meditation on grief and the aftermath of loss.
Join Our Folk Reporters Program
BBGâs Folk Reporters Program is seeking citizens and civic actors, creators, and collaborators representing a broad base of intergenerational, diverse communities to explore the 2021 West Virginia Legislative agenda that impacts Black citizens.
Blair Mountain On The One
From Black Appalachian music to protests on Capitol Hill, the voices of resistance are ever-intensifying.
100 Years of Black West Virginia Youth Writing
From the Peters Sisters to Aiden Satterfield
CONGRATULATIONS SISTER ROMELIA PARKS
WEST VIRGINIAN OF THE YEAR from the Charleston Gazette