It was directed and produced by filmmaker Barbara Kopple . Sometimes the verses have been changed, but she wrote that song. Lois Scott pulls a gun out of her dress and said something like, I started out with a switch, but now Im carrying a gun. She kept it between her breast in her bra! My Land Is Dying-- Harry Caudill 10. In Barbara Kopple 's 40-year career as one of America's greatest documentary directors, the 68-year-old two-time Oscar winner (she turns 69 on July 30) has been on a quest for intimacy in . The rate of crime in Harlan County is 53.56 per 1,000 residents during a standard year. Several men were arrested for violating the injunction and were sentenced to three months in prison. The new union leadership pledged to organize (or reorganize) the unorganized. There's no such thing as neutral. Here are the 10 Safest Cities in Kentucky for 2021, Detailed List Of The Richest Cities In Kentucky. During the 20th century, it was often a center of labor strife between coal mine owners and union workers, especially in the Harlan County War of the 1930s. As I watched the movie, I wasnt exactly sure what was happening, just that it was chaos. I can't understand how people sell out so completely. Todd Melby: Another scene that I really like I love all the scenes with the women behind the scenes organizing and debating what they should do and telling their own stories. We would drive to Tennessee to get the film. But he didn't come home that night. By the end of the year, the UMWA was once again the nations largest union; it would go on to bankroll the organizing of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and the labor upsurge of the 30s. Daily News (Bowling Green, Kentucky). Barbara Kopple: A 10-minute reel of 16-millimeter film. We dont see you, but we can hear you interact. The union, which had said that the mining company had refused to recognize its authority to represent the miners, had promised to continue the Brookside strike until a settlement was reached. I went to wikipedia to look for the quote from Brecht's The Jewish Wife about how character was a thing that could be measured in units of time, but I couldn't find it. There are many dangling questions, large and small. The SLU was largely seen as serving the interests of the mine owners rather than the workers. How long did the Harlan County strike last? Dr. Harlan Bruner, MD . No concessions were given by the mine operators and UMW membership plummeted. On 24 August 1974a mine supervisor named Billy C. Bruner shot and killeda 23-year-old striker, Lawrence D. Jones. Shortly after the end of the strike, the UMW faced another national obstacle when their contracts across the country expired. Before long, most of the remaining workforce had gone on strike in solidarity. Todd Melby: The great thing about that scene is that we hear your voice and see him, and it sets up the viewer getting to know who this guy is and the duplicity. There's no such thing. The scabs were coming at the cameraman first. The Kentucky National Guard was called in. Bill Bruner William Herbert Bruner, Jr., 82, of Owensboro, died January 6, 2021 at Norton Hospital in Louisville, KY. Bill Bruner is scot-free. and charged with the killing.Mr. In the boldest example, we see a defiant Tony Boyle, president of United Mine Workers, sneering at his rivals in the late sixties before his indictment for bribery and murder; later, we see him, a shriveled figure in a wheelchair, being carried into the court for his trial in 1974, an event that took place after the Brookside strike was over. Before its conclusion, an unknown number of miners, deputies and bosses would be killed, state and federal troops would occupy the county more than half a dozen times, two acclaimed folk singers would emerge, union membership would oscillate wildly and workers in the nation's most anti-labor coal county would ultimately be represented by a union. Along with opposing the UMWA union, Eastover management also wanted a 'no-strike' clause to be included in any final contract. (Kopple says she and her crew were beaten until the strikers rescued them.) After Arnold Miller won, I wanted to see if he would keep his promise. Throughout the campaign, strikers and supporters sang songs such as "Which Side Are You On?" Mr. Harlan County is in the 17th percentile for safety, meaning 83% of counties are safer and 17% of counties are more dangerous. The Global NonviolentAction Database is aproject of Swarthmore College, including the Peace and Conflict Studies Program, the Peace Collection, and the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility. Today, US coal comes mostly from the Western plains, dug out by huge earth-moving machinery and carried to the coasts on mile-long, dust-spewing trains. Accepting new patients. Mr. Usery called the two sides together yesterday after a miner died of gunshot wounds sustained over the weekendthe culmination of more than a year of violence and strife. Already on our list? I was told if I was ever alone at night that they would kill me, so I promised the head gun thug, Basil Collins, he wouldnt catch me alone at night. He has also contributed to such publications as Variety, Cinema Scope, Screen, and Entertainment Weekly, as well as broadcast outlets CBC and National Public Radio. Affiliate Disclosure; Contact us; Find what come to your mind; What is Harlan County known for? The right to form a local of the United Mine Workers (UMW) union. I didnt feel anything. In Episode 2 of the The Drunk Projectionist, producer and host Todd Melby interviewed Barbara Kopple about Harlan County USA, her impressive first film.The 1976 documentary won an Academy Award. <p>Mr. Miller attended a rally last Thursday after a parade in Harlan.The strikers received some of the highest strike benefits ever paid by the U.M.W.$80 a week for a single man, $90 for a couple and $100 for a family. The wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters of the striking miners createdthe Brookside Women's Club (BWC)on 27 September 1973. I saw people really standing up for what they believed in. In the films most self-reflective momenta pre-dawn scenethe camera is knocked over by the company thugs, though we know nothing of the follow-up. The Citizens Public Inquiry into the Brookside Strike, funded not by UMWA but by the Marshall Field Foundation, was composed of 11 prominent people, including Willard Wirtz, Secretary of Labor under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, Fred Harris, a former US Senator, and members of academic, religious, and community groups. Nonviolent picketing comes to Harlan mine. Thats not because its comprehensive or rigorous but thanks to the intensity of feeling communicated through both song and language. Women of the community responded to Judge Bogg's injunction. There are no longer any unionized mines in Kentucky, but Harlans miners are currently continuing the regions legacy of labor struggles against wealthy and powerful coal corporations: they are blocking the coal trains from leaving a mine that laid them off. Why is it that the mine owner, union officials and a doctor are identified by name onscreen but the miners and their wives are not? Stay up to date on politics, sports, local business, crime and community news. Another factor in the strike was the presence of Barbara Kopple, a journalist who made a documentary Harlan County, USA about the struggle. The Harlan County War, or Bloody Harlan, was a series of coal industry skirmishes, executions, bombings and strikes (both attempted and realized) that took place in Harlan County, Kentucky, during the 1930s. How would you describe the nature of work God gave to Adam in the Garden of Eden?He told Adam that he could eat the fruit of any tree in the Garden except the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.11. Barbara Kopple: Yes, and he would hire the scabs that would cross the picket line who were trying to break up having a union. Throughout the strike, the campaigners set up picket lines to try to prevent replacement workers from working at the coal mine. How to Market Your Business with Webinars. Harlan miners started to organize in the 1920s, a struggle that culminated in a long and violent strike in 1931. "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" - Fiddlin' John Carson (Okeh 4890) (1923) 2. The question is back: Which Side Are You On?. You could use it, but nobody really uses Nagras except on big fiction films. [4]:130131 The year 1935 proved to be turbulent, even for Harlan; troops were deployed to maintain order in the county three times. The local community rallied behind them. Use of violence was never sanctioned nor forbidden by leadership. Our new issue on nationalism is out now. It also features Lexington, Kentucky where the local U.S. Here is an edited version of that conversation. "Harlan County" won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1977, but it had been years since the film was shown on the big screen. I dimly recall that he argued that good character lasts longer, but nobody's lasts forever--. Harlan miners started to organize in the 1920s, a struggle that culminated in a long and violent strike in 1931. The Harlan County War, or Bloody Harlan, was a series of coal mining-related skirmishes, executions, bombings, and strikes (both attempted and realized) that took place in Harlan County, Kentucky, during the 1930s. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". -Who shot him? About 200 miners, some of whom walked off their jobs in support of the Brookside miners, will be affected by the outcome of the election. . I mean, just look at the way they support women's rights and free expression and democracy and the rule of law. . There is still coal in Appalachia, but also deep poverty. [9] Several events broke the NMU's foothold, local labor organizers, many of them clergy, learned of the Communist leadership's animosity toward religion and denounced the organization, Young Communist League organizer Harry Simms was killed in Harlan and the American Red Cross and local charities, who had been unwilling to take sides in a labor dispute, began giving aid to blacklisted miners who were unemployable as the NMU's financial troubles necessitated the closing of its soup kitchens. Welcome to Beba's world: we're all just visiting. This led to a mostly nonviolent national campaign of strikes involving nearly 120,000 miners. No. In the early 70s in Harlan County, Kentucky, which had always been a place where you live and you die by your gun, they also had Bloody Harlan County where people had fought for the right to have a union and many people died. A police captain said that the shooting had occurred after Mr. Jones and Mr. Bruner exchanged some angry words. In Harlan County there wasn't no neutral. The 2010 disaster at Massey Energys Upper Big Branch Mine at Montcoal, West Virginia, cost twenty-nine lives. It's a reminder of the county's heroic history of struggle and solidarity. I didnt know it. The name comes from the nearly century-long and sometimes violent struggle between coal companies and workers seeking to unionize. Her presence, and the presence of her video camera, is believed to be a factor in decreasing the violence used against the strikers. The song Which Side Are You On? became the anthem of a reborn United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) union in the 1930s, then an anthem for [], A journal of theory and strategy published by Jacobin, Taking Back Left Parties From the Brahmins, occupying a railroad track to halt a coal train, Miners and their families responded by occupying the railroad tracks. The Tarnished Knight: Sheriff of Harlan County Paul L. Browning: W.C Stump, *Browning was murdered in 2003* 8. Sometimes, we hear her voice off-camera, asking questions, including a scene where she confronts the chief company enforcer, Basil Collins. Not much can be done about these creeps.People just need to be steadfast and honest themselves. Also, I had all these wonderful people that were putting up everything that they had for the right to have a union. I went in front of him thinking I was so strong and invincible and you hear me get knocked over. On 30 April 1974, the NLRB sided with the workers but no specific action was taken. Which side are you on? Registered users can login to the website. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. Some people say, 'I don't take sides I'm neutral.' Hes asking you for your press pass. Barbara Kopple: We were all in a meeting. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The workers' salaries were comparable with other miners throughout the country, so the issue of salary was not addressed. WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 (UPI) Striking mine workers and the Eastover Mining Company reached agreement today to end a 13month strike that had caused one death and economic hardship to the communities of Harlan County, Ky. I sincerely hope that this agreement will end the violence and bitterness which has been associated with this strike, W. J. Usery, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, said in announcing the agreement. In 1969, Tony Boyle was challenged for the UMWA presidency by Jock . Youll either be a union man or a thug for J.H. From the heights, we immediately crash to the lowest point when 23-year-old Lawrence Jones is murdered by the company gun thugs, leaving a 16-year-old wife and infant child. Todd Melby: Ive worked as a reporter for 20 years and as a reporter, there are times when I know Im supposed to move forward, but I hesitate to move forward to interview a particular person, and it may not even be particularly dangerous, but there are times when I hesitate and dont move forward because Im not sure whats going to happen. A goddamn fella when he tried to do somethin. 88.9%. OVERVIEW. As Basil Collins got out of his truck, you could hear the guns clicking, the safeties being taken off. What are the physical state of oxygen at room temperature? There have been wars, phylloxera again in the mid-'80s, the big recession in 2008 and the Great Depression of course before that. Bobby Simpson, 79, has been blind for more than a half-century, but still managed to shovel coal. If you have any information about any of these items call the tips line 303-239-4243. Scott describes the murder of Lawrence Jones by Billy Bruner. Songwriter Florence Reece reported, Sheriff J. H. Blair and his men came to our house in search of Sam that's my husband he was one of the union leaders. You couldnt stand up in the coal mines. The union, with all that it promised, is gone. Marshals office is situated. The miners lay in ambush for cars carrying company men, and shot at them. In a region of Ku Klux Klan activity, we see an African-American miner, waiting with two white men for treatment for black lung disease, or pneumonoconiosis, joking about brotherhood in oppression: We done make every colour when we went in. Dr. Harlan J. Bruner is a Neurosurgeon in Lawrenceville, GA. Find Dr. Bruner's phone number, address, insurance information and more. Main Menu. The BWC had nearly 100 members. The film's very title, Harlan County, USA is emblematic of class struggle. [4]:46 The strikebreakers were protected by private mine guards with full county deputy privileges, who were legally able to exercise their powers with impunity outside the walls of their employers. Bill Bruner. The series revolves around the inhabitants and culture in the Appalachian mountains area of eastern Kentucky, specifically Harlan County where many of the main characters grew up. Boy, that Freedom House sure sounds like a bunch of fascists, dunnit? It takes place in 1974 and follows a strike by Kentucky coal miners, as well as efforts by UMW reformers to kick out the union's corrupt president, Tony Boyle. POV is Canada's premiere documentary magazine in print and online. On July 7, a group of deputies, enraged at a public celebration of the Wagner Act, dispersed the crowd by beating several miners. After a month of negotiations with no success, the 180 miners walked off the job and began what would be a 13-month-long strike on 26 July 1973. The closing shot of Harlan County is people coming out of the coal mines. Barbara Kopple: The opening shot of Harlan County is going into the coal mines. She talks about incidents of violence during the standoff. Todd Melby: How many minutes would fit in [one reel of film]? We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. At the peak of the first strike, 5,800 miners were idle and only 900 working. A seventy-three-year-old Florence Reece attended and led a rousing, emotional rendition of Which Side Are You On?. Living in same house 1 year ago, percent of persons age 1 year+, 2017-2021. It was perhaps the greatest union rebound ever. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. California labor activist Caroline Decker first became involved in union activities during the Harlan County War, when she and her sister participated in relief activities for striking miners. Barbara Kopple: I dont know. A Harlan County man has been charged after his girlfriend was found dead in his home, according to court records. Barbara Kopple: Harlan County, USA; that was my first ever film that I did on my own. The miners revival, led by the UMWA, came in the wake of Franklin Roosevelts election in 1933 and in their belief that only their union might save them. MEDICAL SCHOOL Columbia University Vagelos School of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. In the muted aftermath, the company concedes to sign a contract, but even that victory is temporary. Rank-and-file miners responded with a series of wildcat strikes, in 1964, 1966, and 1971, and in 1969 they won the great West Virginia Black Lung Strike, one of the few political strikes in US history. 23, 2003. Read today's latest news headlines from Lexington, Kentucky and Fayette County. Florida statutes already say sexual battery of a child under 12 is a capital felony, but it has been effectively moot because of Supreme Court rulings barring the death penalty in such cases. Blair. Eastover and Duke brought in replacement workers at the beginning of the strike. I didnt care. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Wow. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Which Side Are You On? was written in the immediate aftershock of a midnight raid on Reeces home and her children by Harlan County sheriff J. H. Blair, in search of her husband. 1.1%. Harlan County, USA is a 1976 American documentary film covering the "Brookside Strike", a 1973 effort of 180 coal miners and their wives against the Duke Power Company-owned Eastover Coal Company's Brookside Mine and Prep Plant in Harlan County, southeast Kentucky.It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary at the 49th Academy Awards.. to an old Baptist hymn, 'Lay the Lily Low'. -Got shot in the damn head. (Robert Gumpert / Appalshop Archive). The 2000 television movie Harlan County War starred Holly Hunter. However, there were no reports of any of the strikers using their guns during the strike. I had a long fishpole with a mic on it and I just was swinging it back at them. Although CWP may share many of the symptoms of emphysema and/or chronic bronchitis (which are also known as COPD), CWP is not COPD and is not treated like COPD. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. August 2012) Prescribed by Treasury Department Treasury Dept . The owners of the mine, Eastover Coal Company, a subsidiary of Duke Power Company, refused to sign the new contracts, which would have established a UMWA local in Brookside. That was the morning that everybody had guns. The women got a car that they called the Booster Car, which was a big station wagon and they pushed it across the railroad tracks so that the strikebreakers with Basil Collins couldnt get through to get to the mine. An open shop allows union membership but does not mandate it. Distinctive and archaic, sometimes hard to decipher, it forms a through-line of vernacular poetry in the film in words worthy of a Cormac McCarthy or Elmore Leonard. Barbara Kopple: That was that scene, and little did I realize that he was very tough, and all the people told me after, Youre in big trouble now!. Martin County, Kentucky Currently, Martin Countys population is one of the poorest in the United States. Harlan became one of the poorest counties in the United States. Line 303-239-4243 to Beba 's world: we were all in a long and violent strike 1931. Persons age 1 year+, 2017-2021 sign a contract, but still managed to shovel coal to. Became one of the coal mines community responded to Judge Bogg 's injunction we also use cookies. For more than a half-century, but nobody 's lasts forever -- shot at them. Countys!, asking questions, large and small mandate it Canada 's premiere documentary in. 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