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Dec 2020
40m 56s

Coal Wars | The Matewan Massacre | 2

Wondery
About this episode
In March 1913, famed labor activist Mother Jones was locked up in a shack in Pratt, West Virginia, suffering from pneumonia and a high fever as she awaited court martial. For a year, the striking miners she led endured hunger and violence as they waged their desperate battle for the right to organize. Now, their struggle hung in the balance. West Virginia wa ... Show More
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Dec 2020
Coal Wars | Bloody Mingo | 3
In May 1920, Sheriff Sid Hatfield won the loyalty of Mingo County’s miners after a deadly gun battle that left seven Baldwin-Felts agents dead on the streets of Matewan, West Virginia. That summer, the coal companies brought in trainloads of strikebreakers to get the mines runnin ... Show More
38m 37s
Jan 2021
Coal Wars | The Battle of Blair Mountain | 4
The Coal Wars reached an explosive climax in August 1921, as thousands of miners furious over the death of their hero Sid Hatfield shouldered their weapons and marched south. Their destination was Mingo County, where they hoped to free their fellow miners jailed under martial law ... Show More
37m 57s
Jan 2021
Coal Wars | Charles Keeney on Restoring His Great Grandfather’s Legacy | 5
Once the coal miners lost the Battle of Blair Mountain, the story of their uprising was suppressed, and their leader Frank Keeney eventually faded into obscurity—even among members of his own family. But historian Charles Keeney, Frank Keeney’s great grandson, has made it a perso ... Show More
45m 29s
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