Bloody Harlan - by Paul F Taylor (Paperback)

About the Book

This book details the classic saga of conflict between labor and management occasioned by the many attempts of the United Mine Workers of America to organize Harlan's miners during the New Deal Era. Harlan County, Kentucky was the last major anti-union bastion in the Appalachian coalfield.

Book Synopsis

This book details the classic saga of conflict between labor and management occasioned by the many attempts of the United Mine Workers of America to organize Harlan's miners during the New Deal Era. Harlan County, Kentucky was the last major anti-union bastion in the Appalachian coalfield. The story of the organization of the county's coal mines by the United Mine Workers of America is largely confined to the decade of the 1930's. The most serious union campaigns occurred in 1931-32, after the passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act in 1933, and following the enactment of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935. Finally, after almost a decade of labor strife, the Federal Government intervened following the Supreme Court decision in the case, N.L.R.B. v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation (301 U.S.1), on April 12, 1937 which upheld the National Labor Relations Act. After a year of federal inquiry, culminating in the Mary Helen conspiracy trial at London, Kentucky, Harlan's miners could join the UMWA openly and without fear of recrimination.

Review Quotes

...it is a good addition to the story of hard times in Harlan County.--The Register

...well-researched, well-told....--Journal of Southern History

...provides a wealth of information on this very important part of American labor unionism history and Appalachian regional history. His account is genuinely useful in helping to piece together the complexities of the Harlan/Bell/Letcher troubles and the Kentucky politics of the 1930s.--Richard B. Drake, Berea College "Journal of Southern History "

This is a fine volume, meticulously researched, engrossingly presented....--H. Lew Wallace, Professor of History, Northern Kentucky University, Highland Hts., KY "Journal of Southern History "

Taylor writes with verve and clarity.--H. Lew Wallace, Professor of History, Northern Kentucky University, Highland Hts., KY "The Filson Club History Quarterly "

This is an important work on a most significant conflict in American and Southern labor history.--Dr. Leslie S. Hough, Director, Southern Labor Archives, Georgia State University "The Filson Club History Quarterly "

About the Author

Paul F. Taylor is Associate Professor of History at Augusta College, Georgia.