The Harlan County War was the series of violent labor disputes between coal operators and coal miners between 1931 and 1939 in Harlan County, Kentucky. Based on what I've read so far, the violence got so bad that the National Guard was called in to control the miners, although it sounds like maybe the mine operators needed to be controlled. Either way, it was a hot mess there in the 1930's.
My novel is set in the same time period on the other side of the Black Mountain Range in southwest Virginia, which places it just a smidge northeast of Harlan County. What happens in Harlan serves as a backdrop for my story - it fuels the paranoia of the mine operator about the potential for miners to unionize or strike. The potential for violence makes the miners and their families even more uncomfortable at a time when safety in coal mines was a low priority.
The problem I'm running into is getting straight-forward details about what happened and when. My story opens on April 16, 1931. But the stuff going down in Harlan happens in what most of the sources describe as "early 1931." I have a book with the detailed information, but it's full of a million other details that aren't as relevant. The Battle of Evarts happens on May 5, 1931. I'm debating whether to move the start of my story to May or to go with it as is.
My tasks for this week are to finish the research on the Battle of Evarts to pin down the events and dates that my miners will learn about and to finish revisions to the first section of my novel.
I guess it depends if you have enough material for a month prior to the battle.
ReplyDeleteAfter I reread the opening paragraphs of the first chapter, I'm definitely going to keep my date the same. It opens at the first Spring rain after the Great Drought.
DeleteBrings to mind this tragedy that happened at Ludlow in southern Colorado. Might look into it for some research. You can always adapt the details somewhat.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting. Looks like that happened in 1914. From my understanding, the unions didn't really get busy in Appalachia until after the Great Depression when coal prices tanked out and living conditions got worse.
DeleteThis is fascinating! I did some googling for you. Probably won't help but I had fun learning about it. It makes for a great story.
ReplyDeletehttp://debs.indstate.edu/a505k4_1932.pdf
http://www.carlestes.com/hellinharlan.pdf
http://parallelnarratives.com/remembering-bloody-harlan/
http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/which-side-are-you - this one is interesting - have way down when it mentions - 1935 state investigatory commission report.
That's awesome! That made my day that you were interested enough to research it. :)
DeleteBTW, one of those is a propaganda document published by one of the unions. Very interesting when read from that POV.
DeleteI'd never heard of this before but can only imagine how horrible it must have been. What a fascinating backdrop for a book.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your revisions. :)
One of the books I'm reading explains that even before this time period, Harlan had a really high homicide rate. There were lots of explanations for it, most of which are statistically not reasonable conclusions. I'll write about the details of that soon. My story isn't set there - and there isn't any union violence in my story - just the threat of it makes the mine operator really paranoid.
DeleteHi! Looks like I wasn't the only one to reboot a blog last month. ;)
ReplyDeleteThe historical research sounds fascinating, and the 1930s were such a tumultuous time, from world-shaking changes on a global scale to intense life-changing drama at the local and family level.
I guess the question is how "accurate" you want to be with your story -- if it's a fictionalized piece anyway, then I think you can certainly be allowed some artistic license as to the precise timing of 'historic' events. If it's only for backdrop, you don't really even have to go into detail about the specifics -- just give enough information that it sets your characters motivations and helps the reader understand what's going on.
Besides, news and information traveled slower back then anyway. Those were the days of radio and newspapers and news reels at the movies.
Best of luck with the story!!!
(Oh --and Happy Halloween!)
I am taking a lot of license in creating a town and a mine company that didn't exist, so I really want to stay true to the external events. There definitely was a time lag in getting information.
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