He and Blair plan to marry in June. Harlan County USA (1976) | The Criterion Collection It was settled in 1819 by Virginians led by Samuel Howard and was known as Mount Pleasant until renamed in 1912 for Major Silas Harlan, who was killed during the American Revolution at the Battle of Blue Licks (August 19, 1782). Harlan, city, seat of Harlan county, southeastern Kentucky, U.S., in the Cumberland Mountains, on the Clover Fork Cumberland River. A lot of people get hung up on using coal because if we stopped we would lose so many jobs..yada yada But coal is a finite resource and eventually we will run out of it and have to make the transition anyway. At their best Kopple and photographer Hart Perry bear unassuming, expressive witness to the experiences, aspirations and abiding grievances of the Brookside miners and their wives, who organized auxiliary strike actions. Marvel Movies Ranked Worst to Best by Tomatometer, Jurassic Park Movies Ranked By Tomatometer, RT25: Celebrating 25 Years of Rotten Tomatoes, Weekend Box Office Results: Super Mario Joins the Billion-Dollar Club. Harlan County, USA is a 1976 Oscar-winning documentary film covering the \"Brookside Strike\", an 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 in 1973. Its gonna be set up a little bit different than the last one. She decided it was the more compelling subject, so switched the focus of her film. It was perhaps the greatest union rebound ever. Florence Reece wrote the song. She was the daughter of a Kentucky coal miner and married to Sam Reece, an organizer for the radical National Miners Union, then embroiled in the bloody 1931 Harlan County war. Work is often erratic for Robert, but he recently found three months work building a home. Directed and produced by Barbara Kopple.When the film was re-released film critic Roger Ebert praised the film, writing, \"The film retains all of its power, in the story of a miners' strike in Kentucky where the company employed armed goons to escort scabs into the mines, and the most effective picketers were the miners' wives -- articulate, indomitable, courageous. Bobby's wife, Becky, who died in 2013, was a lifelong advocate for the people of Harlan County. She notes that Duke Power Company's profits increased 170 percent in a single year. Their stories were often told through the songs. Which side were they on? The mine owners have as little regard as ever for the lives of miners and their families. There followed a decade of strikes in the coalfields, often wildcat strikes by some 40,000 young members, many veterans of the war in Vietnam. Harlan | Kentucky, United States | Britannica 555. Grace Elizabeth Hale. 'Harlan County U.S.A.' could stand a little more tunnel vision "Harlan County U.S.A." took 26-year-old upstart Barbara Kopple about four years to finish. A heartbreaking record of the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line. Most residents havent been so lucky. with updates on movies, TV shows, Rotten Tomatoes podcast and more. The 2010 disaster at Massey Energys Upper Big Branch Mine at Montcoal, West Virginia, cost 29 lives. Miners and their families responded by occupying the railroad tracks, Florida Letter Carriers Won Back Our Sunday Breaks with Direct Action , How Intermodal Yard Workers Doubled Their Pay , 'Milk Was Still Steaming, We Just Walked Out': Scenes from a Summer of Strikes in a South Carolina Starbucks , International Students in Ontario Are Fighting Wage TheftAnd Winning , Direct Action Revitalized Our Union: New Canadian Postal Veep Has a Plan to Revive Militancy Coast to Coast , As Big 3 Negotiations Loom, Belvidere Closure Shows Automakers Still Using Same Playbook, Viewpoint: Minneapolis Letter Carriers Showed We're Ready to FightTime for a National Contract Strategy, Throwing The Heroes Away: As Arkansas Tyson Plant Closes, Workers Strike over Treatment, Strike Force: Building the UPS Contract Campaign, One Breakfast at a Time. It was directed and produced by filmmaker Barbara Kopple . With unprecedented access, Kopple and her crew captured the miners' sometimes violent struggles with strikebreakers, local police, and company thugs. Barbara Kopple's hard-hitting, rought-around the edges, people vs politics documentary definitely heats up the screen, and some thoughts. CEO Don Blankenship was convicted of willfully violating safety standards and spent a year in prison. The community is not only suffering, says Chester Napier, 75, a former mining company driver. In the 1970s, a strip-mining company asserted its ownership over the mineral rights for property he owned and forced him to sell the land. At this point, as evidenced by the above quote, the strike had become pretty dangerous. Get more of what the mainstream media leaves out. 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. New machinery would transform underground miningbut at the expense of the coal miners themselves. Get the freshest reviews, news, and more delivered right to your inbox! Although Stewart says hes not much for politics, he harbors hope that Novembers presidential election will bring Donald Trump to the White House and mark a change for him and his family. "They wanted to knock us out because they didn't want a record of what was happening." Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. Striking miners in the coalfields of southern West Virginia forced the Republican governor to sign a bill that allowed compensation for black lung disease. Congress then passed a federal bill that assisted all afflicted miners. They won't be able to see your review if you only submit your rating. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Harlan, city, seat of Harlan county, southeastern Kentucky, U.S., in the Cumberland Mountains, on the Clover Fork Cumberland River. One detail struck me with curious strength. No unionized mines remain in the state. Analysis of the documentary Harlan County, USA Barbara Kopple's Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976) | International Harlan County, U.S.A. movie review (2006) | Roger Ebert At a later meeting, a man addresses a crowd of men: Were gonna have a picket line in the morning. I. Eastovers refusal to sign a contract (when the miners joined with the United Mine Workers of America) led to the strike, which lasted more than a year and included violent battles between gun-toting company thugs/scabs and the picketing miners and . Miners in Harlan County, Kentucky, have drawn national attention with their direct actionoccupying a railroad track to halt a coal train until the miners get paid the wages they are owed for digging it up. The cinematography is fantastic. Harlan County, Kentucky, USA. At the beginning, mens participation is strong, but eventually wanes and its women who keep the pulse of the movement going. Analysis, Pages 4 (934 words) Views. Considered one of the best documentaries ever made, Harlan County lives us to its reputation. The strikers and management finally agreed to come to the bargaining table after his death.Lois Scott, a leading woman in the mining community, is shown playing a major role in galvanizing the people in support of the strike. Harlan was first settled by Samuel and Chloe Howard in 1796. Harlan County U.S.A. by Felicia Elliott, August 2, 2016. Pic from Harlan County USA of a Coal Camp. Although these miners today have no union, the mines of Harlan County have a storied history of grassroots labor militancy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_County,_USAHarlan 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. Upon the founding of Harlan County (named for Kentucky pioneer Silas Harlan) in 1819, the Howards donated 12 acres (49,000 m 2) of land to serve as the county seat. They come up to back us, and were not even backing them. You're almost there! This sticking point became moot when, a few years after the strike, the UMWA folded the agreement won by this group of workers into a global contract.Rather than using narration to tell the story, Kopple chose to film the words and actions of the people themselves. Harlan County USA Revisited - Medium It contains a famous scene where guns are fired at the strikers in the darkness before dawn, and Kopple and her cameraman are knocked down and beaten. You are now the manager of this memorial. A heartbreaking record of the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line. 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 U.S. history. "In Harlan County, U.S.A., sound anchors, explains, and makes 'authentic' visual imagery compromised by the long history of documentary work in Appalachia.". Furthermore, the idea that coal mining is the job for men in Harlan County, Kentucky prevails. At the same time, coal miners and their families, who of course were a sizable and . Again, Harlan County took center stage, this time at the Brookside Mineexposing, again, the poverty of coal country, as well as the vicious indifference to life of the owners, in this case Duke Power. [2], When Kopple and her cameraman Hart Perry showed up on the picket line, the locals were suspicious of their intentions. First of all, they were tired of the way the media portrayed thema familiar feeling today, but even worse back then. This tactic is successful in scaring the men off, but not the women. Coming Soon. Barbara Kopple's Academy Award-winning Harlan County USA unflinchingly documents a grueling coal miners' strike in a small Kentucky town. This film documents the coal miners' strike against the Brookside Mine of the Eastover Mining Company in Harlan County, Kentucky in June, 1973. We wont be able to verify your ticket today, but its great to know for the future. Harlan Kentucky Flashcards | Quizlet Verified reviews are considered more trustworthy by fellow moviegoers. The women of Harlan County provided much of the lifeblood of the strike, and Kopples documentation of the strike provided publicity, dignity, and a way to begin to heal. Danny Stewart, 30, is a fifth-generation miner who began working in the industry shortly after graduating from high school in 2004. Lyle Harlan Casanova (1927-2010) - Find a Grave Memorial When miners at the Brookside Mine in Harlan County, Kentucky, went on strike against Duke Power Company in June 1973, Kopple went there to film the strike, which the UMWA had helped to organize. Tap "Sign me up" below to receive our weekly newsletter In 1932, only in anthracite country had the union held its own. If you look at it from the road, youd think it was booming, says Burkhart, 56, a former coal tipple operator who has also developed black lung. With unprecedented access, Kopple and her crew captured the miners' sometimes violent struggles with strikebreakers, local police, and company thugs. Four generations of Roberts family have worked in the mines, including his grandfather, Charlie Simpson, his father, Bobby Simpson (p. 28) and his son-in-law, Danny Stewart (p. 28). Harlan County, USA - Wikipedia $30 for 12 issues. Much of the landscape now bears the scars of mountaintop removal mining, a last-gasp effort by coal companies to revive the industry. Her editor, Nancy Baker, who was also onstage, took hundreds of hours of footage and brought it together with power and clarity. Sometimes he would cough and keep coughing, and it was just black-looking, like that old coal dust.. You are now the manager of this memorial. Eastovers refusal to sign a contract (when the miners joined with the United Mine Workers of America) led to the strike, which lasted more than a year and included violent battles between gun . "[6], The film received a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the aggregator site. Harlan County USA. The county became nationally famous in 1931 and 1932 when it was the site of one of the earliest and bloodiest labor battles of the decade. [4] The miners were concerned that accepting such a provision would limit their ability to influence local working conditions. The most shocking moment in Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976) looks at first like an abstract painting. The strikers and management finally agreed to come to the bargaining table after his death. Many of the issues have changed, but the exploitation of coal miners, the corruption of the union, and the dangerous nature of the work have remained horrifyingly similar as the recent mine accidents attest. Featuring a haunting soundtrack, with legendary country and . Which side are you on? The song Which Side Are You On? became the anthem of a reborn United Mine Workers (UMWA) union in the 1930s, then an anthem for all workersa reflection of working-class consciousness in the turbulent New Deal years. http://dochouse.org/cinema/screenings/harlan-county-usaIn a small Kentucky town in 1976, a coal miners' strike is underway. In April 1977, she watched from nearby mountains as floods caused by strip mining washed away everything her family owned. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. In his 2016 State of the Union address, President Obama called for new investment in communities reliant on fossil fuels. In all, she worked on the film for four years, including preparation and editing.When Kopple and her cameraman Hart Perry showed up on the picket line, local people did not know what she was doing and were suspicious of their intentions. Rather than using narration to tell the story, Kopple chose to film the words and actions of the people themselves. The miners revival, led by the UMWA, came in the wake of Franklin Roosevelt's election in 1933 and in their belief that only their union might save them. Robert and his wife, Judy, live on a plot of land off Route 568 in the tiny town of Cranks. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. All rights reserved. All weve got down here is grocery stores and restaurants.. It just seems silly that in 2020 we are still using such a dirty process to create energy. Get info about new releases, sales, and our online publication, Current. Oxford American | The Ballad of Harlan County Ive been trying to keep it going, but when you dont draw much, it dont go far.. He was unmoved. Almost a full year into the strike, miner Lawrence Jones was fatally shot during a scuffle. Harlan County U.S.A.: Directed by Barbara Kopple. Omissions? It was [and still is]used to signify that what happened in the realm of politics, a field largely controlled by men, affect womens everyday lives. Nowhere has the plight of the American mineworker been so powerfully chronicled as in "Harlan County, U.S.A." The film retains all of its power, in the story of a miners' strike in Kentucky where the company employed armed goons to escort scabs into the mines, and the most effective picketers were the miners' wives . Murdered while on a picket line in Harlan County KY, After his death an agreement was signed between the miners and the union! They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. The cinematography is unbelievable, it doesn't look like a documentary. Documentary, Original Language: It was directed and produced by filmmaker Barbara Kopple, then early in her filmmaking career. A former VISTA volunteer, she had worked on other documentaries, especially as an advocate of workers' rights. , Labor news from labor's point of view. Academy Award Winning Documentary Harlan County USA (1976) - YouTube Richard Harlan "Dick" Aos (1932-2018) - Find a Grave Memorial These ladies are setting it up. Cal Winslow takes a look back. Corrections? Organizer Garfield Lewis wrote, The people have been so starved out that they are flocking into the Union by the thousands I organized 9 Locals Tuesday.. In the documentary, his mother can be seen breaking down during his funeral, screaming and being carried away by male attendees. The women of Harlan County may or may not have considered themselves feminists, and the strike they were participating in was not a womens rights protest, but in the context of the documentary these facts are irrelevant. While the film is about mens jobs, women are just as important to the strike as men are. On July 1, Blackjewel LLC abruptly shut down its six Harlan mines, filed bankruptcy, and sent the miners home without pay. Eastern Kentucky has been especially hard-hit: The number of miners employed in Harlan County fell from more than 3,000 in 1988 to fewer than 1,000 in 2014. Robert Simpson, 58, mined for about a dozen years in the 1980s and 1990s before becoming a carpenter. After the railroad arrived in 1911 . For nearly a century, Harlan County, K.Y., has occupied an outsized place in the American consciousness. Bobby has continued the work since Beckys death, but the number of volunteers (like those photographed here with Bobby) has dwindled. A lot of kids froze to death right in the house. Following a conflict with his father in 1959, Chester moved to Chicago, where his two older brothers and one of his sisters lived. "The personal is political" was a rallying cry of second wave feminism. She decided it was the more compelling subject, so switched the focus of her film. In one scene, Scott pulls a pistol from her bra. Life After Coal in Harlan County, U.S.A. - In These Times Unemployment has hovered at 13.5 percent, one of the highest rates in the state, steadily forcing people out. Of course, it would be remiss to talk about womens roles in this film without also addressing that the film was directed by a woman, Barbara Kopple. Synopsis. A couple of moments, actually. In 1976 this was a ground-breaking film that deserved and won the Oscar for Best Documentary. Meanwhile, coal continues to fade from the energy landscape. Early in the film Boyle is shown in good health. New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director-producer Barbara Kopple, Audio commentary by Kopple and editor Nancy Baker, New video interview with legendary bluegrass singer-songwriter Hazel Dickens, New video interview with director John Sayles, A panel discussion from the 2005 Sundance Film Festival featuring Kopple and Roger Ebert, English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, New essays by film scholar Paul Arthur and music journalist Jon Weisberger. The question is back: Which Side Are You On?. They formed a club which organized womens involvement in the strikes and, eventually, the strikes themselves. Benjamin Harlan McClellan passed away on 12 January, 1932 in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, USA. Featuring a haunting soundtrackwith legendary country and bluegrass artists Hazel Dickens, Merle Travis, Sarah Gunning, and Florence Reecethe film is a heartbreaking record of the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line. Wayne Burgess' conviction in Nakeavia Rivers' murder vacated - USA Today Kopple initially intended to make a film about Kenzie[citation needed], Miners for Democracy and the attempt to unseat Tony Boyle as president of the UMWA. The Unloved, Part 113: The Sheltering Sky, Fatal Attraction Works As Entertainment, Fails as Social Commentary, Prime Videos Citadel Traps Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden in Played-Out Spy Game, New York Philharmonic and Steven Spielberg Celebrate the Music of John Williams. Many end up leaving families behind to seek factory work in cities or mining jobs in southern Illinois or Alabama. The local community rallied behind them. With unprecedented access, Kopple and her crew captured the miners' sometimes violent struggles with strikebreakers, local police, and company thugs. Laid off and owed pay: the Kentucky miners blocking coal trains Harlan County U.S.A. streaming: where to watch online? - JustWatch The battery in Chesters pacemaker has three years left. Coal miners strike against the company that exploits them and the union that doesn't always represent their interests. Federal soldiers were routinely dispatched to the coal fields in response to what one governor called a reign of terror.. Harlan County, USA is a 1976 Oscar-winning documentary film covering the "Brookside Strike", an effort of 180 coal miners and their wives against the Duke Po.