The Friends of Blair Mountain are planning to hold a March 9 press conference on the march on Blair Mountain at 11 a.m. in the United Electricians Local 170 Hall at 1591 Washington Street East in Charleston that will include retired United Mine Workers of America coal miner Chuck Nelson, author Denise Giardina and a coalition of leaders from the Appalachian labor and environmental movements will announce the March on Blair Mountain: Appalachia’s Rising, a massive, non-violent five-day march from Marmet to Blair Mountain in Logan County.
Blair Mountain is the site of the largest labor battle in United States' history and the march on Blair Mountain by the miners began in Marmet in Kanawha County.
"We are following the original route of the miners," Brandon Nida, with Friends of Blair Mountain, said Thursday in a phone interview with The Logan Banner.
Marchers will follow the same route that union miners took on their historic march to Blair Mountain in 1921. The ensuing battle was among the largest labor uprisings in United States history, a press release issued by Nida's group said.
“As citizens in Wisconsin and across the country stand up to maintain their right to collectively bargain, Blair Mountain stands as a physical reminder of the struggles of previous generations of workers to establish those rights. It is a place where a new solidarity for the 21st century will be forged between all of those fighting for workers, communities, and our mountains," Nida said in the press release.
According to the press release, march planners believe that current plans to mountaintop removal mine Blair Mountain would dishonor the memory of the miners who sacrificed their lives for the right to collectively bargain.
"Citizens and organizers assert that if mining permits move forward on Blair Mountain, the most significant heritage site in Appalachia will be destroyed and the communities around Blair Mountain will be irreparably and adversely affected," the press release said.
The battle over strip mining Blair Mountain has raged for years. At one point, Blair Mountain had been spared from mountaintop removal mining when it was placed on the National Historic Registry, but was later removed because a significant majority of property owners did not agree on the motion.
The march will begin on June 6 in Marmet. Participants will march 10 miles a day, and evenings will consist of workshops, cultural festivities, and music. On the sixth day, June 11, a large rally will be held in Blair, followed by a march to the crest of Blair Mountain, the press release said.
“We march to demand sustainable job creation in all Appalachian communities, abolish mountaintop removal, strengthen labor rights, and preserve Blair Mountain," the press release said.
The March on Blair Mountain: Appalachia’s Rising is a joint project of the Blair Mountain Coalition and Appalachia Rising. For more information, please visit: www.friendsofblairmountain.org.
Between now and the proposed march to Blair Mountain starting on June 6, and ending on June 11 at the summit of the mountain, the Banner readers will see many of the above names to describe the people who will be taking part in the announced march.
The Yellow Banner, Mingo Mike and the Kentucky immigrant will have ample yellow ink to villify and demonise the people that will participate in this march for human rights for the residents of Logan County.
All Logan County residents should come out on those days and support the marchers. You will be supporting Yourself, your Children and Grand Children's future.
Our elected County officials and coal industry lakeys will be out in force to "protect coal".
This is not about coal, but the mining method of Mountain Top Removal which is destroying our County and posioning our Communities and it's people.
This is not a march on Blair Mountain, but a march TO Blair Mountain, to support the Mountain being placed on the National Register of Historic places. In Solidary,
Brandon Nida was born and raised in WV, a graduate of Marshall. He’s studying archaeology at UC Berkeley. Does studying somewhere else make you and outsider? He is my friend and his love of WV, the people, the history, and our land is what makes him a very involved West Virginian.
West Virginia has suffered greatly because our smartest young people left WV and took their talent elsewhere. Now they are coming back home. I, for one, am delighted! I was born in Logan and a lifetime resident of Mingo County. I want to see us have something of value when the coal is gone. Blair Mountain is important!
We also work with school children and local scholars to incorporate them into a major research project and further their academic careers. This is part of our long-term commitment to working with communities in Logan, Lincoln, and Boone Counties.
We undertake our work out of a deep respect and admiration for coal miners. We have ancestors who fought at Blair Mountain. We work with coal mining families or ourselves are from coalmining families. We are completely open to unionized underground at Blair Mountain, but mountaintop removal would destroy one of the largest potential sources of economic development in Logan County.
With the support of Logan County residents, Blair Mountain can become a National Park ran by our Federal government.
The Battle of Blair Mountain site is truely the most Historic site in Logan County, the second largest armed insurrection in the U.S., second only to the Civil War.
Placing the site on the National Historic Register will mean economic developement in Logan County on a Nationwide basis.
The only thing standing in the way are the Land and Coal companys that wish to destroy the site by Mountain Top Removal and thereby removing a Union and Human Rights symbol. Union Yes, slavery No. Human Rights, Yes. Collective Bargaining, Yes. Corporation oppression, No.