Essay On The Matewan Massacre

Matewan, a film directed and written by John Sayles, tells a similar narrative of the Appalachian miners. Based on the Matewan Massacre, the film tells a historical story of the event and how it came to be. In the beginning of the film, the setting takes place in West Virginia after the coal companies already control the land. The miners are already found in a seemingly hopeless situation. Then a labor organizer, Joe Kenehan, travels to the town of Matewan with the hopes of bringing the miners together and establishing a union. Between striking work and having gunfights with

Captain Thomas Preston, the commander of the soldiers who fired their muskets at the townspeople, talked about the different side of the story. He was aware that the residents and the soldiers didn’t get along but he said he never thought of using violence to solve the conflict. He declared that when his troops walked by Gray’s ropewalk on March 2nd, the rope-makers made fun of the soldiers and insulted them. After a moment of verbal fight (argument), they went into a nonverbal fight (action). Although the soldiers went back to their units afterwards, he said the inhabitants become arrogant and have been continuously abusing the soldiers. He explains that he was informed that the townspeople were up in front of the city hall beating up the troops. He went up trying to pacify the crowd but didn’t succeed. He said he kept shouting to the troops to hold their fire and had never intended to hurt anyone and he did not want to take account for what may happen. It’s convincing that he was

Striking workers had not committed any violent acts, but their standoff with obstinate planters was heading toward a violent climax on January 14, 1871. For two days in a row, Henry C. Minor—reinforced by the local “colored” sheriff,

Although The Sand Creek Massacre is known for occurring on November 29, 1864 there are specific reasons this incident happened and they all take place before 1864. It all started during the 1850’s, where the the gold and silver rush brought many white settlers near the Rocky Mountains and the surrounding foothills. This event is known as the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush of 1658 which angered many people known as the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians. They soon began attacking the white men which caused the number of soldier to decrease this then led to the Colorado War of 1863-1865.The battle began to get out of hand that territorial governor John Evans sent a Militia Commander known as John M. Chivington. Now this man was very well known for his passion of extinguishing all of the Indians once he was let in the clergy. The Civil War raged in the east in the spring of 1864 where Chivington launched a violent campaign against the Cheyenne and their allies. The troops attacked any and all Indians and their villages, but the Cheyenne were joined by Arapaho, Sioux, Comanche, and Kiowa in Colorado and Kansas, went on a defensive warpath. Evans and Chivington then raised the Third Colorado Cavalry which was a reinforced militia of short term volunteers who went by the name of “hundred Dazers.” It was a summer of scattered clashes and small raids, but the Cheyenne and Arapaho were finally ready for peace. The Indian representatives then met with Evans and Chevington on September 28, 1864 at

The Opelousas Massacre was a horrifying event that occurred on September 28, 1868, in Landry Parish, Louisiana. The riot was sparked by conflict between black freedmen and whites over the political control of the state of Louisiana. This resulted in a massive killing of blacks as whites had the overwhelming advantage in numbers and weapons. What’s most interesting about this case is the mystery surrounding the accounts of deaths. No one can approximately confirm how many people were killed in this massacre. Some sources identify as few as 30 people killed. Other sources estimate killings to over 300 people. The Opelousas Massacre was one of the deadliest riots to occur against African Americans during the era of Reconstruction.

Arguing flaws in the expansion of Appalachia’s postwar economy, Eller responds this led to “growth without development”. With the coal industry flourishing

The Sand Creek Massacre was an attack on the villages of Cheyenne and Arapaho in southeastern Colorado Territory on November 29, 1864. Around 700 men of the Colorado U.S. Volunteer Cavalry attacked and killed an estimated 70-163 people who lived in those towns; two thirds of the people who died were mothers and children. The attack occurred because the Cheyenne and Arapaho people destroyed white settlers’ property, and an Indian chief tried to settle things peacefully, but it was too late.

Organized labor first entered Oklahoma with railroad work and mining, in the Indian Territory. During the late 1800’s strikes were sponsored by groups such as the Knights of Labor. The UMWA strike lasted from 1898 until 1903, and was helped lead by Peter Hanraty. The result of this strike was the 1903 agreement with mine operators that guaranteed most of the strikers’ demands, including recognition of the union, eight-hour days, and payment of wages twice a month. After this, higher wages and shorter hours remained a constant tradition here in Oklahoma.

Burns, Shirley Stewart. Bringing Down the Mountains: The Impact of Mountaintop Removal Surface Coal Mining on Southern West Virginia Communities, 1970-2004. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2007. Print.

After the tragic death of Peter’s good friend James Scobbie many debates were held between the miners and the government. The miners had enough. On the 29th of November 1854, 12,000 diggers met under the Southern

In The United States of Appalachia, by Jeff Biggers, Chapter Six, The great American Industrial Saga. Biggers writes in regards to the Appalachia in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Women and children of the Appalachia worked with cotton, coal, and timber while experiencing a life of deplorable conditions, long hours, and without enough pay to make a living.

Nevertheless Babi Yar got its name by a writer the name is unknown writing a poem telling the inhumanity of Babi Yar. To tell everyone about the thousands if Jews executed there by Nazi troops ( By Yevgeni

During the strike, two other men were also killed. By the end of the strike, the gunfire had injured twenty-three people, wounded eight unarmed miners, four bystanders and one RCMP officer.

The 1870’s and 1880’s in America was marked with growing nativism towards the Chinese, accumulating to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (Yung 54). Competing immigrant laborers effected the entire country, including the Midwest, where people sought employment in coal mines. Animosity towards the Chinese was also largely uncontroversial in the territories, with the Wyoming Republican party declaring that the Chinese were an undesired group (Storti 98). There is no definitive date that hints at the beginning of the Rock Springs Massacre in 1885, where many Chinese miners were killed by white miners. However, origins of this conflict can be traced back to when the Chinese were first brought in as strikebreakers in 1875 unde the Union Pacific Coal

Lewis spent his formative years in Iowa. As an adult, he was unsuccessful in entering the world of politics and business. After he moved to Panama, Illinois he was first elected president of the local United Mine Workers union. Next, John L. Lewis was appointed an AFL organizer by Samuel Gompers in 1911. His second UMW appointment was as a delegate to the AFL Convention in 1916. Finally, John L. Lewis was appointed as vice-president of the United Mine Workers Union. John L. Lewis begins to prescribe courses of action for workers to be part of a movement that pushed for a union and better treatment of workers by organizing and uniting the discontented through saying they will enact a policy to enable the workers to stand as a unit (Lewis 3). John L. Lewis’ speech at the American Federation of Labor allowed him to become the leader and was ineffective in convincing the AFL to establish industrial unions.