In chapter six of The United States of Appalachia: How Southern Mountaineers Brought Independence, Culture, and Enlightenment to America, Jeff Biggers discusses a wide range of topics all connected to Industrialization during the late nineteenth century to the mid twentieth century. Biggers’ main purpose is to shed light on the harsh conditions of the various production and extraction labor jobs in the region. Further, he discusses certain key individuals that led the protests against exploitation of manual laborers. The first, Rebecca Harding, wrote a short fictional piece titled: Life in the Iron Mills. This literary work shed light on one woman’s personal accounts of the horrible conditions that iron workers endured. Harding’s work drew national attention to growing issues surrounding manual labor in major production mills as the need for raw resources increased. She was well praised in the literary field for her brazen, yet painstakingly true depiction of mill workers. Harding was the first of the “muckraking” generation, preceding Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. Biggers discusses her life after her success and her continued attempts at educating the general public. Unfortunately, her other literary works were not as popular as her audacious fiction, Life in the Iron Mills. Most writers of the time were bewildered by her uncanny accounts of the production in Appalachia and chose to fall back to “embellish the preindustrial and romantic ways of the mountaineers (Biggers, 145).”
Biggers continues on to discuss how conditions became worse over time and more and more laborers were being injured, crippled, killed, or acquired illnesses (like Black lung) on top of being malnourished. As the demand for goods increased and more laborers were being exposed to these harmful conditions, more people began to rise up and challenge the companies, eventually establishing unions. One of these individuals was: Ella May Wiggins. Biggers states that she “became one of the key mill organizers in the area (Biggers, 154).” Wiggins led a strike against a major mill that harbored women and children laborers in Gastonia. As events escalated, a gun battle occurred killing the chief of police and causing a major revolt in the town. Wiggins, on the way to a union rally around that bloody exchange, was shot to death. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be until much later in history that unions would be recognized and protected under federal laws, and even later before conditions were altered for the better.
Besides the turmoil related to the mills, coal production began to see its fair share of conflict and the formation of unions began to increase dramatically. Like the mill unionists, the conflict escalated until bloodshed. To make matters worse, a lot of the coal miners were also war veterans. A large number of the coal miners came together and began to overtake transportation which brought utilities to the miners. These union protesters wore red sashes and became known as “the rednecks (Biggers, 159).” I wonder if this is where the stereotype might have originated? Unfortunately, this rebellion failed. Biggers also briefly draws parallels to the African-Americans that were pushing for Abolition.
Fortunately, “President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Industrial Act into law in 1933 (Biggers, 162).” This protected any laborer’s (mill, cotton, or coal) right to belong to a union without any punishment by corporations (Biggers, 162). Biggers concludes the chapter with discussing the immigration into the Appalachian region by Europeans and African Americans during Industrialization. Later, these migrations were halted due to the First World War and the immigrants became fed up with the current conditions, which led to another migration toward large industrial cities. Biggers states that this “great migration from Appalachia might be the region’s most important contribution to industrial America (Biggers, 164).”
I found it interesting how closely the unionists resembled the African-Americans in the Northeast who were fighting for abolition of slavery in the South. It is intriguing to think back in history to the all of the different “uprisings” that have occurred to improve conditions for various peoples. I mean even now we are experiencing the exact same scenario in Egypt. The lower class became fed up with not being able to make enough money to provide for themselves and their families, which led to a massive rebellion against the current leader who has been in power for thirty odd years. All that was needed by these people was a spark that gave them the initiative to rise up. This spark was provided by a man who had received a college education and could not find a job that would support his family. He then turned to trying to sell merchandise or food items in a market where he was then severely reprimanded for not having a permit to be a seller. This permit required money he did not have. Being fed up with his dismal position, this man walked into the middle of a street and poured gasoline on and proceeded to set fire to himself. This self-sacrificing spectacle caused a major rift in the poor masses which in turn led to a long rebellion against the government leader. Recently, the president resigned and Egypt is now in the process of establishing a new leader. This example displays that we as human beings will go through cycles of ups and downs which lead to violence, death, destruction, new legislations, and leaders.
Biggers, J. (2006). The United States of Appalachia: How Southern mountaineers brought independence, culture, and enlightenment to America. Emeryville, CA: Shoemaker & Hoard.
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