Brookside Women

Brookside, Harlan County, Kentucky, 1973.

Picket line for the United Mine Workers of America. Harlan County is remembered for its coal operators' violent suppression of union organizing. In the first major attempt to unionize miners since the 1930s, the United Mine Workers of America struck the mines at Brookside and Highsplint. Photographed on the day after Thanksgiving, 1973, these picketers were part of a thirteen-month strike in which one miner was killed. The crucial support of miners' families, the Brookside Women's Club, the Tri-State Black Lung Association, and other community residents helped the UMWA win recognition. The story is told in the Barbara Kopple award winning documentary film, Harlan County USA.

Courtesy of the photographer, Builder Levy.