The Battle of Blair Mountain marks a significant turning point in West Virginia and United States history as the largest labor uprising to ever occur. However, the stories of Blair Mountain and other West Virginia mine wars have been predominantly forgotten and underrepresented in history, education, and media throughout time. In late August of 1921, the Battle of Blair Mountain lasted for five days where nearly, “10,000 miners fought against an army of 3,000 defenders entrenched along 14 mi. of steep ridges around Blair Mountain, only stopping when three regiments of federal troops were sent to the conflict zone. The miners were fighting against an unjust political and economic system in which coal operators held almost total control” (Nida, 2016). This battle influenced labor uprisings across the country, where workers were also not being treated fairly. Soon, labor unions were successfully formed, labor strikes occurred, and people began to question the social class systems and industrial companies controlling them.
This project was researched and created by Hannah Courtney, Kaitlyn Perkins, and Kit Roberts as part of a collaboration between Dr. Erin Brock Carlson’s Multimedia Writing (ENGL 303) course and Dr. Miriam Cady and the West Virginia and Regional History Center in Spring 2021