Mine Wars Forum

This month on Mine Wars Forum we speak with organizer and Beckley-based lawyer Sam Petsonk on the topic of black lung. We cover how the disease is contracted, why it's affecting younger miners today and the legal provisions that are supposed to uphold the health and safety of these miners. We also discuss the power of organizing and how anyone can get involved with advocacy efforts surrounding...

This month on Mine Wars Forum we’re talking activist and musician Hazel Dickens with her nephew Buddy. From the southern West Virginia mining community of Montcalm, to the strike against Pittston and beyond we learn more about this larger than life woman who was also a beloved and inspiring family member. Hazel fought for the rights of women, miners and working people through her music and on pick...

This month on Mine Wars Forum we’re joined by Huntington-based artist Sassa Wilkes for a conversation on Appalachian identity, narrative, and the creative process. Sassa is currently in the midst of a collaborative mural project, “SOLIDARITY,” which will feature key figures from the Mine Wars. We tell you how you can join in on the effort!   More about Sassa: https://iamsassa.com/ Join us for a Ma...

On our maiden voyage of Mine Wars Forum in the podcast sphere, we bring on members of UMWA Local 1440 to talk about the Museum staff’s recent unionization, the past and present state of the coal mining industry, the power of solidarity in unions and how the Museum’s origins date back to a protest to save Blair Mountain. We also discuss the importance of preserving the history of the West Virginia...

Mine Wars Forum is brought to you by the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum. It is a grassroots institution that educates and preserves a people's history of the Mine Wars, a bloody effort to unionize the southern coalfields of West Virginia at the turn of the 20th century. The podcast keeps that history and legacy alive with a range of guests who relate to Mine Wars history itself as well as the...