The town of Matewan, West Virginia was my home for a majority of my life. I grew up there, I was taught there, and I learned how to mine there. My family consisted of my father, Patrick O’Reilly, my mother, Ennis O’Reilly, and me, Bobby O’Reilly, or just Bob for short. In my earliest of memories in Matewan, I could remember my father leaving in the mornings to serve his shift in the mine like all the other men in the town. My father was a great man of humble upbringings, and I will always remember
coal mining town of Matewan, West Virginia, due to a weapon fight between striking coal excavators and Baldwin Felts investigators procured by the Stone Mountain Coal Corporation. The Matewan Massacre, as it was later called, ended up noticeably as a standout amongst the most renowned occasions in West Virginia and Appalachian history. It was likewise an exciting point for the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). The occasion has frequently been conjured as an image of work battle or as the result
Part A The movie Matewan takes place during 1920 in Mingo County, Matewan, West Virginia. The theme of the movie is laborers unionizing across race and national origin in the face of strikebreakers, infiltrators, accusations of communism and violence. The men of the town are employed by the Stone Mountain Coal Company as miners. The miners dislike the treatment they receive from the coal operators and try to form a union to address their wages. The townsfolk create a union when the the price per
Matewan In the film, Matewan, director John Sayles paints a 1920’s picture of a small, West Virginia coal-mining town. Over the course of the film, this seemingly American Township reveals itself as the site of feudal hardship for its citizens. The Stone Mountain Coal Company was the sole employer in Matewan. The company’s laborers struggled for autonomy and for freedom from the company’s grasp. The ideal method for this achieving such autonomy was organization of a union. This idea of union
Matewan The citizens of Matewan, a coal -mining town in West Virginia lived amidst a feudalistic class process. One may think of medieval times in connection with feudalism, but the film “Matewan” directed by John Sayles was based on historical events that took place in 1920. The feudal lord was not a European king, and the serfs were not farming his land. Nevertheless, feudalism existed in this southern town, as the workers did not have the ability to choose their employer. Unlike Capitalism
a person is experiencing poverty, they deal with unbearable hardships as well as numerous tragic events. Diane Gilliam Fisher’s collection of poems teaches readers about labor battles within West Virginian territories, at the beginning of the twentieth century. Some of these battles include the Battle of Matewan and Battle of Blair Mountain. The collection of poems is presented in many different manners, ranging from diary entries to letters to journal entries. These various structures of writing