"Welcome The Traveler Home" by Jim Garland, Edited by Julia S. Ardery

Jim Garland (1905-1978), the author of this book, was born in Bell County Kentucky and grew up, like several others of his family, to become an underground coal miner. He was also a well known labor leader, union organizer, and folk singer who also happened to be the brother of Aunt Molly Jackson and Sarah Ogan Gunning both of whom were also folk singers and active in support of trade unionism and worker's rights. He organized and was a member of both the United Mine Workers of America and the National Miners Union. His organizing work was primarily in Harlan and Bell counties in Kentucky where he had worked at various times in several mines. He wrote this book, or at least, wrote most of the manuscript well before his death in 1978 but never published the book himself. At some point, his wife Hazel seems to have passed the manuscript on to the Kentucky writer Julia S. Ardery (1889-1977) who edite the work but also failed to get it published in her lifetime. Ardery wrote one other major book, " The Temptation: Edgar Tolson and the Genesis of Twentieth-Century Folk Art", which is a masterful biography and work of art criticism which was also not published in her lifetme. I have written about the Tolson biography at this link.When we consider that "Welcome The Traveler Home" was not published in the lifetimes of either the author or editor, it is a miracle that the book was ever published at all. However, Ardery was from a prominent Bourbon County Kentucky political family and the mother of a US Army Major General; a second son who worked for a time in Washington, DC, as a journalist before joining the University of Kentucky which published this book; and a third son who was an accountant who died by suicide four years before his mother's death. It seems likely that one of her sons was instrumental in the effort to have this book by Jim Garland published as well as Julia Ardery's book about Edgar Tolson. Rarely in the world of book publishing do manuscripts survive long enough to published after the death of the author. Yes, I acknowledge that it does sometimes happen, but it is as rare as hen's teeth. Garland's style of writing was exemplary of his lack of education but still strong writing. Ardery said in her Introduction that she had done as little as possible to alter Garland's original work with only minor edits for clarity of meaning, some organizational work since his manuscripts appears to have been less than well organized. But the content of the book is what makes it more than well worth reading. While I do believe it has some significant historical inaccuracies in it, it is still a fine first person discussion of the effort to unionize the Kentucky coalfields in the 1920's and 1930's. It also provides some interesting glimpses into the lived of he two famous folk singing sisters of Garland. But, sadly, it is devoted almost entirely to the time he spent in Eastern Kentucky as a coal miner and union organizer with minimal discussion of his life as a folk singer afer he was forced to leave the coal fields because he believed he had been targeted for death by coal operators. Two absolutely minimal references are made to two other very important figures in the effort to unionize the coalfields, Don West and Sam Reece. in the case of Don West whom Garaland says replaced him in the organizing effort when he was forced to leave Eastern Kentucky, the reference is only one sentence long. In the case of Sam Reece who was the husband of Florence Reece who wrote the classic labor ballad "Which Side Are You On?", Garland uses about three sentences to say that at some point in the union effort, he had borrowed Sam Reece's car to make a trip out of town. Both Don West and Sam Reece were major figures in the effort to organize the coalfields. I knew Don West quite well from about 1974 until his death in 1992 but never heard him mention Jim Garland in any of the many discussions I heard him give of his life as an organizer, miner,labor activist, and educator. I was also able to spend two days in the company of Florence and Sam Reece at Highlander Center in New Market, Tennessee, which Don West and Myles Horton founded. I spent roughly a year living at the Appalachian South Folklife Center in Pipestem, West Virginia, which was founded by Don and Connie West. It would have been very educational if I had been able to hear and cross reference all those people's memories of the organizing efforts Harland and Bell counties including their discussions about each other. Such complete knowledge from all of them would have vastly improved my knowledge about Jim Garland and his work. The book is full of references to Appalachian social customs, mores, and history as Jim Garland chose to describe it all. It is a fairly well written book, extremely well edited by Julia S. Ardery, and well worth the time to read by any student of American Labor History, Appalachian Studies, or Kentucky History. It is very minimal in its discussion of folk songs despite the addition of the lyrics of several songs across the length of the text. My particular copy which I bought at a Goodwill Store for $1.59 plus tax is also inscribed by Suzy Roy and Betty Garland Roy, the daughter of Jim and Hazel Garland. A third signature is signed simply "Mrs. Jim Garland". It appears that all three signatures were made with the same red fine point marker. Due to the length of Betty's inscription which refers to Jim Garland as "Daddy" and to Sarah Ogan Gunning as "Aunt Sarah", I believe the signatures are authentic. I have added a scan of the inscription page below. I hope you can find and read your own copy of the book if you are a student of Appalachian Studies, Union Organizing and History, or Kentucky History. It is a fascinating read!

"Under The Juniper Tree" by Emily Steiner--Book Review

Steiner, Emily. Under The Juniper Tree (Haines Printing, Northeast, PA, 2019)

My friend Emily Steiner has just completed and released her fourth novel and the third in her "Lilly Of Appalachia" series about a coal mining family in Harlan County Kentucky.  I have previously reviewed the first two books in the series and apparently played a productive role in the second, "Under Fire", for which Emily provided me the head swelling mention on the acknowledgements page of this book as having been "..a bottomless well of research material".  I must admit that I am flattered since I respect and like Emily a great deal.  All three of the books are directly available from Emily at her home address of Emily Steiner, 155 Memorial Gardens Road, West Liberty, KY 41472.  You can actually call Emily at 606-495-8090 and she will actually answer her own telephone and talk to you immediately or return your calls if she is busy.  The full set of books are available or each may be ordered individually.  This is what Emily says about pricing: "I charge 10.99 plus 2.75 for shipping for a single copy of the new book. (If it’s to someone in KY, there’s also sales tax.) The others are still 9.95, and will be until I reprint them in a few months. Then they’ll all be 10.99. I know this is sort of confusing... If you want to tell your people, I also offer a special in the whole set—28.00 plus shipping."  Since this is a self-published series of books, please allow me to say this about Emily and her professionalism.  Emily is the daughter of the manager of the editorial department at Rod and Staff Publishers, Crockett, KY, one of the two largest Mennonite publishing companies in the country, and she takes her writing and all aspects of publishing seriously.  Rod and Staff are not the publishers or printers of this book although they did publish another of her books which is more directly about life in a Mennonite family.  This book was printed by Haines Printing in Northeast, PA, a small Mennonite owned printer, and I have never seen more professional work from a small printer or publisher.  Based on having seen Emily's three novels, all of which were printed by Haines, I am willing to recommend them without reservations.  They do high quality, fully professional, crisp, tight, slick books which are comparable to the work being done by any publisher in America.  

But let's talk about this novel particularly.  It is the third, and Emily says the final, novel in the series about a poor Appalachian coal mining family from Harlan County Kentucky although most of this novel is set in a fictitious West Virginia called Three Springs.  The protagonist, Lilly Sherman and her husband, coal miner and strongly non-violent preacher Everette Sherman have left Harlan County because Everette's non-violence and refusal to participate in union activity have made him a target of violence during a strike which is detailed in the second novel, "Under Fire".  For those of you who, like me, strongly support trade unionism, let me say that Emily's discussions of and beliefs about trade unionism are strongly based in her Mennonite religion.  It is genuine, a basic part of core beliefs about life, morals, and religion and I respect her for it.  She and I disagree about this aspect of our lives but we disagree amicably and respectfully.  I value her friendship and respect a great deal and I believe that feeling is mutual.  Despite that difference of opinion, this is a book and a series of books that is worth reading for the Appalachian reader or the reader in coal country.  

Emily Steiner--Photo by the Steiner Family

This novel does not directly address the union movement at length and unionism and strikes are not a major part of this book.  Coal mining and life in a coal camp is a major part of the plot of this book.  The key characters of the novel are members of two extended families who live in the two sides of a typical coal camp duplex.  They are realistically drawn, believable, living and breathing humans who are working together to make the most of terrible lifestyle.  Coal camp life is realistically portrayed and I can assure you that Emily has done her research for all three books.  This book is filled with unemployment, coal mine disasters, and untimely death.  My most serious concern about the plot and the eventual resolution of the conflict in the book lies in the fact that the ending is, in my opinion, somewhat unrealistic.  But I am still pleased with the book as I have always been with the work of the author.  Her work is more mature from the first book to this one.  She is growing into the strong, young, female novelist I knew she would become based on the first book.  She is well worth reading and appreciating.  Use the contact information above and order at least one of these books.  Do yourself a real favor and order all three.  You can have the set for just a little more than the price of a hardback bestseller from a major publisher.  You will enjoy this book and it will give you a better understanding of coal camp life shortly after the turn of the twentieth century.  

Kingdom Come State Park--July 25, 2019

Kingdom Come State Park is the highest elevation state park in Kentucky and one of the most unique with respect to the natural features it holds.  It is just outside Cumberland, Kentucky, in Harlan County.  My wife and I visited the park on our long day trip on July 25, 2019, and I hiked for about an hour on an old road which passes from the park toward Whitesburg, Kentucky, fourteen miles away.  The one lane gravel and blacktop road extends 38 miles along the crest of Pine Mountain from Whitesburg to Harlan. It is sometimes known as the Little Shepherd Trail, a name taken from the book "The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come" by John Fox, Jr.  The road crosses through the park near the summit of Pine Mountain. The great majority of the road lies outside the boundaries of the park on what I suspect is primarily corporate land being held by coal and timber companies.  Only about a mile of the road lies within the park boundaries.  But there are rumors of an attempt by the Kentucky Parks system to use the road as part of a longitudinal park which would run from Harlan to the Breaks of the Mountains Interstate Park on the Virginia border in Pike County.  Kingdom Come State Park allows vehicular, but not ATV, traffic on the road inside the park.  Outside the boundaries of the park, it is my understanding that ATV's, dirt bikes, horses, and vehicles all travel the trail/road which is an absolute shame.  Dirt bikes and ATV's do nothing except destroy flora and fauna and severely disturb larger animals.  It is my considered opinion that those who use such vehicles to "see" the mountains and parks anywhere are simply too lazy to hike on foot, too uncaring of wildlife to stop disturbing them, and too unaware of the importance of the flora to stop destroying it.  But Harlan county has catered to ATV and dirt bike riders in order to gain more tourism dollars and have actually developed what they call the Off Road Adventure Area for such vehicles on abandoned strip mined land.  Since that land has already been mutilated, destroyed, and left a wasteland by the coal companies, in most cases, I have to admit that this ATV "adventure area" is the best answer for the problem.  It would be a wonderful  thing if all ATV and dirt bike riders stay off all other land in the mountains  and let the flora survive and the wildlife live in peace.  

Path To Kingdom Come Overlook--Photo by Trip Advisor

Now to my hike which was in the heart of bear country.  The Little Shepherd Trail, as it is sometimes called, does allow vehicular traffic and during the hour I was on it I did see three cars as I recall.  They were all driving slowly and safely. I probably traveled about a mile each inside the park and outside the park boundaries since I did a straight hike and a round trip. The trail begins at an overlook which does have protective railing, bear resistant garbage cans, and a small parking area.  I have to say that the microchip in my camera had run out of storage space during my long day trip, and I did not take any photographs on the hike.  I will try to post a few here from the public domain.  This overlook allows you to see the valley below over a portion which extends probably two or three miles.  It is a fabulous view but, since I was married at the main overlook of the New River Gorge National Park, I know it is not the best overlook you will ever see.  Also, since my wife is in a wheelchair, handicapped accessibility is important to us and the path to the overlook is not accessible.  It has several steps on a stone path leading to it.  There is also a small piece of land to the right of this path which could be easily converted to wheelchair accessibility with a bit of leveling and stone work. But for now that possible wheelchair route to the overlook is blocked by tree roots, rocks, and one tree which would make it too narrow without some effort to widen it.

Kingdom Come Overlook--Photo by Harlan County Trails

The hike was in the heart of bear country and I was mildly apprehensive about the possibility of contacting a black bear.  But during my entire hour long hike of perhaps 3 to 4 miles round trip, I saw absolutely no wildlife other than a few butterflies and mosquitoes.  I saw no bear, elk, deer, coyote, coon, bobcat, possum, skunk, rabbit, or squirrel, and the area was one where I had thought I would see a few animals.  But do not take this as a blanket statement that no wildlife are in the trail area.  It was a hot day and I hiked in mid-afternoon when many animals might have been laying up in the shade between their morning and afternoon feeding periods.  The trail is nearly one hundred percent shaded so in cool weather you probably need long sleeves or a jacket. There is quite a bit of uphill and downhill along the trail and they can be fairly steep.  I would rate the difficulty of this trail as moderate due to the grades even though it is along an old highway.

The park also has a small man made lake which allows fishing and paddle boating with compliance to the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Regulations.  There are also a fourteen other short hiking trails inside the park with none being longer than a mile.  There is also a multi-use amphitheater at the base of Raven Rock which we did not see due to our intense schedule for the day.  Overnight primitive camping is allowed in designated areas with a fee. According to the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife "as part of the Fishing in the Neighborhoods (FINS) program, this lake is regularly stocked with catchable-size catfish up to four times annually. Additionally, this lake is stocked with rainbow trout in the spring and fall. Largemouth bass and sunfish are regularly sampled and stocked if necessary". The park does not have a lodge or restaurant and that is a shame.  But the park is well worth a visit especially if you like to hike, bird watch, or fish. 

Kentucky Coal Museum--Benham, KY, July 25, 2019

As I mentioned in my previous blog post about our long road trip to Harlan County and beyond, my wife Candice and I toured the Kentucky Coal Museum in Benham, Kentucky, on July 25, 2019.  I am involved in a large research project about a particular coal camp town right now and I am deeply immersed in as much coal camp information as I can gather which has been reflected in many of my recent blog posts.  Even though it is a bit far flung from my main research interest, Candice and I both wanted to go to Harlan to the museum and thought the trip was worth while.  It really was worth while.  I have been fascinated and greatly pleased that a little over two  years ago the museum converted to solar power but I did not discuss it with the employee on duty since most of the early questions I asked her seemed to be a bit over her head.  That was the only negative aspect of the entire experience in my mind.  I would have loved to meet a docent who actually knew a lot about the museum, the industry, and life in the area as far back as 125 years ago.  The other biggest knock on the place is that, like most museums, art galleries, and zoos, you enter the place directly into the store area where they are hawking everything from soup to nuts.  

But the museum is located in an old store or office building has has four levels with displays.  There is the ground level, a mezzanine above that, a second story above that, and a basement which is primarily filled with coal mining tools and a facsimile mine.  I took as many photos as I could and they allow you to take photos freely which is great.  The collection is diverse, reasonably well curated, and organized into logical sections according to subject matter.  There are several photos and other material from Drift, KY, in Floyd County which was a surprise since that mine was near where I grew up.  There is also a fairly large display of Loretta Lynn material which has some logical connection because of her "Coal Miner's Daughter" record and book and the fact that she grew up in Van Lear, KY, a coal camp in Johnson County.  There is also a small museum in Van Lear which is not nearly as complete, well curated, or diverse.  I am going to add as many photographs to this post as I can logically and will, from this point on,  and will make only short explanatory notes where necessary.  I hope my readers will enjoy this blog post, tour the Coal Museum on your own, and read the other posts which I have provided links to in this piece.  

The mezzanine level, which we visited first has a large collection of memorabilia from the several local schools which existed in Harlan County before consolidation.  These are the schools which the children of coal miners attended until the mergers began.  This is a sports letter sweater from Lynch High School which no longer exists.   

ALL PHOTOS ARE BY ROGER D. HICKS AND ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED UNDER US COPYRIGHT LAW.  DO NOT USE ANY PHOTOS FROM THIS BLOG WITHOUT EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM ROGER D. HICKS. 

Lynch High School Letterman's Sweater--Photo by Roger D. Hicks

This is obviously a Lynch High School cheerleader's uniform which was worn by a girl named Joyce. 

Lynch High School cheerleader's uniform--Photo by Roger D. Hicks

Car Decorator Plate from Benham, KY, the home of the museum--Photo by Roger D. Hicks

Below we have a pre-employment warning sign which would have been posted near the entrance to the coal company employment office and harks back to signs which used to appear in New York City which said things like "No Irish Need To Apply".  In the early era of coal mining in Appalachia, companies could get away with all sorts of discrimination and maltreatment which would be crimes today. 

Pre-employment Warning Sign from Benham--Photo by Roger D. Hicks

Life Sized Carved Wood Bust of a Coal Miner--Photo by Roger D. Hicks

I assume this sign, hand written with a finger in coal dust is authentic although I did not ask.  If you read it carefully, it says, "42 men alive in Left Mar 4, 1915 at 4:30pm

This is the coal camp church display in the museum.  Notice that the museum staff worked diligently to make the church racially integrated with an African American minister.  But most companies owned the buildings in which the churches were held or built racially segregated churches for both races and strictly controlled who could preach in them, what they could preach, and who they could preach it to.  For instance, read about the churches in the book I reviewed recently, "Coal People Life In Southern Colorado's Company Towns".  Also, some mention of this subject takes place in George D. Torok's book, "A Guide To Historic Coal Towns Of The Big Sandy River Valley" which is reviewed at this link.  While all the same practices were not followed from state to state or company to company, the companies universally used every device at their disposal in order to control every aspect of coal camp life.  Interestingly, in Eastern Kentucky and parts of Southern West Virginia and Western Virginia, the Old Regular Baptist Church was a big influence on the people of coal camps and always owned their own churches which were also always outside the city limits such asd the Steele's Creek ORB Church at Wayland where the moderator, E. Hawk Moore,  was also a miner and served as the funeral committeeman for the UMWA for many years.  But it is also necessary to note that the ORB church did not usually meddle much in coal company matters and their churches only held services on site one weekend each month which was throwback to the days of the circuit riding preachers in Appalachia. 

Here is a photo of a wonderful coal and wood burning cook stove on the floor of the museum which houses most of the items related to Loretta Lynn.  However, please note that nothing in the section particularly seems to be labeled as having been owned by Loretta Lynn or her family. 

Here is a wonderful Singer treadle sewing machine from the bedroom of that same section of the museum.  The bedroom suite of which the chest of drawers is partially visible appears to be from the late 1950's or early 1960's based on the type of drawer pulls it has.

The section of the museum which represents stores, both country stores and company stores takes me back to my childhood growing up in a country store.  They have a great collection of period appropriate items in the shelves along with a good scale from about the 1950's. 

I hope you have enjoyed this insight into the collections at the museum.  But please do not allow these photographs to prevent you from actually taking a trip to Benham, KY, to tour the museum.  If you have any interest in or connection to coal camp towns and coal mining, you will appreciate their collections. 

ALL PHOTOS ARE BY ROGER D. HICKS AND ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED UNDER US COPYRIGHT LAW.  DO NOT USE ANY PHOTOS FROM THIS BLOG WITHOUT EXPRESS WRITTEN PERSMISSION FROM ROGER D. HICKS. 

A Long Day Trip In The Mountains, July 25, 2019

"The Miner's Home", Photo By Roger D. Hicks

Yesterday, July 25, 2019, my wife Candice and I took a long road trip in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky.  We left home at about 8:30am and never got back until about 7:15pm.  I drove 289 miles across parts of seven counties, Morgan, Wolfe, Breathitt, Perry, Leslie, Harlan, and Letcher.  We covered a lot of ground and still got a lot done, met one or two interesting people, had a pretty good lunch, and still got home in time to watch Jeopardy.  I will post just three or four photos on this blog post and will write at least two other posts about specific sites we visited with a lot more photos specific to those sites on the blog posts about them.  The original intent was to see the Kentucky Coal Museum in Benham, Kentucky, and for Candice to be able to say she had been to the top of Black Mountain and had been to Harlan County.  Actually, by the time we had made it home, we had been across the two biggest mountains in Kentucky, Black Mountain and Pine Mountain.  And, due to the time and distance, we did not get to stop and see several, perhaps many, of the things we would have liked to see such as the statue in tribute to Mary Breckinridge and the Frontier Nursing Service and the Hurricane Creek Mine Disaster Memorial both in Hyden .  We also had thought about trying to see the Portal 31 Exhibition Mine but it is not possible for Candice to see it in her wheelchair and I decided to try to do more of other, more accessible things.  I do plan to return to Harlan County sometime soon, see some of the things I had missed and shoot some photos in the old coal camps we saw such as Harlan, Lynch, Benham, Loyall, and Evarts. Lynch is actually one of the more preserved sections of coal camp homes I have seen.  We were also struck by the similarity of one section of the street in Lynch to that in Wayland, Kentucky, in Floyd County.  Even with modern remodels, many of the homes in both coal camps are built along a very similar and basic coal company plan. 

Pro-UMWA Poster, Photo by Roger D. Hicks

We left home through Cannel City, KY, actually another old coal camp town, and passed through Jackson and Breathitt County, Hazard and Perry County, Hyden and Leslie County, and finally got to Harlan about lunch time.  We had seen an Indian restaurant advertised on the internet known as "Little India" and wanted to have lunch there but we couldn't find it.  We did find a police officer on duty in Loyall, KY, and asked him.  He grinned and said, "She changed the name of it to "Good Eats" because people around here...".  I interrupted and said, "...wouldn't eat Indian food."  We had a chuckle about it and he said, "I was eating there just this week.  People said it was too spicy but it's not really."  I thanked him and we went back to Good Eats which we had actually seen while searching for Little India.  We went in and found a local Caucasian woman behind the counter and met the wonderfully friendly Indian-American female owner a bit later.  She actually grew up in Oklahoma City and was raised, as she put it, "By  my grandmother and she was a very traditional Indian Muslim woman."  There was only one Indian item on the menu, Chicken Tikka Masala, which we both had while nearly everybody around us ate fish.  When I told what the police officer said, the owner said "He eats here a lot."  The server told us to choose a degree of hotness somewhere from 1 to 10.  Candice chose 3 and I chose 6.  I could not have handled 7 but I liked the food except for the fact that it was served in Styrofoam containers with plastic utensils.  But the overall impression I got from the encounter is that I am glad this woman came to Harlan and I never asked her why.  But it is great to see a friendly, intelligent, welcoming Muslim raised Indian-American woman helping to spread brotherhood around Southeastern Kentucky.

Candice Hicks In The Fountain at Mine Museum, Photo By Roger D. Hicks

After lunch, we toured the Coal Mine Museum, went to the top of Black Mountain and headed toward Kingdom Come State Park where I hiked an hour along the primitive road, actually known as the Little Shepherd Trail, which runs from the park to Whitesburg, KY, fourteen miles away.  It is the heart of bear country and has cautionary signs posted everywhere.  During my hike which must have been three to four miles along the ridge, I never saw any wildlife of any kind and got back home to learn that one of my old high school teachers had a bear in her yard in Knott County that day.  But I never saw bear, elk, deer, coyote, bobcat, fox, coon, possum, rabbit, or squirrel for the entire hike.

I Always Wanted A Photo With A Long Legged Cheerleader, Photo by Candice Hicks

Then we left the area on US119 to Whitesburg, turned on KY 15 South through Isom and on to Hazard and Jackson.  I will write more about this trip on separate blog posts about the individual sites we saw, so please come back and look for those posts.

Poster For The Day Hank Williams Died, Photo By Roger D. Hicks

"Under Fire" by Emily Steiner---Book Review

This book is the second volume in Emily Steiner's "Lilly Of Appalachia" series.  I reviewed the first, "Under The Bridge" on this blog on July 30, 2018.  These books are self-published through Haines Printing in Northeast, Pennsylvania, but that company does not sell the books.  They are available only from Emily Steiner and I will place her contact information at the bottom of this review.  Unlike many self-published books, the printing work is well above average and they are high quality volumes which are only $10.00 each directly from the author.  The stories follow an Eastern Kentucky Appalachian family as they and their relatives are involved in a coal mine strike and the minister husband of the protagonist, Lilly Burchett Sherman, refuses to join the union based on his interpretation of the New Testament admonitions against violence. The father and brothers of Lilly Sherman are union members and one of them is actually shot and paralyzed late in the work as a result of his union activity. I was lucky enough to read much of this book in manuscript and provided my suggestions about it directly to the author who is a friend of mine.  We met shortly after the release of the first book in this series, "Under The Bridge".  The writing in this book is more mature from a professional standpoint than in "Under The Bridge".  It is well-plotted.  The characters are believable, real people, and show the many hours of research which the author has put into the book.

 

Emily Steiner accepted some of my suggestions about the book and flatly refused to take a position in the book in favor of trade unionism which I strongly support.  But, like the characters in the family of the protagonist, Emily Steiner and I have managed to remain friends.  Her objections to supporting unionism are based on her interpretation of the Bible and she is devout Mennonite woman living in our local Mennonite community where I also have numerous other friends and sometimes attend events and write about them on this blog.  I know many of these people well enough and understand their beliefs to a degree that we can disagree and still remain friends.  Emily used one of my suggestions, provided as a copy of the wonderful Jack London description of a scab in a way in which I would never have used it.  But I can say that she at least read it and inserted it in the book with a statement of attribution at the end of the book.    

The book moves along as the strike deepens in a community set in Harlan County Kentucky.  Emily accurately portrays the poverty, destitution, and desperation of the miners and their families and I have to say I like this book.  It is simply not the kind of book I would write or wish to write about a union struggle in Appalachia.  But, like everything Emily Steiner writes, it is well worth reading.  I also suggested to Emily during the completion of the book that she read Davis Grubb's wonderful union struggle book, "The Barefoot Man", which I consider to be the best union novel I have ever read.  I have never heard from her that she found a copy and read it.  I suspect that if she had she might not have ever discussed it with me due to her religious opposition to some of the language and scenes in that book.  But I wish she had read it before she finished this book.  I understand fully that having read "The Barefoot Man" would not have changed her perspective on trade unionism.  But it would have broadened her understanding of the union struggle and given her a deeper knowledge base about trade unionism, the coal fields in Appalachia of the early twentieth century, and the irreplaceable role trade unionism has played in the social development of both Appalachia and the country as whole.  

But, do not allow my difference of opinion with Emily Steiner deter you from reading "Under Fire".  It is an excellent book in many ways.  It is a fine addition to Emily Steiner's ever growing body of work.  She will continue to write and publish novels.  She will continue to mature as a professional writer.  She will come to establish herself, quietly in her own deeply religious manner, as one of the better young writers in Appalachia.  She describes herself in the biographical statement within the book as "...born and raised as a mountain girl in Eastern Kentucky."  I agree with that statement.  However, any description of Emily Steiner must begin with a clear understanding that she grew up in a religious based subculture in Eastern Kentucky which consciously separates its members from the mainstream to varying degrees and her understanding of the primary culture of Appalachia is affected by that separation.  I value her friendship.  I value her ability.  I value this novel.  You will also value this novel regardless of the personal position you take on trade unionism and the way it is deeply ingrained in Central and Southern Appalachia.  

 

"Under Fire" and "Under The Bridge" are both directly available from Emily Steiner at $10.00 each.  She will autograph them and mail them to you.  You can contact her at Emily Steiner, 155 Memorial Gardens Road, West Liberty, KY 41472.  You can call her at 606-495-8090.  She will personally answer her phone and actually talk to you.  When have you known another published author who would do that?  

 

 

"Under The Bridge" by Emily Steiner--Book Review

Steiner, Emily. Under The Bridge ( North East, PA, Haines Printing 2018)

Emily Steiner is a young Mennonite woman living in my home county of Morgan County Kentucky,  This is her first book and was printed by Haines Printing in North East, PA, and self-published by Ms. Steiner.  I did not know Ms. Steiner or her family as I do many of the Mennonites in this county until after I had read her book.  Shortly after reading this book, I was walking in Old Mill Park in my hometown of West Liberty, KY, and saw a young Mennonite woman carrying a laptop computer adn dressed in the typical Mennonite fashion of ankle length dress and head covering.  I asked, "Are you Emily Steiner?" which was a good assumption since she matched the photo in the book and it is not customary for Mennonites to work on computers.  She told me she was Emily Steiner and we struck up a conversation which lasted about thirty minutes and was entirely about literature, her writing, her next book now in progress, and many of the writers I have personally known.   Ms. Steiner work briefly as a school teacher in the local Mennonite School.  She has lived most her entire life in Morgan County. She is currently working two part time jobs and working on her third novel, which will be the second book in this series.  This book is the first in that series of books about a young Appalachian woman named Lilly Burchett.  It is labeled on the cover as Historical Christian Fiction.  But in reality, it is presented as a historical novel about a young native Appalachian woman with no connection to the Mennonite religion but does describe her and her family as church goers to a church without mention of the denomination.  

The story is set in Harlan County Kentucky in the period from circa 1918-1922 or so.  The story is also labeled on the cover as "Well researched and rich with detail; the author's first-hand knowledge of life in rural Kentucky shines through in the vivid and sensitive telling of this classic tale of love, loss, hope, and dreams."  It is an attempt to portray the native Appalachians of Harlan County from a period a century distant by a writer who lives a very different lifestyle not only from those natives of the early twentieth century but also quite different from the local native Appalachians of today in this community.  I bought the book at a local bulk food store which is run by another unmarried Mennonite woman whose extended family I know quite well.  Until I saw the book on a counter, I had no idea that any Mennonite in the area was writing fiction. However, Rod & Staff Publishing, one of the largest Mennonite publishers in the country is located in the county in Crockett, KY, and Ms. Steiner's father works there in the editorial department. Since no conservative Mennonite author or publisher uses the internet or modern marketing practices, you cannot find further information about the books of Ms. Steiner on the internet.  The printer, Haines Printing Company, does maintain a minimally informative website about their services but does not directly market this book or any other they might have printed. Their ownership may or may not be Mennonite. Ms. Steiner is directly marketing the book via her personal phone number and address.  I will provide that address at the end of this review.  

Despite the information listed on the back cover claiming first-hand knowledge and positive research, the book misses the facts on numerous occasions in dealing with Appalachian life in the early twentieth century.   However, based on my numerous contacts with the local Mennonite community and my overwhelmingly positive opinion of the Mennonite people in the area, I am willing to say that I do not believe any of these errors were committed with negative intentions. Since that first accidental meeting in the park, Emily Steiner and I have talked face to face three more times, once at the last day of school at the Faith Hills Mennonite Church School and twice at her part time employment in a Mennonite owned fabric and sewing store.  We also converse fairly regularly via e-mail which, due to the Mennonite religious beliefs and mores, is on an e-mail address which actually belongs to her brother who is a local construction contractor.  The book does perpetuate several of the prevalent myths about Appalachian people of the early twentieth century and of Appalachian people and culture in general. However, since Emily Steiner and I have known each other, I have provided her with some guidance about Appalachian Culture and Literature and given her a long list of mainstream Appalachian books which she is reading diligently and working to make the next novel much more culturally accurate. 

The protagonist in the story is Lilly Burchett, a thirteen year old Appalachian girl who is a member of a large family living in "a cabin" in a hollow near a coal camp and a coal mine in which her father, Bernie Burchett, works. Lilly is described as having "...calloused feet that rarely felt shoes" on the first page and so begins the trail of myths and errors about Appalachia and Appalachian life.  The family is composed of the parents, Lilly, and several other of her siblings.  The story begins in early 1918 as World War I is ending and the surviving soldiers are returning from the battlefields.  Lilly is nearing the time when, as she has already been told by her mother, "...'a woman's place is getting married and raising a family'...and then having babies, having them one after another as fast as all the other mountain women."  Lilly is described as a good student in some areas but not in math.  She wants to grow up to leave the mountains and become a writer.  The title of the story arises from the fact that Lilly frequently stops to think, write, and hide her writings under a bridge over the creek on her way home from school where she dreams about the future. I suspect that several aspects of the character are fictionalized versions of thoughts which Ms. Steiner has had growing up as a young, intelligent woman in a strictly conservative Mennonite family and community. To some degree, she has corroborated that belief and disputed it in others.  Another former Mennonite school teacher in the community who actually taught the same year Ms. Steiner did, whom I have known since childhood, has also stated that he agrees with my assessment that many of the cultural errors in the story are rooted not in any prejudice on the part of Emily Steiner but in the fact that the average young Mennonite woman has little contact with the greater non-Mennonite community.  The character of Lilly is much more fully developed than the other characters in the story.  The writing is above average for a first book but not exceptional by any means. But it shows a great deal of talent and is good enough that I am willing to spend time helping Emily Steiner improve both her knowledge of Appalachian Culture and her base of knowledge about writing and literature in general.  The book is readable and for the naive individual who knows little or nothing about Appalachia of the early twentieth century it could be assumed to be accurate in its depictions of the area and its people.  Therein lies the potential damage to be done by this book and all other books like it which are written about Appalachia without sufficient knowledge of the people and culture. 

The errors in depiction of Appalachian Culture, life, and language continue throughout the book and range from simple errors in language to full blown but unintentional misrepresentations.  Later in that first chapter in a description of the local school teacher's opposition to the coal mining companies she has a minor character state "He don't like the mines because he had two brothers killed in a collapse."  No one in Eastern Kentucky would have used the word "collapse" to describe a roof fall.  The generally used word all over Appalachian coal mining country was then and still remains "roof fall" or could have been a use of the word "kettle bottom" to describe a particular type of roof fall.  It is also interesting that in a book about a coal mining town in Harlan County in 1918 there is no mention of the ongoing effort to unionize the mines.  The United Mine Workers of America was organized in 1890.  Kentucky coal production reached a million tons in 1879 and a major producer at that time was already Harlan County and both the United Mine Workers of America and the International Workers of The World (The Wobblies) were attempting to organize miners in Harlan County by about 1905 or 1910.  Ms. Steiner is currently working on the second book of the series with a working title of "Under Fire", the manuscript of which I have read and offered suggestions about improving it both from a cultural and a writing viewpoint.  Ms. Steniner's intentions are to write a book which does address the union efforts in Harlan County Kentucky but to promote the Mennonite views of non-violence and, therefore, to not promote unionism.  She and I have mutually agreed to amicably disagree on that position and to remain friends. 

Chapter Five of "Under The Bridge" begins with a particularly telling paragraph in terms of its depiction of life in Eastern Kentucky in 1918 as Lilly begins working as a housekeeper for the wife of the local mine manager.  "...Lilly grew accustomed to turning a knob for water, dragging heavy rugs up and down stairs, and cooking multitudes of things beyond cornbread, beans, and fried potatoes."  It is quite interesting that this was written by a young woman who grew up in a family, religious community, and subculture which depends strongly on gardening as a major means of sustenance and who knows quite well that anyone who raises a garden in Appalachia eats far more than "cornbread, beans, and fried potatoes".

Later in the book as Lilly is working as a housekeeper in the home of the mine superintendent and meets a couple who are friends of her employer and his wife and is offered the opportunity to return with them to Louisville to live in their home and further her education.  Because of her father Bernie's objections, Lilly turns down that opportunity and begins anticipating life as a young married woman in the footsteps of all the other women in her life.  It is interesting that across many areas in Appalachia such as Knott, Jackson, and surrounding counties in Kentucky,  and several counties in North Carolina schools were being founded such as The Caney Creek Community Center and the Annville Institute which were assisting numerous students in admission to and attendance at colleges outside the region.  Ms. Steiner seems to have not known about any of this history at the time she wrote "Under The Bridge".  But she is working diligently to remedy the shortcomings in her knowledge of Appalachia and Appalachian Culture and Literature.  "Under The Bridge" can be bought directly from Emily Steiner by calling or writing her at Emil Steiner, 155 Memorial Gardens Road, West Liberty, KY, 41472, or by calling her at 606-495-8090.  The price is $10.00.  The book can also be found at Caney Grocery in Cannel City, KY, at the intersection of KY 1000 and KY 191 between Cannel City and West Liberty.  Despite the negative comments in this review, the book is worth reading and buying.  Her second book, "What Money Can't Buy", a purely Mennonite novel is now released and available at Rod and Staff Publishing in Crockett, KY. 

Florence And Sam Reece, Appalachian Heroes

Florence Reece

In November 1974, I was lucky enough to meet Florence and Sam Reece at a conference at the Highlander Research and Education Center in New Market, TN.  That weekend conference would be the only time I would ever be lucky enough to be in their company.  Sam Reece was already seriously ill with a plethora of health problems, most of which were related to his life in the coal mines and perhaps to physical abuse which he suffered at the hands of coal company gun thugs during the Harlan County Strike of the late 1920's.  At that time, Florence Reece was still in very good health for her advanced age.  She regaled the group at the conference with numerous stories of the years she and her husband had spent fighting for union recognition for the coal miners of Harlan County Kentucky.  She also spoke at length about her song writing and especially about writing "Which Side Are You On?", one of the best known union organizing songs in American labor history.  They also spoke at length of the harassment they had both suffered from Senator Joseph McCarthy and The United States Senate Subcommittee On Investigations during the communist witch hunts of the summer of 1954.  At that time, Senator Joseph McCarthy was running rampant harassing union members, union organizers, liberal thinkers, writers, actors, and any other public or semi-public figure who spoke out on behalf of the working class.  

Sam Reece was working as a union organizer in Harlan County in the late 1920's and early 1930's.  At the time, Florence was simply a miner's wife and mother to her children.  As Florence Reece told the story, one night in 1931 anti-union gun thugs employed by Sheriff John Henry Blair and the coal companies raided their home in an attempt to jail, or perhaps even kill, Sam Reece for his union activity.  The gun thugs raided the house, terrorized Florence and her children, and ransacked nearly the entire house searching for any kind of union literature.  Sam had managed to escape into the mountains just before the gun thugs arrived.  Florence always said that after the company thugs left she was so angry at having her home violated that she ripped a sheet off a wall calendar and immediately wrote the lyrics to "Which Side Are You On?"   The song instantly began to grow into the world famous union anthem it still is today.  It has been translated into dozens of languages and sung at labor, peace, and other rallies for the underprivileged all over the world.  It made both Florence and Sam Reece famous.  For the rest of their lives they stood up for the rights of the working class, endured harassment and hatred, and never flinched to their dying day in the fight for the rights of the downtrodden.  

The story of Florence and Sam Reece  has  been told many times in many ways.  It has become at least one book, "Which Side Are You On?  The Story Of A Song" by George Ella Lyon.  The story has also been told as a play, "Which Side Are You On? The Florence Reece Story"  written by Edward Francisco and produced at Pellissippi State University.  The story of Florence and Sam Reece is a story of courage in the face of danger, resolution in the face of fear, and suffering in support of a cause for the good of humanity.  By the time Florence Reece died in 1986, more than fifty years after the song was written, she was famous enough that her obituary was carried in the NY Times.  Here is a link to Florence Reece's memorial on Find A Grave.  Here is a link to Sam Reece's memorial on Find A Grave. 

Here is a link to the You Tube Florence Reece version of "Which Side Are You On?"

Here is a link to the You Tube Pete Seeger version of "Which Side Are You On?"

Here is a link to the printed lyrics to "Which Side Are You On?" in both English and French. 

I will always be proud that I was able to spend time in the company of Florence and Sam Reece.  They were two of four people I have known who were pilloried by Senator Joseph McCarthy for their works for the good of humanity.  I learned a great deal from spending time in the company of such people.  I learned that good people must always stand up and speak out in the defense of good, just causes.  I learned that good, just causes do not always win out.  Constant effort is required from good people to support such causes.  Men and women such as Florence and Sam Reece, George Washington, Thomas Paine, and Mahatma Ghandi, and you my friend must stand up, speak out, and sometimes suffer if just causes are to win.  Sadly, America is entering such a period today.  A self confessed sex offender, career criminal and Fascist is likely to occupy the White House in the near future.  America could use several million people like Florence and Sam Reece today.