It Is Union and Liberty: Alabama Coal Miners, 1898-1998

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This history of Alabama's coal miners documents the struggle notonly between labor and management but also between interracial unionismand white supremacy.Much of Alabama's labor history is written in its coalfields. This book records the critical contribution that District 20 ofthe United Mine Workers of America played in the state's labor movementthrough its strong stands on such issues as child labor, public education, and inter-racial unions.Standing at the cutting edge of social and politicalhistory, these essays cover five periods over a century of union activity: the emergence of a militant labor force during mining's formative years, the World War I era, when mine operators tried to divide black and whitelabor, the increasing role of the state in labor relations during the interwaryears, rapid changes in the union between 1942 and 1975, and the 1977-79>Through historicphotographs and depictions of living and working conditions, contributorsEdwin L. Brown, Colin J. Davis, Daniel Letwin, Brian M. Kelly, Peter Alexander, Glenn Feldman, and Robert H. Woodrum portray the world that miners, bothblack and white, made. In a state where racial segregation was the norm, even the earliest District 20 contract proposals demanded equal pay forequal work regardless of color. It Is Union and Liberty shows that theUMW in Alabama stands apart from perceptions of southern trade unionismas exclusionary and racially fragmented. It sheds light on an importantsegment of the state's labor history and is a testament to District 20on its centennial celebration.Edwin Brown is AssociateProfessor in the Center for Labor Education and Research and Colin Davis is Associate Professor in the Department of History, both atthe University of Alabama at Birmingham.