Appalachian Collection

"I Hate the Capitalist System": Protest Songs of the Appalachian Coalfields


 

Scope

This pathfinder is intended to be a beginner's guide to the rich traditions of protest and labor songs in the central Appalachian coalfields. From the very beginning of the industrialization period in the coal filled mountains of Eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, Southwest Virginia, and Eastern Tennessee, mountain people have used song to draw attention to and instigate reaction against poor, unsafe, and unfair working conditions and labor practices in the expanding coal mines. These songs would play an important role in the struggle to unionize the coalfields and tell the miner's story to the rest of the nation in the 1920's and 1930's. They would speak to the continued poverty and forced migration from the mountains of central Appalachia in the 1940's and 1950's. Finally, protest songs would lend their power to the struggles for Black Lung compensation in the 1960's and the fight against the social and environmental destruction of surface mining in the 1970's. Today songs of injustice and protest continue to speak to the conditions and struggles of the mountain populations throughout the coalfield region.

 

A good Introduction to this topic can be found in:

Carawan, Guy and Candie. Voices from the Mountains: collected and Recorded by Guy and Candie Carawan. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 1982, c1975. 231 pages. ASU APP COLL STACKS: HN79 .A13 C37 1982.

Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Charles Reagan Wilson & William Ferris, coeditors. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1989. See pp. 1023-1025 Protest Songs , and pp.1578-1579 Aunt Molly Jackson . ASU APP COLL OVERSIZE: F209 .E53. [Library use only]

 

Some relevan t Library of Congress Subject Headings
     ( Search by "Subject" in the online catalog using these headings) :

Highly Relevant:

Also Relevant:

More General:

 

Frequently used Library of Congress Call Number ranges:

More information can be found in the Appalachian Collection Clippings File under the following subject headings:

  • Black Musicians
  • Highlander Research Center
  • Musicians -- Appalachia
  • Seeger, Pete

 

Some Frequently Cited or Relevant Books include the following:

Carawan, Guy and Candie. Voices from the Mountains: collected and Recorded by Guy and Candie Carawan. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 1982, c1975. 231 pages. ASU APP COLL STACKS: HN79 .A13 C37 1982.

Green, Archie. Only a Miner: Studies in Recorded Coal-Mining Songs. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972. 504 pages. ASU APP COLL STACKS: ML3780 .G74.

Greenway, John. American Folksongs of Protest. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1953. 348 pages. ASU MUSIC STACKS: ML3551 .G7.

Korson, George G. Coal Dust on the Fiddle: Songs and Stories of the Bituminous Industry. Hatboro, PA.: Folklore Associates, 1965. 460 pages. ASU APP COLL STACKS: M1629 .K686 C6.

Romalis, Shelly. Pistol Packin' Mama: Aunt Molly Jackson and the Politics of Folksong . Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 239 pages. ASU APP COLL STACKS: ML420 .J15 R66 1999.

 

Journals containing information on protest songs of the Appalachian coalfields include:

Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review . Boone, NC: Appalachian State University. v. 1, 1972 to present. ASU APP COLL STACKS: F216.2 .A66. Indexed in vols. 7, 18, and 23.

Journal of Appalachian Studies. Morganton, WV: West Virginia University for the Appalachian Studies Associaiton. ASU APP COLL STACKS: F106 .J74 (bound issues). Check current APP COLL periodicals for other issues.

Mountain Life & Work . Berea, KY: Berea College. v. 1 - 64, 1925 - 1988. ASU APP COLL STACKS:GR103 .M5.

 

Bibliographies that contain materials on this topic include:

Appalachian Bibliography. Morgantown: West Virginia University Library, 1968, 1972, and 1980. ASU APP COLL STACKS: Z1251 .A7 A6.

Bibliography of Southern Appalachia. Charlotte T. Ross, ed. Boone: Appalachian Consortium Press, 1976. ASU APP COLL OVERSIZE: Z1251 .A7 B5x.

Munn, Robert F. The Coal Industry in America: A Bibliography and Guide to Studies. Morgantown: West Virginia University Library, 1977. ASU APP COLL STACKS: Z6738 .C6 M8.

 

Guides, Directories, and Encyclopedias

American Folklore: An Encyclopedia. Jan Harold Brunvand, ed. New York: Garland Pub. 794 pages. ASU APP COLL OVERSIZE: GR101 .A54 1996. See p. 401: Aunt Molly Jackson and p. 519-523: Occupational Folklore .

Jablonski, Edward. The Encyclopedia of American Music. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981. 629 pages. ASU MUSIC REF: ML100 .J28. See Aunt Molly Jackson and Protest Songs .

The Kentucky Encyclopedia . John E. Kleber, ed. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1992. 1045 pages. ASU APP COLL STACKS: F451 .K413 1992. See p. 459: Aunt Molly Jackson and p. 395: Sarah Ogan Gunning.

Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Charles Reagan Wilson & William Ferris, coeditors. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1989. See pp. 1023-1025 Protest Songs , and pp.1578-1579 Aunt Molly Jackson . ASU APP COLL OVERSIZE: F209 .E53. [Library use only]

 

Other Relevant Materials


Indexes and Online Databases:


America: History and Life. A guide to the periodical literature in the American Studies field, including History, Folklore, and the Humanities. Updated three times a year.

Arts and Humanities Search . Dublin, OH: OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc., Database coverage: 1980 to present. Updated weekly.

Dissertation Abstracts. Ph. D. dissertations and selected masters theses with abstracts from 1861 to the present. Updated monthly.

MLA Bibliography (Modern Language Association). Indexes critical materials on literature, languages, linguistics, and folklore. Provides access to citations from worldwide publications, including periodicals, books, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations and bibliographies. Updated 10 times per year.

RILM Abstracts of Musical Literature. New York: RILM (International Repertory of Music Literature organization). Bound: v.1, 1967-v.25, 1991. ASU MUSIC REFERENCE. Web version: 1969 to present.

 

Subject headings to try in searching the above online databases:

  • Davis, George
  • Dickens, Hazel
  • Economics -- USA -- Appalachia -- Influenced by Women Song Composers
  • Garland, Jim
  • Gunning, Sarah Ogan
  • Jackson, Molly
  • Reece, Florence
  • USA -- Appalachia -- Folk Song -- Role in Protest Movement
  • USA -- Appalachia -- Musical Life -- Mining Communities -- Women Song Composers

To really understand the meaning, message, and importance of the protest song in the history and culture of Central Appalachia, one must hear the songs and meet their performers. Included is a short discography of recorded coal-mining protest songs and a list of films in which coal-mining protest songs are heard in the soundtrack and in which performers can be viewed.


Discography :

Coal Mining Women . Cambridge, MA: Rounder, 1997. ASU APP COLL CDs: #262.

Come All You Coal Miners. Cambridge, MA: Rounder, 1973. ASU APP COLL RECORDS: #117.

Davis, George. When Kentucky Had No Union Men: George Davis, the Singing Miner of Hazard, Kentucky. Folkways Records, 1967. ASU APP COLL RECORDS: #66

Jackson, Aunt Molly. Aunt Molly Jackson: Library of Congress Recordings . Cambridge, MA: Rounder, 1972. ASU APP COLL RECORDS: #694.

Korson, George G. Songs and Ballads of the Bituminous Miners . Library of Congress [Music Division] Recording Laboratory, 1965. ASU APP COLL RECORDS: #136.

Films :

The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man. Whitesburg, KY: Appalshop, 1975. ASU APP COLL VIDEOS: #103.

Dreadful Memories: The Life of Sarah Ogan Gunning . Whitesburg, KY: Appalshop Films, 1988. ASUAPP COLL VIDEOS: #25.

Harlan County U. S. A. New York: Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment, 1976. ASU APP COLL VIDEOS: #303.

Nimrod Workman: To Fit My Own Category. Whitesburg, KY: Appalshop, 1975. ASU APP COLL VIDEOS: #67.

Save the Land and People: A Cultural Workshop at the Highlander Center, November 1981. New Market, TN: The Center, 1982. ASU APP COLL VIDEOS: #199.

 

Compiler: Donavan Cain, 28 October 1999