They say a picture is worth a thousand words but I think a word can bring up a thousand images in one’s mind. What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word redneck? Before this week I would have answered like most of you probably do, the word has a very negative connotation. Images of stereotypes pop to the forefront, like poverty, uncleanliness, and uneducated white individuals, people in overalls, missing teeth but there is much more to this word. I never understood why someone would refer to themselves as a redneck, or take pride in the fact. But hearing a man named Tom speak about what the word means to him and other West Virginians.
Tom told us the story of the late summer of 1921 in Logan County, West Virginia. This is where the Battle of Blair Mountain took place. A name I had never even heard in my years of American history classes. It is known as the largest labor uprising in all of the United States, “the most violent labor confrontation in history.” How was this not a something worthy of the hours spent in U.S. history class? After years of living under oppression by the mining companies, being paid in script they could only use at company stores the mine workers were fed up.
When they began to protest these men were kicked out of their homes by the mining companies. The miners and their families then moved into tent villages surrounding the town in protests and for a year continued the strike. It was a time of a corrupt police force and mining companies only looking at the bottom line. The situation came to its height in 1921 when the miners demands were finally being heard by local officials like Sheriff Sid Hatfield. The mining company reacted to this by having the Sheriff killed by some of their thugs, this man who had become a savior figure to these people was brutally shot down on the courthouse steps.
Outrage spread over the entire mining community. This was the final straw for these men who had spent their lives being marginalized and they began marching for a change.These “miners wore red bandanas around their necks to distinguish themselves from the company men wearing white patches and to avoid getting shot by their own troops.” 13,000 strong, these miners had the United States army come in and bombard them with bullets and they were sorely defeated. The United Mine Workers Association lost lots of power and it would take until after WWII for the unions to really gain strength again. But after these conflicts unions were able to learn from their defeats and slowly but surely take steps to safer, fairer, working conditions.
Redneck is not just a derogatory term, it is a word describing brave men who walked for a cause they believed in. Men who paved the way for workers in many other fields to have a job where they felt respected. I think we have all been conditioned to see the worst in things, to makes assumptions off one point of view, and to not look deeper into a story. I think a word like redneck is a great example of us needing to ask more questions, to explore more, and to dig deeper than just face value. We have to remember that history was written by the winners and that media tells the stories they deem as most important but there are many other stories out there.
