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''Harlan County, USA'' is a 1976 American
documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
covering the "Brookside Strike", a 1973 effort of 180
coal miners People have worked as coal miners for centuries, but they became increasingly important during the Industrial revolution when coal was burnt on a large scale to fuel stationary and locomotive engines and heat buildings. Owing to coal's strategic ro ...
and their wives against the
Duke Power Company Duke Energy Corporation is an American electric power and natural gas holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Overview Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Duke Energy owns 58,200 megawatts of base-load and peak generation in ...
-owned Eastover Coal Company's Brookside Mine and Prep Plant in Harlan County, southeast
Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
. It won the
Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for Best Documentary at the
49th Academy Awards The 49th Academy Awards were presented Monday, March 28, 1977, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. The ceremonies were presided over by Richard Pryor, Ellen Burstyn, Jane Fonda, and Warren Beatty. ''Network'' and '' Al ...
. It was directed and produced by filmmaker
Barbara Kopple Barbara Kopple (born July 30, 1946) is an American film director known primarily for her documentary work. She has won two Academy Awards, the first in 1977 for '' Harlan County, USA'', about a Kentucky miners' strike, /sup> and the second in ...
, then early in her filmmaking career. A former VISTA volunteer, she had worked on other documentaries, especially as an advocate of
workers' rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, these rights inf ...
.


Narrative

Kopple initially intended to make a film about Kenzie, Miners for Democracy and the attempt to unseat Tony Boyle as president of the
UMWA The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the Unite ...
. When miners at the Brookside Mine in
Harlan County, Kentucky Harlan County is a county located in southeastern Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 26,831. Its county seat is Harlan. It is classified as a moist countya county in which alcohol sales are prohibited (a dry county), but conta ...
, went on strike against
Duke Power Company Duke Energy Corporation is an American electric power and natural gas holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Overview Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Duke Energy owns 58,200 megawatts of base-load and peak generation in ...
in June 1973, Kopple went there to film the strike, which the
UMWA The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the Unite ...
had helped to organize. She decided it was the more compelling subject, so switched the focus of her film. In all, she worked on the film for four years, including preparation and editing. When Kopple and her cameraman Hart Perry showed up on the picket line, the locals were suspicious of their intentions. Rumors flew that a "hippie crew from New York" was sniffing around the strike. When confronted a striker who told people not to talk to her, she was told: "Girl, you gotta tell people here what you're doin'." Kopple and her crew spent years with the families depicted in the film, documenting the dire straits they encountered while striking for safer working conditions, fair labor practices, and decent wages. She followed them to picket in front of the Stock Exchange in New York City, filming interviews with people affected by
black lung disease Coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP), also known as black lung disease or black lung, is an occupational type of pneumoconiosis caused by long-term exposure to coal dust. It is common in coal miners and others who work with coal. It is similar to b ...
, and miners being shot at while striking. The company insisted on having a no-strike clause in the proposed new contract. The miners were concerned that accepting such a provision would limit their ability to influence local working conditions. This sticking point became moot when, a few years after the strike, the
UMWA The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the Unite ...
folded the agreement won by this group of workers into a global contract. Rather than using narration to tell the story, Kopple chose to film the words and actions of the people themselves. For example, when the strike breakers and others hired by the company show up early in the film—the strikers call them "gun thugs"—the company people tried to keep their guns hidden from the camera. As the strike dragged on for nearly a year, both sides eventually openly brandished their weapons. Kopple felt it was important to continue filming (or pretend to, even when they were out of film) because the presence of the crew and staff support seemed to help keep the violence down. Kopple did provide facts and statistics about the companies and the workers. She notes that Duke Power Company's profits increased 170 percent in a single year. Meanwhile, the striking miners, many of whom are living in squalid conditions without utilities or running water, were offered a 4% pay increase, at a time when the estimated
cost of living Cost of living is the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living. Changes in the cost of living over time can be operationalized in a cost-of-living index. Cost of living calculations are also used to compare the cost of maintaining a cer ...
increase was 7% for that same year. Joseph Yablonski was a passionate, populistic union representative who was loved by many of the miners. Yablonski had challenged W.A. "Tony" Boyle for the presidency of the UMWA in 1969, but lost in an election widely viewed as corrupt. Later that year, Yablonski and his family were found murdered in their home. Early in the film Boyle is shown in good health. Later, after he was convicted of giving $20,000 to another union executive council member to hire the killers of Yablonski and his wife, Boyle appears frail, sickly and using a wheelchair; he was carried up the courthouse steps to face sentencing. Almost a full year into the strike, miner Lawrence Jones was fatally shot during a scuffle. Jones was well liked, young, and had a 16-year-old wife, and a baby. In the documentary, his mother can be seen breaking down during his funeral, screaming and being carried away by male attendees. The strikers and management finally agreed to come to the bargaining table after his death. Lois Scott, a leading woman in the mining community, is shown playing a major role in galvanizing the people in support of the strike. Several times she is seen publicly chastising those she feels have been absent from the picket lines. In one scene, Scott pulls a pistol from her bra.


Production


Interviews

* Norman Yarborough - Eastover Mining president * Houston Elmore - UMW organizer * Phil Sparks - UMW staff * John Corcoran - Consolidation Coal president * John O'Leary - former US Bureau of Mines director * Donald Rasmussen - Black Lung Clinic, West Virginia * Dr. Hawley Wells Jr. * Tom Williams - Boyle campaigner * Harry Patrick - UMW secretary-treasurer * William E. Simon - U.S. Secretary of Treasury


Music

The music used in ''Harlan County, USA'' was considered integral to conveying the culture of the miners. It reflected the culture of the people of Harlan County and showed the power of folk music that was a living part of their culture. Their stories were often told through the songs. The music used in the film: * "Dark as a Dungeon", written by
Merle Travis Merle Robert Travis (November 29, 1917 – October 20, 1983) was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist born in Rosewood, Kentucky, United States. His songs' lyrics often discussed both the lives and the economic exp ...
, sung by David Morris * "Forty-Two Years", written and sung by Nimrod Workman, instrumental by Kenny Kosek * "Come All You Coal Miners", written and sung by
Sarah Gunnings Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a pio ...
* "Mannington", written by
Hazel Dickens Hazel Jane Dickens (June 1, 1925 – April 22, 2011) was an American bluegrass singer, songwriter, double bassist and guitarist. Her music was characterized not only by her high, lonesome singing style, but also by her provocative pro- unio ...
, sung by David Morris * "Black Lung", written and sung by Hazel Dickens * "Cold Blooded Murder", written and sung by Hazel Dickens * "Miners Life", traditional instrumental performed by David Morris's Band * "Which Side Are You On", written and sung by Florence Reece (as Florence Reese), additional lyrics by Joshua Waletzky (as Josh Waletzky) * "This Little Light of Mine", written by Harry Dixon Loes (uncredited), sung by
Bill Worthington Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Pla ...
* "Coal Tattoo", by
Billy Edd Wheeler Billy Edward "Edd" Wheeler (born December 9, 1932, Boone County, West Virginia, United States) is an American songwriter, performer, writer, and visual artist. His songs include " Jackson" (Grammy award winner for Johnny Cash and June Carter ...
with additional lyrics, and sung by David Morris * "Trouble Among Yearlings", instrumental by Country Cookin' * "Lone Prairie", by Roscoe Holcomb and Wade Ward * "They'll Never Keep Us Down", written and sung by Hazel Dickens, accompanied by Lamar Grier, John Katarakis, John Otsuka, and Gary Henderson


Reception


Critical response

Gary Arnold Gary Arnold (born 5 December 1943) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Richmond in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Arnold, a Tasmanian, was a rover who came to Richmond from Rosebery. He played nine games in the 1963 ...
of ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
'' praised the film, saying that Kopple "has emerged with a stirring, revealing testament to the courage, tenacity and dignity of Appalachian men and women whose livelihood depends on coal mining. At their best Kopple and photographer Hart Perry bear unassuming, expressive witness to the experiences, aspirations and abiding grievances of the Brookside miners and their wives, who organized auxiliary strike actions." When the film was re-released in 2006, critic
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
praised the film, writing "The film retains all of its power, in the story of a miners' strike in Kentucky where the company employed armed goons to escort scabs into the mines, and the most effective picketers were the miners' wives -- articulate, indomitable, courageous. It contains a famous scene where guns are fired at the strikers in the darkness before dawn, and Kopple and her cameraman are knocked down and beaten." Film critic Dennis Schwartz liked the documentary, yet found flaw in it providing only one point of view. He described the film as "One of the better and more rousing labor strike films that calls attention to class war in America, though it doesn't offer enough analysis or balance on the issues (it sees the struggle solely through the miners' eyes)...The film does a good job chronicling the plight of the miners and telling their personal stories in a moving way, and the meaningful catchy coal mining songs add to the emotional impact of the historical event.
Hazel Dickens Hazel Jane Dickens (June 1, 1925 – April 22, 2011) was an American bluegrass singer, songwriter, double bassist and guitarist. Her music was characterized not only by her high, lonesome singing style, but also by her provocative pro- unio ...
's folk song lyrics of 'United we stand, divided we fall' and
Florence Reece Florence Reece (April 12, 1900 – August 3, 1986) was an American social activist, poet, and folksong writer. She is best known for the song " Which Side Are You On?" which she originally wrote at the age of twelve while her father was out ...
's lyrics for "Which Side Are You On?" give one the full-flavor of the miners' mood and the union fervor sweeping the mining community in the black mountains of Appalachia." The film received a 100% rating on ''Rotten Tomatoes,'' the aggregator site.


Awards

;Wins *
Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
:
Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosoph ...
, 1976 *
Los Angeles Film Critics Association The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) is an American film critic organization founded in 1975. Background Its membership comprises film critics from Los Angeles-based print and electronic media. In December of each year, the organiza ...
: Special Award, 1977 *
Belgian Film Critics Association The Belgian Film Critics Association (french: Union de la critique de cinéma, UCC) is an organization of film critics from publications based in Brussels, Belgium. History The Belgian Film Critics Association was founded in the early 1950s in Br ...
:
Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...
, 1979


Other distinctions

* In 1990, the film was selected for the United States
National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...
by the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." * In 2014, ''
Sight and Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...
'' published a list of Greatest Documentaries of All Time, and ''Harlan County, USA'' was ranked 24th, tied with two other movies.


Preservation

''Harlan County, USA'' was preserved by the
Academy Film Archive The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of m ...
, in conjunction with
New York Women in Film & Television New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) is a non-profit membership organization for professional women in film, television and digital media. The organization is an educational forum for media professionals, and a network for the exchange of ...
, in 2004.


Extras on Criterion Collection

In the film's 2004
Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cine ...
special feature, ''The Making of Harlan County, USA'', associate director Anne Lewis compares Scott to Women's Liberation activists. Jerry Johnson, one of the striking Eastover miners, attributes the conclusion of the strike to the presence of Kopple and her film crew: "The cameras probably saved a bunch of shooting. I don't think we'd have won it without the film crew. If the film crew hadn't been sympathetic to our cause, we would've lost. Thank God for them; thank God they're on our side."Interview with Jerry Johnson. ''The Making of Harlan County U.S.A.'' DVD extra; appears on ''Harlan County U.S.A.'' DVD. New York, New York: Criterion Collection, 2006.


Notes

In a 2015 interview with ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'', Kopple was asked if she was in danger while working on this film. She reveals that the head scab, Basil Collins, wanted to hire someone to shoot her; however, the most dangerous incidents were the acts of violence by the mine owners against the miners. She said that the mine owners would hire "local prisoners to beat people up,
hoot Hoot may refer to: Publications * ''Hoot'' (novel), a young adult novel by Carl Hiaasen * ''Hoot'', a 1996 children's novel by Jane Hissey * ''Hoot'' (comics), a British magazine published from 1985 to 1986 * ''The Brandeis Hoot'', a student ne ...
at houses. The people had to line their walls with mattresses."Gaydos, Steven (July 24, 2015
"Barbara Kopple Reflects on Joys and Dangers of Filming ‘Harlan County, USA’"
''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
''.


See also

* Harlan County War *
2019 Harlan County coal miners protest The 2019 Harlan County coal miners' protest was a labor protest held by dozens of coal miners in Cumberland, Kentucky. The causes of the protest stemmed from the 2019 bankruptcy of Blackjewel Coal, a coal mining company that operated a mine in t ...
*
Labor history Labor history or labour history is a sub-discipline of social history which specialises on the history of the working classes and the labor movement. Labor historians may concern themselves with issues of gender, race, ethnicity, and other fac ...


References


Further reading

* Gail Pellet, "The Making of Harlan County, USA: An Interview with Barbara Kopple," ''Radical America'', vol. 11, no. 2 (March–April 1977), pp. 32–42. * Tom Hansell, Patricia Beaver and Angela Wiley
"Keep Your Eye upon the Scale,"
.


External links

*''Harlan County, USA'' essay by Randy Haberkamp on the
National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...
Websit

*''Harlan County, USA'' essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 , pages 730-73

* * * *
''Harlan County USA: No Neutrals There''
essay by Paul Arthur at
The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scho ...
* {{Authority control 1976 films Documentary films about mining 1976 documentary films American documentary films Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners Documentary films about Appalachia Documentary films about coal in the United States Documentary films about Kentucky Documentary films about labor relations in the United States Duke Energy Films directed by Barbara Kopple Films set in Kentucky Films set in mining communities Harlan County, Kentucky Miners' labor disputes in the United States United Mine Workers of America United States National Film Registry films Films about the labor movement Labor disputes in Kentucky 1976 directorial debut films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films