Maurice A. Ruddick (1912–1988) was an

Afro-Canadian Black Canadians (also known as Caribbean-Canadians or Afro-Canadians) are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though ...

miner and a survivor of the 1958 Springhill Mining Disaster, an underground earthquake, or "

bump Bump or Bumps may refer to: * A collision or impact * A raised protrusion on the skin such as a pimple, goose bump, prayer bump, lie bumps, etc. Infrastructure and industry * Coal mine bump, a seismic jolt occurring within a mine * Bump (uni ...

" as the miners call it, in the Springhill mine in Cumberland County,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native En ...

. He was chosen as Canada's "Citizen of the Year". Ruddick and six others were trapped 4000 feet underground, and were there for nine days. Ruddick cheered his comrades with his singing, and the mother of one of the miners later declared "If it wasn't for Maurice, they'd all have been dead." The disaster attracted international media attention. The Governor of the

State of Georgia Georgia is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee and North Carolina; to the northeast by South Carolina; to the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean; to the south by Florida; and to the we ...

Marvin Griffin Samuel Marvin Griffin, Sr. (September 4, 1907 – June 13, 1982) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Georgia. A lifelong Democrat, Griffin was a native of Bainbridge, Georgia and publisher of the ''Bainbridge Post-Searchlight ...

(Democrat), invited nineteen of the survivors to vacation at one of his state's luxurious resorts,

Jekyll Island Jekyll Island is located off the coast of the U.S. state of Georgia, in Glynn County. It is one of the Sea Islands and one of the Golden Isles of Georgia barrier islands. The island is owned by the State of Georgia and run by a self-sustainin ...

, usually reserved for millionaires. This was in the

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the war ...

in the time of

Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sou ...

, i.e. strict segregation between black and white people. When he discovered that one of the miners was black, Griffin said that Ruddick would have to be segregated from the others. When the miners heard this, they were reluctant to accept the offer, but Ruddick agreed to go on the Governor's terms, knowing how much the others really wanted the vacation. Ruddick, his wife, and the four of his twelve children who accompanied him on the trip all stayed in a separate area of the island, in trailers built by Griffin especially for the occasion, and attended separate ceremonies from the white miners. Maurice Ruddick died in 1988. He is buried in Hillside Cemetery. His daughter, folk singer Val MacDonald, recorded a song that he composed in the mine, "The Springhill Mine Disaster Song." He was featured in a Canadian

Heritage Minute ''The Heritage Minutes'' is a series of sixty-second short films, each illustrating an important moment in Canadian history. The ''Minutes'' integrate Canadian history, folklore and myths into dramatic storylines. Like the Canada Vignettes of ...

. A musical written called "Beneath Springhill: The Maurice Ruddick Story" by Beau Dixon with Lyrics and Music by Rob Fortin and Susan Newman was created and played at the 1000 Islands Playhouse in Gananoque, Ontario Canada.

References

External links

Maurice Ruddick , The Canadian Encyclopedia

Historic Canada Heritage Minute

Recording of Mr. Ruddick speaking about the Springhill Mine Disaster
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruddick, Maurice 1912 births 1988 deaths Canadian coal miners Mining disaster survivors People from Cumberland County, Nova Scotia

See also

References

External links