It Is Union and Liberty

This history of Alabama's coal miners documents the struggle not

only between labor and management but also between interracial unionism

and white supremacy.

Much of Alabama's labor history is written in its coal

fields. This book records the critical contribution that District 20 of

the United Mine Workers of America played in the state's labor movement

through its strong stands on such issues as child labor, public education,

and inter-racial unions.

Standing at the cutting edge of social and political

history, 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 white

labor; the increasing role of the state in labor relations during the interwar

years; rapid changes in the union between 1942 and 1975; and the 1977-79

strike, the largest in the United Mine Workers' history. Through historic

photographs and depictions of living and working conditions, contributors

Edwin L. Brown, Colin J. Davis, Daniel Letwin, Brian M. Kelly, Peter Alexander,

Glenn Feldman, and Robert H. Woodrum portray the world that miners, both

black and white, made. In a state where racial segregation was the norm,

even the earliest District 20 contract proposals demanded equal pay for

equal work regardless of color. It Is Union and Liberty shows that the

UMW in Alabama stands apart from perceptions of southern trade unionism

as exclusionary and racially fragmented. It sheds light on an important

segment of the state's labor history and is a testament to District 20

on its centennial celebration.

Edwin Brown is Associate

Professor in the Center for Labor Education and Research and Colin Davis is Associate Professor in the Department of History, both at

the University of Alabama at Birmingham.