The Protestant Campus Ministry took a trip to McDowell County, West Virginia, on Thursday, Oct. 19. The group learned about the Mining Wars and the water crisis that West Virginia is currently facing. The coal mine companies owned everything including the stores, houses, and transportation. This caused a lot of miners to be easily taken advantage of, thus resulting in the Miners’ strike to unionize.
Furthermore, students from West Liberty University (WLU) ended up traveling the trails that the miners took on their strike and learned the history of the Mining Wars. Later, they toured the spot where the infamous Battle of Matewan took place. The brick stone wall still has the bullets as a reminder of the forgotten history. Walking down the streets next door is the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum where the students learned what it was like to be a miner. The students had breakfast and headed to the Pocahontas Exhibition Coal Mine and Museum to view the conditions of the mines. Their next stop was to the panel where they discussed important topics that affect the community members.
Protestant Campus Ministry member Veronica Huggins spoke about How the coal miners got paid script money. She compared the money to “Monopoly money”. Huggins explained the concept as “it’s a currency that only works inside the company or companies store, and some even stayed in towns owned by the coal mines”. In the game “Monopoly” the main objective is to collect as much money as possible and bankrupt your opponents. This is essentially what the coal mine companies did to their workers.
Stephanie Santilli, a sophomore at WLU as well as a member of the Protestant Campus Ministry, learned about the conditions that the coal miners endured. She said, “I never really have been educated about that before, so learning about the conditions was so interesting”. Santilli was saddened about what the families and coal miners were put through. She said that this trip made her more aware of the stereotypes of others in the lower parts of the state.
Almost everyone in the Valley has some connection to the coal mining industry. West Virginia displays coal mining like the American Flag, but no one knows the story behind the true heroes of the story, the union workers.
