Coal Wars | Charles Keeney on Restoring His Great Grandfather’s Legacy | 5

American History Tellers

Wondery

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, History, Education For Kids

4.7 • 18.3K Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2021

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Once the coal miners lost the Battle of Blair Mountain, the story of their uprising was suppressed, and their leader Frank Keeney eventually faded into obscurity—even among members of his own family. But historian Charles Keeney, Frank Keeney’s great grandson, has made it a personal mission to raise public awareness of the mine wars and the pivotal role his ancestor played.

Charles Keeney is the founder of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum and author of The Road to Blair Mountain: Saving a Mine Wars Battlefield from King Coal. He’s also the vice president of Friends of Blair Mountain, an organization dedicated to the preservation and development of the Blair Mountain Battlefield site. He and Lindsay discuss the circumstances that led to Frank Keeney’s radicalization, his friendship with Mother Jones, and why the miners’ uprising resonates with younger generations today.

For more on Charles Keeney: https://twitter.com/cbelmontkeeney

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to American History Tellers add free on Amazon Music,
0:05.6	download the app today.
0:07.0	Imagine it's 1949 and you're in Charleston, West Virginia on a sticky summer evening.
0:26.6	You've just finished a long day's work at your new job.
0:29.5	You want nothing more than an ice cold mug of beer to take the edge off.
0:34.6	Just sat down in the Cosmopolitan Club, a smoke-filled bar that hardly lives up to its name.
0:39.5	Eh, I'll have a logger, please.
0:42.7	The bartender, a man in his late 60s, pours your beer and slides it across the stain bar,
0:47.6	leaving a trail of foam behind.
0:49.7	Beside you, an old man is puffing on a cigar.
0:52.6	As you take a sip, you notice his suspicious glint in his eye.
0:56.3	You all know how to be in this bar, son.
0:58.2	I'm 18.
0:59.7	You take another sip, feeling the heat of the other customer's gaze.
1:03.6	So you come in often, almost every day.
1:07.0	My man Keeney over here keeps his drinks cheap.
1:09.2	And in hell, he doesn't technically have a liquor license.
1:13.2	You look at the bartender, who is busy himself wiping glasses with a dirty rag.
1:17.8	The customer beside you shakes his head and stares into his whiskey.
1:21.3	And a thing, he was once one of the most powerful men in the state.
1:24.7	What?
1:25.7	Who is this guy?
	...

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