Interview with Betty Eldridge, July 23, 1986
Project: Women and Collective Protest Oral History Project
Interview Summary
Betty Eldridge discusses her participation in the Brookside Mine Strike. She describes some of the incidents she experienced, including picketing at a Duke Power shareholders meeting; being arrested and giving fake names to the police; being held in contempt of court; laying down in front of cars to prevent scabs from going to the mines and being dragged away by the state police; and serving her time in jail after the union contract had already been signed. She talks about the dangers, including examples of shooting, harassing phone calls, and a story about throwing pepper into Basil Collins' face. She discusses local attitudes toward the strike and women's participation in the pickets. She discusses the effects of the strike on jobs, families, and the community. She describes the logistics of managing her household during the strike.Interview Accession
Interviewee Name
Interviewer Name
Interview Date
Interview LC Subject
Women in the labor movement United Mine Workers of America Harlan (Ky.) Harlan County (Ky.) Coal miners' spouses Coal Miners' Strike, Harlan County, Ky., 1973. Coal miners--Kentucky Coal miners--Labor unions. Coal miners--Labor unions--Organizing Coal mines and mining--Kentucky Collective bargaining--Coal mining industry Communities. Picketing. Protest and social movements Protest movements. Strikebreakers Strikes and lockouts--Coal mining--Kentucky Strikes and lockouts--MinersInterview Rights
All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.Interview Usage
Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.Restriction
Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.
All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.
Add this interview to your cart in order to begin the process of requesting access to a copy of and/or permission to reproduce interview(s).
Eldridge, Betty Interview by Sally Ward Maggard. 23 Jul. 1986. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
Eldridge, B. (1986, July 23). Interview by S. W. Maggard. Women and Collective Protest Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.
Eldridge, Betty, interview by Sally Ward Maggard. July 23, 1986, Women and Collective Protest Oral History Project, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
You may come across language in UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center collections and online resources that you find harmful or offensive. SCRC collects materials from different cultures and time periods to preserve and make available the historical record. These materials document the time period when they were created and the view of their creator. As a result, some may demonstrate racist and offensive views that do not reflect the values of UK Libraries.
If you find description with problematic language that you think SCRC should review, please contact us at SCRC@uky.edu.
Persistent Link for this Record: https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt79zw18pc2w