Interview with Minnie Lunsford, September 12, 1986
Project: Women and Collective Protest Oral History Project
Interview Summary
Minnie Lunsford is considered to be the oldest woman to participate in the Brookside Mine strike. In this lengthy interview, she discusses the strike, including the people involved, the violence and danger the strikers faced, and her views on the importance of having a miners' union. She talks about her husband's work as a miner, his great support for the union, and his death due to black lung. She discusses the Brookside Women's Club, which raised money for miners' families (among other functions), and talks about women's role in the strike. She tells stories of her own confrontations on the picket lines, including hitting a man with her cane, as well as the women being arrested for picketing.Interview Accession
Interviewee Name
Interviewer Name
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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. Labor unions--Strike benefits Picketing. Protest and social movements Protest movements. Strikes and lockouts--Coal mining--Kentucky Strikes and lockouts--Miners Families. Appalachian Region--Social conditionsInterview 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.
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Lunsford, Minnie Interview by Sally Ward Maggard. 12 Sep. 1986. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
Lunsford, M. (1986, September 12). Interview by S. W. Maggard. Women and Collective Protest Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.
Lunsford, Minnie, interview by Sally Ward Maggard. September 12, 1986, Women and Collective Protest Oral History Project, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
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