Interview with Victor Delpont, June 16, 1986

Interview Summary

As an immigrant from Italy, Victor Delpont discusses many topics related to his work in and around coal mines in Kentucky and Tennessee. Delpont left Italy with his parents when he was only three years old to come to the United States. His family first settled in Lafollette, Tennessee where his father worked in a coal mine. At the age of fifteen, Delpont went to work in the same mine as his father. He later moved to Kentucky and worked at several mines until settling near Hazard, Kentucky. He worked as a coal loader until the economic downturn of the Great Depression in the 1930s. Out of work, Delpont opened his own mine selling house coal to residents of Hazard and nearby communities for ten cents a ton. During the 1940s he opened a laundry an dry cleaning establishment there and worked there until his retirement.

Other topics discussed are the unionization of the coal mines in Perry County, Kentucky, wine-making by Delpont's father during the 1920s, and the boarding system employed by immigrants in coal camps. He also talks briefly about prejudice toward immigrants in the coal mines.

Interview Keyword

Appalachian Immigrant Community Appalachian Region Coal Mining discrimination Great Depression Hazard Kentucky housing Immigrant Coal Miners Immigrants Italy LaFollette Tennessee mine safety United Mine Workers of America wine-making

Interview LC Subject

Appalachian Region Appalachian Region--Social conditions Coal miners Coal mines and mining--Appalachian Region Delpont, Victor Delpont, Victor--Interviews Immigrants

Interview Rights

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Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.