Diversity, Part of Our Mining Heritage
by Andy McAllister, Watershed Coordinator
Western Pennsylvania’s mining culture has a rich history of ethnic and racial diversity. African-Americans have always been a part of the region’s mining culture, though their contributions to that rich history have not been widely recognized. Their story is a struggle for freedom and for community. It’s an epic story that has yet to be told.
Once Pennsylvania abolished slavery in 1780, the movement of African Americans to Southwestern Pennsylvania increased via the underground railroad. By the 1880s, African-Americans were already working in many bituminous mines of Southwestern Pennsylvania when waves of European immigrants began to arrive. At that time, African-American miners were often listed as “Americans” on mine fatality reports to distinguish them from their immigrant co-workers.
Throughout the late 19th century and into the early 20th century, southwestern Pennsylvania in particular saw an increase in African American workers along with new European immigrants. This influx was largely due to the continual need for laborers in the mining and coking industries at the time.
During the 1920s, unbeknownst to them , African American miners from the southern coalfields were brought into the region as strike breakers by the H.C. Frick Coal Company, however this effort to break the strike backfired on the company. Once the would-be strike breakers found out what was happening, they made a courageous decision and stood in solidarity alongside their fellow miners.
The United Mine Workers of America recognized that out of diversity would come a united labor force and encouraged participation from African-American miners early on in the organization’s history. As many newly-arrived immigrant miners struggled to learn English and become part of the union, African-American miners often took it upon themselves to learn Slovak, Hungarian and other languages to increase safety and foster community.
Photo courtesy of US Bureau of Mines.
Many patch towns had been integrated before the 20th century, Indeed, at the H.C. Frick Company patches for example, everyone was thrown together. However, some towns remained segregated. Ultimately, the decision to segregate or integrate was the company’s decision.
As interest in baseball as a patch town pastime caught on throughout the 1930s, local, company-sponsored teams sprang up. While many teams were segregated, others such as “The Brenizer Miners” from Blairsville were not. The “Ernest Grays”, an all black baseball team from Indiana County were widely known in the area for their ability to beat an all-white team, the Rochester and Pittsburgh All Stars, especially when the Grays’ star player, Dodge Embry of Johnstown, was on the field. But, in spite of their successes, prejudicial attitudes often prevailed and their winning scores rarely made it into the newspaper.
African-American miners most often held the job of loading coal but the increase in mechanization during the 1930s and 1940s resulted in less need for loaders. As a result, many African-American miners lost their jobs. Over time, the number of African-American miners dropped significantly as the industry declined and miners began to look for work elsewhere.
For more information on mining communities in Western Pennsylvania visit:
http://patheoldminer.rootsweb.com/