Teaching “Introduction to Appalachian Studies” at Virginia Tech, our classroom conversations about gender, economy, social labor, politics, and national history often centered around coal, coal miners, and coal mines. Despite the massive size of the region, it is crucial that students understand the influence and importance of extractive industries and the legacies of resistance found in the coalfield. Inspired by the pedagogical teachings of John Dewey, my understanding of experiential learning means that together, we “do the work” and then reflect on the larger question of what it means for a group of college students from Virginia Tech to enter and leave a space.
Previously, to engage in experiential learning, I’ve taken classes to music festivals, fiddlers conventions, and the active mountaintop removal site at Kayford Mountain, WV. At Kayford we learn about efforts to preserve the land and discuss the impacts of the mine on the surrounding community. Our trips are coordinated with Keepers of the Mountain and have been transformative experiences for students.
This year, I again organized a trip into West Virginia, but we looked at the mining industry and mining communities from a different perspective. Professor emeritus, Barbara Ellen Smith had shared with me information about a gathering at the Mine Wars Museum kick off. With the help of Katey Lauer I created an ambitious itenerary of store visits, site visits, a community dinner, and a long drive through McDowell County, WV.
Once in Matewan, our first stop was visit to the Matewan Welcome Center which serves as a small museum. We walked together to the Lost and Found Shop to discuss the process of how the shop was created and listen to local history. The newly opened Mine Wars Museum was next stop on our tour. Per their website, the museum “in the heart of Historic Matewan, preserves and interprets artifacts and historical records of the local communities affected by the West Virginia Mine Wars, exploring historical events from multiple perspectives through the lives of ordinary people. We aim to be a community partner through youth education and promotion of heritage tourism.” Our students were among the first to visit and tour the museum. It was rewarding to watch them seek out bullet marks in the walls behind the museum and engage in conversation with one another about the content.
After visiting the Mine Wars Museum, we walked to the local union hall, UMWA Local 1440, a central social space within the community, and met with organizer Wilma Steele. I knew this would be an important talk, after speaking with Wilma a few days prior. Her knowledge of the area and passion for inclusion and activism was evident as she shared the story of the red bandana with students, even gifting each of them an individual bandana as a keepsake.
Before the kick off gathering/dinner began, students helped set up tents, tables, and chairs. They created innovative ways of keeping the plastic tablecloths down despite strong winds. Made sure tables were cleared, and mingled with local union hall members. The museum website had provided the following context for the strike supper:
The Supper will feature foods inspired by the many races and ethnicities represented in the unionist miners’ ranks. Besides great food, the Supper will also include the first ever Red Bandana Awards, bestowed on modern-day West Virginia hellraisers, a raffle, a story collection booth, and a redneck portrait studio to round out the festivities. Museum Members who attend will receive special perks! This Strike Supper also marks the beginning of our Blair Centennial Celebration planning for 2021. Museum partners from historic organizations, tourism offices, union locals, musicians, reenactment society are invited to a Kick-off Meeting prior to the Supper to get our Blair Centennial planning underway!”
Being a part of the supper gave students insight into community planning, historical preservation, and tourism (as an economic stimulator) in the coalfields of West Virginia. The unexpected appearance of Senator Richard Ojeda showed how deeply intertrined and complex politcs and place are. Our time in the union hall, eating together, listening to local members, and then reflectively sharing our thoughts on the day is a type of learning we simply cannot re-create in a classroom.
I applaud the bravery of those who signed up to travel — they knew very little about what we were getting into, or that we would not have cell service for the day. However, they enthusiastically stepped out of their comfort zones and addressed the travel, conversations, and museum with equal interest.
Selected student reflections and photographs are featured below.
For my first experiential learning experience I went onto the Matewan field trip! We traveled from Blacksburg Virginia and went to the town of Matewan in Mingo County, West Virginia. I am extremely ecstatic that I was able to go on this trip because the short three-hour car ride revealed years of history that has an impact present day.
Before diving into the history, we learned the brief overview of the trip consisted of visiting the museums, landmarks and people of Matewan to learn about the vast history. At the end of the trip we gathered into the Union hall to eat traditional food and listen to the people of Matewan.
The trip was an amazing experience because I got to observe and experience things that we learned in class. One was the massive disparity of wealth that is discussed in our Intro to Appalachian Studies class. On the car ride we got to see many dilapidated houses, vehicles and stores. It was a bit hard to constantly look at the living conditions without feeling a bit emotional. By exposing myself to this, it allowed me to reflect on how strong and independent the people of Appalachia are. Having to live like this for generations is honestly inspiring. Another experience I was fortunate enough to be part of was visiting the site of the Matewan massacre. We got to see the actual bullets lodged in the brick building. Standing there felt surreal, imagining the people of Matewan casually carrying firearms daily and having to deal with the Coal company hired thugs.
The whole trip was a great learning experience. We learned about how the term redneck came to be. For the people of West Virginia, the red scarf is an inspirational symbol. Not only that but the red scarves were worn by the 10,000 miners who fought on Blair mountain. It was the only time in U.S. history, where bombs were dropped from U.S. planes onto other Americans. My favorite fact we learned was about the hero of the miners, Sid Hatfield. He was hailed as the people’s champion fighting against the coal companies. Throughout the trip, we discovered how the coal companies treated the miners. They would be killed or beaten if they tried to leave by hired thugs, they were paid in currency only useful for purchasing goods from the coal companies and they were in constant fear of spies in the mines. But Sid Hatfield and the mayor Cabell Testerman fought back for the miners. Although they did stand up against the coal companies both were eventually gunned down by the hired thugs, leading to the miners to revolt.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of knowledge we learned from the trip. I learned so much that my whole perspective of miners has changed. We also learned that this was the place where the teacher strike was born from. So Matewan is an integral part of our history. I truly believe the Mining wars is a part of U.S. history every student should learn about.
I felt so at home in West Virginia. Although everything is a bit dated, the people there are so fascinating and inspirational. Everyone seems close and genuine to each other. Today especially in our generation, everyone is too dependent on technology and their phones, but spending the day without signal with the people of Matewan was amazing. Everyone felt like they belonged to one massive family. The only thing I would do differently would be planning on staying there longer. There’s still so much more to learn and experience at Matewan. We didn’t get to see up close the mines that were still active or talk more in depth about Matewan during the civil war. I would go onto this trip again. — Calvin
The most impactful element I got from this trip was coming to the understanding of how the smallest events in history and life can still have profound impact on the world and the course of history. At the Matewan Lost and Found, one of the first sites we stopped in at in the town…I was entranced in his storytelling quickly after tuning into him. Hundreds of years later, it’s easy to look back in hindsight at this story and for the minute details of the small town to appear irrelevant. However, I put myself in the story and imagined being present in these events he spoke of like the Battle of Blair Mountain… This small West Virginian town may not have many pages in the history books, but the events that took place here were crucial to more well-known events and movements.
I realized that these seemingly minor historic events — like those which comprise the history of Matewan, WV — are the reason why the more well-known and major events in history happened. Matewan taught me that history is a mosaic piece of art: all you see when you look at the larger picture is one image or one story that seems very straightforward and obvious, but that larger picture or story is made up of copious other images/stories that are of significant importance because if any of those lesser known, smaller stories were to look any different than they do, then the larger story would be different than what it is. Matewan taught me something incredibly important about human action: just because you’re not a name read in this history books does not mean that you don’t matter. As long as you’re making an impact, even if it’s not revolutionizing the entire world, it matters greatly. — Justin
Before attending this field trip I had no idea what to expect, but perhaps two things I could have learned only by going to Matewan are its celebration of uniting the community’s diverse roots, and the uniqueness of the red bandanna. During the Strike Supper, we had southern comfort staples such as cornbread, pork, and beans, (which I had very much expected), but what interested me the most were the diverse food dishes, namely those of Hungarian descent such as the crepes and potato noodle soup. Prior to the supper we stopped in an artisan shop called Appalachian Lost and Found and spoke to the owner. He described Matewan’s history to a great depth, and mentioned that he had Hungarian roots as well. In my hometown it’s not common to come across those who have Hungarian bloodlines, so I think encountering it twice in one day in a small West Virginia town fascinated me. I loved how Matewan incorporated their community pride with sharing food among one another; I was shocked when I found out that this was the first annual Strike Supper because it was so well organized. The atmosphere was so lively, supportive, and passionate I thought this event had already been established for years.
It was really beautiful when Wilma talked about the red bandanna and the symbolism that is portrayed in the paisleys. I never would have thought twice about the shapes that create the designs on the bandanna, but it just goes to show that our garments and accessories speak louder than we think they do. She really inspired me to chase after what she described as a (paraphrased) “group that accepts you for you and all the gifts you have.” I am so glad that I decided to come on the trip. It opened my eyes to another culture, another way of life, and another way to think. — Bella
Overall, the trip was a very enlightening experience; it opened up new perspectives to a world that I would never have considered much about. Everyone in the community seemed to be very supportive and more unified as a community than urban communities, and this is new to me since I grew up in a bigger county where not everyone has the same agenda and not really unified as a whole. It was interesting how everyone in the community also knew about the history of the area and were passionate about it. Back where I live, it is not very common to know so much about the area, or at least for me that was true. This made me think that if was to live or have grown up in this sort of community, I may have been more involved as well as more knowledgeable about the problems that others face in the community. — Seungjae
The trip to Matewan was definitely something I enjoyed. I had never heard the story of the red bandanas beforehand and it’s been interesting reading more about the story since then. Overall, I found the food and learning about the different dishes’ histories to be highlight of the trip. What was definitely most surprising was when we were driving in and seeing how a lot of buildings in the surrounding areas were in states of disrepair. The difficulty of getting into the area, the lack of cell phone service, and the lack of funding the area has were definitely eye opening and shed some light on how tough and resourceful the residents of that area are. — Brooks
Almost all the people there know their heritage and stories passed down from generation to generation. I found it very interesting that Eric Simon’s family was the reason behind the name of Matewan. One of Eric’s great grandfathers had a dog named Mate that got killed by a bear in a holler not far from town and was buried were Matewan is located now. It was also very sad to see how the coal miners were treating by the coal companies in the early 1900s. I recall one person telling us about their ancestors moving from Hungary and how that they were treated like rats at the coal mines. The coal miners were not given true money, instead were given company scrip that had to be spend at the stores the coal companies owned. I enjoyed going to the museum and learning about the creation of miner unions to start a revolution against the coal mining industry. Also, I enjoyed going the UMWA and hearing the locals talking of what they have achieved as a community and what the future holds for Matewan. — Spencer
Sincere gratitude is extended to the Department of Religion and Culture at Virginia Tech for their travel support and to the organizers in Matewan who helped make this trip possible. Please contact Jordan Laney (jlaney@vt.edu) with questions or comments.
