Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
COAL CAMP CHURCHES: UNITY AND DIVERSITY IN THE “OLD DAYS”, BUT WITH DISCRIMINATION ON THE SIDE
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
The churches in the coal camps of Harlan and Floyd Counties in Eastern Kentucky were a vital part of the everyday lives of the people who lived and worked there. The existing literature suggests a uniformity among the churches, and that the coal company used them to manipulate the miners. This paper challenges those impressions. By using archival research and in-depth, personal interviews several important facets about these institutions emerge: the story of similarity is really only the story of the white community church hiding the diversity that actually existed, the stories of the African American Churches add talk of discrimination and inequality, and finally, the coal companies had little success in controlling the miners through the churches.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
John L. Verburg is Chairman of the Sociology Department at Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama.
COAL CAMP CHURCHES: UNITY AND DIVERSITY IN THE “OLD DAYS”, BUT WITH DISCRIMINATION ON THE SIDE
The churches in the coal camps of Harlan and Floyd Counties in Eastern Kentucky were a vital part of the everyday lives of the people who lived and worked there. The existing literature suggests a uniformity among the churches, and that the coal company used them to manipulate the miners. This paper challenges those impressions. By using archival research and in-depth, personal interviews several important facets about these institutions emerge: the story of similarity is really only the story of the white community church hiding the diversity that actually existed, the stories of the African American Churches add talk of discrimination and inequality, and finally, the coal companies had little success in controlling the miners through the churches.
