Mode of Program Participation
Academic Scholarship
Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
Richard L. Davis and the Color Line in Ohio Coal
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Based on the debate in the research literature since Herbert Gutman first reintroduced Richard L. Davis to the world in 1968 and a historical analysis of 170 letters written by Davis, many recently discovered by the author, this presentation of Richard L. Davis and the Color Line in Ohio Coal: A Hocking Valley Mine Labor Organizer, 1862-1900 (2016) (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company), will focus on the remarkable life of Richard L. Davis. Born in Roanoke County, Virginia, on the eve of the Emancipation Proclamation, Davis was an early mine labor organizer from Rendville, Ohio, a racially integrated “free space” community in Appalachian Southeast Ohio founded by William P. Rend, a Chicago coal operator. One year after the 1884 Great Hocking Valley Coal Strike, which lasted nine months, Davis wrote the first of his many letters to the National Labor Tribune and the United Mine Workers Journal. Davis was one of two African Americans at the founding convention of United Mine Workers of America, which was held in Columbus, Ohio, in January 1890. After having served for five years on the Executive Board of District Six, Ohio, he was elected as a member of the National Executive Board in 1886 and 1897. Davis ardently and incessantly called upon white and black miners to unite against wage slavery. This presentation will provide a detailed portrait of one of America’s more influential labor organizers and how his struggle to break the color line continues to hold deep significance for us today.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Frans H. Doppen is a Professor of Social Studies Education and Chair of the Department Teacher Education at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.
Richard L. Davis and the Color Line in Ohio Coal
Based on the debate in the research literature since Herbert Gutman first reintroduced Richard L. Davis to the world in 1968 and a historical analysis of 170 letters written by Davis, many recently discovered by the author, this presentation of Richard L. Davis and the Color Line in Ohio Coal: A Hocking Valley Mine Labor Organizer, 1862-1900 (2016) (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company), will focus on the remarkable life of Richard L. Davis. Born in Roanoke County, Virginia, on the eve of the Emancipation Proclamation, Davis was an early mine labor organizer from Rendville, Ohio, a racially integrated “free space” community in Appalachian Southeast Ohio founded by William P. Rend, a Chicago coal operator. One year after the 1884 Great Hocking Valley Coal Strike, which lasted nine months, Davis wrote the first of his many letters to the National Labor Tribune and the United Mine Workers Journal. Davis was one of two African Americans at the founding convention of United Mine Workers of America, which was held in Columbus, Ohio, in January 1890. After having served for five years on the Executive Board of District Six, Ohio, he was elected as a member of the National Executive Board in 1886 and 1897. Davis ardently and incessantly called upon white and black miners to unite against wage slavery. This presentation will provide a detailed portrait of one of America’s more influential labor organizers and how his struggle to break the color line continues to hold deep significance for us today.
