A nationwide Coal Strike in 1922
while my grandfather L.G. Payne was County Judge and O.I (Knute)
Mink was Sheriff culminated in the death of Sheriff Minks brother Deputy
Charles Mink
The news paper articles are a beginning of this site
that primarily is to share information on the events surrounding the nationwide
coal strike in 1922 and how it affectied the border
area between Kentucky and Tennessee. Kentucky's Governor Morrow sent troops to
the boarder while Tennessee's Governor Taylor refused.
In the book "Back Talk from Appalachia" (The University Press of
Kentucky, 1999) that I bought after finding reference to the strike I found the
following: "Claiborne County (Tennessee) judge, sheriff, and
twenty-five other officers, after being festooned with cowbells, they were
placed aboard a train bound for Knoxville. Upon return , the local judge (my
grandfather L.G. Payne) denied the reports of how they were
humiliated but added that the situation is absolutely beyond control and we
must have {more} troops."
And
if that wasn't enough to whet my interest in reading the entire book, in the
Introduction written by Dwight B. Billings had the following regarding the
stereotyping of the Appalachian Mountain People and "talk back" to
these stereotypes. The mayor of a North Carolina foothills town describes to
reporters the cultural differences between the "aristocratic"
families who own the local furniture industry and the "rednecks"
there who "won't do anything but work in the furniture plants. Instead
of ballet at the high school, he says, "The majority of the people
would rather have rasslin' and hillbilly singin. These mountains are different than anywhere you'll
find in the world. They don't believe in law and order. They'll handle their
own situation. You go up there and cause trouble and they'll kill you. It's
just a different breed of people."
