Voices of Resistance in Appalachia: Poetry and Prose
Poet Diane Gilliam Fisher and Professor of Labor Studies Eve Weinbaum have each written books about working conditions in Appalachia, and in particular, how communities come together to respond to unsafe, unfair, and illegal work environments. Through different genres and different historical events, each writer highlights the value of building community in the face of unpredictable and adverse circumstances.
Written in the voices of people living and working in the coal camps during the West Virginia mine wars of 1920–1921, Kettle Bottom (Perugia Press, 2004), by Diane Gilliam Fisher, imagines the stories of miners, their wives, children, sisters, and mothers; of mountaineers, Italian immigrants, and African American families — people who organized for safe working conditions in opposition to the mine company owners and their agents.
Eve Weinbaum’s book, To Move a Mountain: Fighting the Global Economy in Appalachia (The New Press, 2004), is an inspirational account of how a group of Appalachian men and women, politicized by local plant closings, became unlikely activists in the Tennessee statehouse and the protests in Seattle.
Weinbaum’s firsthand look at the effect of closing community-sustaining factories is significant in the age of corporate globalization.
Directions & Parking
Gordon Hall is located on the east side of campus near the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and North Pleasant Street. Visitors may park at the meters in Lot #34 behind the Robsham Visitor's Center on Massachusetts Avenue.