November 12, 2010 - TJ writes about coal mining

Coal Mining was a big deal in Kentucky. That was one of the main jobs you could work for. Here is a story about a coal miner named, "Sam Hawkins."

Sam Hawkins was an African American miner who dug coal out of the hills near Fleming, Kentucky, (in Letcher County). The year of 1932 wasn't a good year for Sam Hawkins. Hard times like this year meant less jobs and smaller pay checks. It was really hard for Sam because that was the year his wife, Sadie Hawkins, died. Sam was 48. The love remaining of his life was the only child he had, Margaret, who was 19 at the time. Margaret had gone to college at what is now KSU (Kentucky State University). Sam couldn't read anything, but he hoped Margaret would have a better future then he had.

But, one day, things got worse. A man read a letter to Sam that was from Margaret. In the letter, she told him about how school was going, and that she was doing well. Then she wrote, "I think I'm gonna have to quit school in a few days. I'm out of money. Unless you can send me $10, I will have to come back home." Back then, $10 is like $10,000 today. He couldn't borrow the money because I'm sure there wasn't a lot of people around that had $10 on them. Sam went to his boss. His boss said that there was a section of a mine that was too dangerous to mine. It could cave in at any time. But if Sam wanted to try it, his boss would let him. The pay was 31 cents every 2,000 pounds of coal. Sam dug coal for almost 5 hours, then he ate some food. Then he dug coal for the rest of the night. The walls groaned but held. He kept working. 20 hours later, he came outside, to rest for a little bit. The wall of the mine fell. Sam mined all his coal and was quick enough to survive. He got $11 for digging coal. That's about 70,000 pounds of coal! He sent the money to Margaret. She soon got her college degree, and she came back and taught.

AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER (except that Margaret died).

Harry Caudill wrote a book about this story. At the end he used these exact, same words, "Sam had put little white markers at the graves of his wife and his daughter but no one ever got around to making his own. Perhaps a coal shovel thrust into the earth like a bayoneted rifle over the bones of a fallen hero would be appropriate for such a man."

THE END!

Slavery and Civil War

Jessie is going to write about slavery and how it led to the Civil War:

Slavery was a big thing in Kentucky when people first started to live here. As you might know most slaves were African American, and back then people thought that African American people were not as important as them (White people). So, as I said before, there were many slaves back then. So many that most Kentuckians (except for those who couldn't afford them) had at least one slave. Though many slaves did get freed or fled.
I read about one man who worked as a slave, but also had a job so he got paid. Very few slaves got the opportunity to have two jobs and get paid for one of them. The man had a wife and I think a few kids. He worked and worked and earned money until he had enough to free his wife. Then he worked more and earned more money until he freed every one, but himself. He kept working to free more and more slaves that were friends and family. Finally he freed himself. Very few slaves get that opportunity to free themselves. Though most slaves got freed when they were a certain age or when their owners died. So there were slaves everywhere!
The sad thing is that a lot of families, if slaves, get separated. I also read that one time at an auction, a family of slaves, a mother and a father, three kids, one four, one eleven and one just a few months old, were sold. First the eleven year old was sold, then the four year old -to another person- then the mother came up holding the baby,someone yelled out "Sell them separately!". So the baby was taken from the mother and the mother, father, and baby were all sold separately. Isn't that sad?
It got so bad that the north started to do something about it. And that started the Civil War. The Civil War had two sides. The north side, that was called the Union. They were against slavery. The south side, that was called the Confederacy. They were for slavery. I do not think that slaves fought, but I do not know for sure.
A sad thing about the war was that a lot of families fought against each other.I heard many stories about that. I also read about these two girls who were both from different sides, were talking about one side. Here is what they said: Girl #1 from South talking about North: "They were the worst things I had ever seen. Instead of uniforms, they were wearing old gray cloaks and looked absolutely miserable!" Girl #2 talking about North. From north: "The people who are fighting on our side are absolutley wonderful! The general is the right man for the job and is very handsome!"

That is pretty much all I know and can remember from what we have read about slavery and Civil War.