Hello everyone,
Welcome to Life in a Coal Mining Town, an educational presentation and documentary I have produced. In this powerful and memorable presentation you will see the stark reality of living in such a town in the 1940’s. I give the flesh and blood facts of day to day living, a description of the town and the house I lived in, the ways of family life and the coal miner’s job.
I host my presentation in four parts:
1. Introductory talk
2. Documentary viewing (a 25 minute video I created with a personal account of
coal mining life in that era through my family's photos)
3. Coal mining artifacts exhibit with explanations
4. Questions and answers and the option of a round house discussion
I believe it is vital for today's youth to be given the opportunity to see and understand the history of a segment of society that will all too soon be forgotten. Yes, there are history books and every now and then an hour program will be shown on the History channel. But both will only focus on the production of coal or how the U.S. became a leading nation due to this powerful energy source.
However, there is an ominous side to the mining of coal that you don't often see depicted. And between the lines of the sentences in the history books and the unspoken words of the speaker on television is the narrative that should be revealed. It is this story of human hardship in the coal mining era of the 40s that I bring out in vivid and painful details. My presentation gives the unadorned story of this real world.