Appalachian Figures
Roots in Knott County
Carl Dewey Perkins was born at Hindman on October 15, 1912, and schooled in Knott County before attending Caney Junior College, Lees Junior College, and the Jefferson School of Law at Louisville, graduating in 1935. He practiced law in Hindman, served as Knott County attorney, and enlisted during World War II with service in the European Theater. These basics come straight from the official congressional biography and Eastern Kentucky University’s archival finding aid for his papers.
In November 1948 Perkins unseated Wendell H. Meade and entered Congress on January 3, 1949. He would hold the seat until his death in 1984 and rise to chair the House Committee on Education and Labor beginning in the Ninetieth Congress.
Coal country priorities move to the House floor
Appalachia’s coalfields shaped Perkins’s agenda. After the 1968 Farmington disaster in West Virginia focused national attention on mine safety, the House and Senate hammered out the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969. The conference report that sent the bill to final passage was formally submitted “from the committee of conference, Mr. Perkins.”
The statute became Public Law 91-173 on December 30, 1969, establishing nationwide standards and a black lung benefits program under Title IV. Contemporary summaries and the Statutes at Large record the law’s scope and date of approval.
Committee hearing volumes from 1969 show Perkins presiding and participating as the House gathered testimony from miners, operators, union leaders, and federal officials on health and safety in the mines.
Chairmanship beyond coal: schools, civil rights, and social programs
Perkins’s committee portfolio extended far beyond mine law. As chair from 1967 through 1984, he helped steer education and labor legislation during the Great Society years and after. The House’s official biography places him in the chair across nine Congresses (90th–98th), while contemporary press at his death described a “powerful chairman” who championed everything from job training to school lunches.
In the spring of 1984, the House Committee on Education and Labor held joint hearings on the Civil Rights Act of 1984. The printed hearing volume’s cover lists “CARL D. PERKINS, Kentucky, Chairman,” a small archival detail that reflects his role near the end of his career.
The 1984 law that bears his name
Perkins’s long campaign to modernize and broaden vocational education culminated in H.R. 4164, approved October 19, 1984, as the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act. The authenticated Statutes at Large copy sets the title and text; Congress.gov’s bill file shows the conference report filing and the provision that renamed the earlier Vocational Education Act in his honor. The law emphasized state programs that expanded access and updated technical training, with particular attention to “special populations,” an emphasis later traced in nonpartisan research on subsequent reauthorizations.
Sudden end, public remembrance
While flying home to Kentucky on August 3, 1984, Perkins suffered an apparent heart attack and died in Lexington at age 71. The Washington Post’s same-day coverage reported the circumstances and his status as dean of the Kentucky delegation. The Senate recorded condolences by agreeing to S. Res. 428 on August 6.
Back home, remembrance also took tangible form. A state historical marker titled “Carl Dewey Perkins” stands at Hindman, summarizing his service and dates.
Why he matters to Appalachian history
Perkins carried the language and cadence of Knott County to Washington, but his influence ran through the fine print of federal law. In coal country, the 1969 mine safety law tightened standards, strengthened enforcement, and recognized black lung as a compensable occupational disease. In classrooms across the hills and beyond, the 1984 act put federal weight behind modern vocational and technical education that met local economies where they were and where they hoped to go. Those footprints appear in the records of Congress and the papers he left behind.
Sources and further reading
Statutes at Large: Public Law 91-173, Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969; Public Law 98-524, Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act. Congress.gov+1
House Conference Report 91-761 on the coal mine health and safety bill, submitted “from the committee of conference, Mr. Perkins.” Mine Health and Safety Administration
House Committee Hearings: Coal Mine Health and Safety (1969), multi-day testimony; Civil Rights Act of 1984, Serial No. 70, cover listing Perkins as chairman. Google Books+1
Memorial services volume, Memorial services… together with tributes… of Carl D. Perkins (U.S. GPO, 1984). Online Books Page
Congress.gov: Member page for Rep. Carl D. Perkins and bill file for H.R. 4164. Congress.gov+1
EKU Special Collections: Carl D. Perkins Congressional Papers, 1948–1984 finding aid and digital collection page. ekufindingaids.libraryhost.com+1
KET / AAPB: Distinguished Kentuckian: Carl Perkins broadcast record. American Archive
Historical Marker: “Carl Dewey Perkins,” Hindman, Knott County. HMDB
U.S. House, History, Art and Archives and Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress entries for Perkins. History, Art & Archives+1
Washington Post obituary coverage, Aug. 3 to Aug. 7, 1984. The Washington Post+1
CRS overview of the Perkins Act and its later reauthorizations. EveryCRSReport
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