Appalachian History
Within the coalfields of Appalachia, the mountains rise like folded hands and every hollow carries the memory of a miner’s working breath. Life here has always been shaped by the mines — by what they give, what they take, and what they demand of the people who live beneath their shadow. The Daughters of Mother Jones knew this, and bravely stood beside the miners.
Broken Promises, Broken Silence
As of April 5, 1989, miners were working with no contract for 14 months for the Pittston Coal Company. When the company tried to slice away health care and retirement benefits, they weren’t cutting numbers from a ledger — they were cutting into the lifeline of the region. This was enough for the miners to decide to go on strike—leading to over 2,000 mineworkers walking out, picking up their signs in protest.
In Appalachia, when someone threatens your people, you don’t stand by quietly. On April 18th the Daughters of Mother Jones spoke up.
No Longer Quiet
The Daughters of Mother Jones didn’t come forward for glory. They were the ones who kept the world turning while the men fought underground: wives, mothers, daughters, neighbors. The ones holding the community together long before the strike made the news.
But when the pressure rose, they stepped out of the background and onto the picket line — not as helpers, but as leaders.
Blockades, Back Roads, and Brave Hearts
Around 40 of the Daughters walked straight into Pittston headquarters, refusing to leave for thirty-six hours, their stillness more defiant than shouting ever could be, shutting down coal production.
Others formed rolling blockades along the tight, winding roads where coal trucks carved their daily path — driving slow enough to force the company to feel every mile.
They fed the strikers, organized phone banks, provided housing, held vigils, and stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the cold dawn hours. They stepped forward with the kind of steady courage that echoes through every hollow.
The Name They Wore
When the media caught wind, they asked for the individual names of these women who refused to say.
They answered simply: “We are the Daughters of Mother Jones.”
Mother Jones was a fierce labor organizer who took part in many miners’ strikes in the 1900s. In Appalachia, claiming a name is claiming a lineage. And the Daughters made it clear that they came from a long line of fighters.
Grit and Grace
These mountains have always produced women who hold their families and their communities together with a mix of gentleness and grit. The Daughters embodied that balance. Their actions reminded the country that Appalachian women are not quiet by nature — only by choice.
Legacy in the Mountains
The strike ended with restored benefits and a victory for the miners, but the story of those daughters didn’t fade. It lingers like coal dust on a windowsill — stubborn, honest, unforgettable.
In a region the world too often stereotypes, the Daughters of Mother Jones carved out a truth: Appalachia is more than hardship. It is resilience. It is loyalty. It is women who rise from the ridge shadows and stand at the front of the line when it matters most.
Sources and Further Reading
Labor and Rural Organizing & Resilience (ROAR), “Southern People’s History: The Daughters of Mother Jones,” Rural Organizing Blog, October 29, 2018.
United Mine Workers of America, “Coalminers Strike Against Pittston Company, Virginia, USA, 1989–1990,” Global Nonviolent Action Database, Swarthmore College.
Jeff Goodwin, “A Strike like No Other: The Pittston Coal Strike Holds Lessons for Today,” Libcom.
Murray Levin and Joseph Wilson, “Strategic Innovation in the Pittston Coal Strike,” Mobilization: An International Quarterly 5, no. 2 (2000): 179–195.
Karen Beckwith, “Collective Identities of Class and Gender: Working-Class Women in the Pittston Coal Strike,” Politics & Society 19, no. 3 (1991): 299–330.
Brian Fry, “The Spirit of Camp Solidarity,” West Virginia Mine Wars Museum, April 6, 2023.