Customer Reviews

Convicts Coal and Banner Mine

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As the authors forthrightly admit in their introduction, this book does not "provide an in-depth study of Alabama's convict lease system," or "a detailed account of coal mining, corporate practices, or political machinations . . . ." Its explanation of even the rudiments of coal mining in particular is perfunctory at best. At 125 pages, a number of which are taken up with large, poorly reproduced photographs, this may not be surprising.

What Convicts, Coal, and the Banner Mine Tragedy is, essentially, is a detailed timeline of the responses to the 1911 catastrophe at the Banner, especially those of the press, the government, and Pratt Consolidated Coal Company (the owner of the mine). It also includes thorough legislative histories of two measures: One, a mine-safety law enacted in the wake of the carnage at the Banner, and the other, a failed bill to abolish convict leasing. Various explanations as to the cause of the Banner explosion are also discussed, as are their relative merits and the amount of traction each gained.

If you're interested in what it was like to mine coal as a convict for PCCC or TCI or any of the other large mine owners in Alabama, this really isn't the book for you. On the other hand, if you're interested in the political aftermath of this particular disaster, you may very well get something out of it.

I've been doing some family research and was told that my great uncle was killed in the Banner mine and that he may have been the cause of the mine explosion. Sure enough he was mentioned several times as the possible cause!! I never knew that mining could be so political. Very interesting book.