The Miners of Windber: The Struggles of New Immigrants for Unionization, 1890s-1930s [Paperback]

Mildred Allen Beik (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1996

Mildred Allen Beik's account of a Pennsylvania coal town in the first three decades of this century is a powerful story of repression and resistance. This is both an important historical story and a lesson that Americans should keep in mind as they debate the merits of unions and the dismantling of the welfare-state in the late twentieth century.-John Bodnar, Indiana University.In 1897 the Berwind-White Coal Mining Company founded Windber as a company town for its miners in the bituminous coal country of Pennsylvania. The Miners of Windber chronicles the coming of unionization to Windber, from the 1890s, when thousands of new immigrants flooded Pennsylvania in search of work, through the New Deal era of the 1930s, when the miners' rights to organize, join the United Mine Workers of America, and bargain collectively were recognized after years of bitter struggle.Mildred Allen Beik, a Windber native whose father entered the coal mines at age eleven in 1914, explores the struggle of miners and their families against the company, whose repressive policies encroached on every part of their lives. That Windber's population represented twenty-five different nationalities, including Slovaks, Hungarians, Poles, Italians, and Carpatho-Russians, was a potential obstacle to the solidarity of miners. Beik, however, shows how the immigrants overcame ethnic fragmentation by banding together as a class to unionize the mines. Work, family, church, fraternal societies, and civic institutions all proved critical as men and women alike adapted to new working conditions and to a new culture. Circumstance, if not principle, forced miners to embrace cultural pluralism in their fight for greater democracy, reforms of capitalism, and an inclusive, working-class, definition of what it meant to be an American. Beik draws on a wide variety of sources, including oral histories gathered from thirty-five of the oldest living immigrants in Windber, foreign-language newspapers, fraternal societ

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mildred Allen Beik is an independent scholar living in Atlanta. She has taught at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University and served as a consultant in various public history workshops.

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press (September 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0271029900
• ISBN-13: 978-0271029900
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,982,877 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just a little peice of my family history, October 13, 2009

By 

Tammy L. Anderson (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Miners of Windber: The Struggles of New Immigrants for Unionization 1890S-1930s (Hardcover)

I'm halfway through this book and it's great. I bought this book because my great great- grandfather and his parents came here from slovakia in 1905, and migrated to winbder where when he was old enough he worked at the mine #5 at the berwind coal company.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Miners of Windber, May 14, 2008

By 

coal miners son - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Miners of Windber: The Struggles of New Immigrants for Unionization, 1890s-1930s (Paperback)

Was very disappointed with this book, the title I found to be misleading, and the author repeated herself a lot in the book, so I found it to be rather boring. The book was more about Berwind White Coal Company, and the immigrant's religion, than the miners of Windber. After interviewing thirty-five immigrants from this mining town, she did not give credit to all who were interviewed and who gave important information for this book.

5.0 out of 5 stars Why Unionization grew in the Early 20th Century - Boston, Mass., November 15, 2011

By 

William Bradford - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Miners of Windber: The Struggles of New Immigrants for Unionization, 1890s-1930s (Paperback)

This is the best example of a group of people who were commited over many years to gain Union representation. How the Company and the Union used the people for it's own benefit. The Union allowing the workers to believe that if they stuck their neck out and went on strike that they would gain Union membership, but the Union ultimately abandoned them for years, while the Company used the workers and their families. It is especially interesting to read about all the things that we have forgotten as a society as this book reminds us that people like these miners were once basically owned by the Company and in some cases worse off than slaves. This is a recommended read to all who are interested in Union/Company realtionships and why Unions came to be. It is especially worth noting the safety of the mines and how common death and serious accidents were (worth reading at Safety and Union Meetings), people are also reminded how lucky they are today because of the sacrifice of others. This book should be a mandatory read for all Union leaders in all occupations (also for management as well).