12K views · 177 reactions | The 1997 John Sayles movie, "Matewan," gives us the story of the unionized miners in Matewan, WV fighting the mine owners for a living wage. I have been to the museum there, and it's the kind of thing that is hard to forget. (NSFW warning: Racial slurs.) | Brandon Weber | Facebook

(The Battle of Matewan), also known as the (Matewan Massacre), was a pivotal and deadly shootout that occurred on May 19, 1920, in Matewan, West Virginia, during the West Virginia Coal Wars. It was a violent confrontation between striking coal miners and the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency, hired by coal operators to suppress union organizing efforts. (Background) In the spring of 1920, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) was actively organizing miners in the southern West Virginia coalfiel

The twenty-third-annual Matewan Massacre Reenactment will return for two showings on Saturday, May 20, as part of Matewan Heritage Days. | Mountain Top News | Facebook