On this day in Labor History the year was 2011.
That was the day the labor movement lost one of its most poignant voices.
Hazel Dickens was born in Mercer County, West Virginia in 1935. It was coal country.
Hazel grew up knowing the life of a mining community.
She was one of eleven children. Her brothers worked in the mines. One of her sisters worked cleaning the house of a mine supervisor.
Her father was a Baptist preacher with a booming singing voice.
Hazel inherited her father’s talent for song. In the 1960's she broke into the male-dominated world of bluegrass, with her singing partner Alice Gerrard.
At the time they were one of the few women acts on the bluegrass circuit.
In the years that follow Hazel struck out on her own as a solo act.
Many of her original songs spoke about the coal mining life she knew growing up in Mercer County.
She wrote “Black Lung” for her oldest brother who died from the disease.
Her songs became part of some of the most iconic labor films ever made.
“They’ll Never Keep us Down,” was the anthem for the Oscar-winning documentary “Harlan County USA.”
Another song “Hills of Galilee” was featured in the film Matewan.
Both films told the stories of coal mining strikes.
Hazel often sang at union rallies and at benefits for miners and their families.
Her obituary, published in the Washington Post, quoted music historian Charles Wolfe.
He said, “Her singing has not only that ‘high lonesome sound,’ but you can hear the pain and anguish and the anger in it. It is absolutely heartfelt and sincere.”
(play out to “They’ll never keep us down,” United we stand, divided we fall….” https://www.youtube.com/...)
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Labor History in 2:00 brought to you by the Illinois Labor History Society and The Rick Smith Show