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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIllinois town honors union coal miners killed in 1922 massacre, forgotten in unmarked graves
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/06/20/illinois-town-honors-union-coal-miners-killed-in-122-massacre-forgotten-in/
HERRIN, Ill. Nearly a century after literally burying its violent past, a southern Illinois community is belatedly coming to terms with one of the nation's deadliest labor conflicts, an episode in which some victims were paraded down city streets and humiliated before hundreds of cheering onlookers before having their throats slit.
Most of the victims of the Herrin Massacre three union coal miners on strike and 20 replacement workers and guards were buried in June 1922 in a cluster of unmarked graves in an old pauper's field at the city cemetery, forgotten by time and a collective desire to, if not ignore history, not call undue attention to it in a town that's still a union stronghold.
"No one really mentioned the massacre. It was a black eye," said retired miner Bill Sizemore, 59, who said he didn't know about it for most of his life. "The people of Herrin weren't proud of it. They all felt like it was going to wash away like the river."
But since 2009, when a local talk radio host's quest to honor a World War I veteran among the massacre victims led to an excavation of the grave site, the city started to change its approach, despite pockets of resistance. On Thursday, the anniversary of the mass burial, Herrin will unveil a monument that names 17 of the victims.
FULL story and photos at link.
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Illinois town honors union coal miners killed in 1922 massacre, forgotten in unmarked graves (Original Post)
Omaha Steve
Jun 2015
OP
Actually they're more so honoring the scabs who were massacred, tortured and lynched
independentpiney
Jun 2015
#3
Stuart G
(38,427 posts)1. k and r..
..So many people in this country know nothing about the labor conflicts which eventually brought about reasonable wages and benefits like workman's compensation, 40 hour week, sick days...etc.
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)2. K&R
independentpiney
(1,510 posts)3. Actually they're more so honoring the scabs who were massacred, tortured and lynched
Only three of the dead were striking miners. The headline of the article doesn't reflect it's contents, which is that the town had buried and now coming to terms with a dark ugly moment in it's history.