The Disease the X-Ray Couldn't See | Black Lung, 1974
The film of this episode premieres September 17, 2026 on YouTube. The documents, the transcript and the sources are below now.
In June 1974 a coal miner in Beckley, West Virginia breathed into a machine that measured what was left of his lungs. The photograph is a federal record, and so is its color: the Environmental Protection Agency's DOCUMERICA project sent photographer Jack Corn through the coalfields of West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee in…
Transcript
The machine
R001 A MINER AT THE BLACK LUNG LABORATORY IN THE APPALACHIAN REGIONAL HOSPITAL IN BECKLEY, WEST VIRGINIA, IS HAVING HIS LUNG CAPACITY TESTED TO DETERMINE WHETHER HE HAS THE DISEASE. BLOOD SAMPLES ALSO ARE TAKEN AND HIS HEARTBEAT IS MONITORED WHILE WALKING ON A TREADMILL. THESE AND OTHER KNOWN TESTING METHODS ARE USED TO DETERMINE IF MINERS HAVE COAL DUST PARTICLES IN THEIR LUNGS WHICH CAUSE A PROGRESSIVE SHORTNESS OF BREATH
Jack Corn · June 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
June, nineteen seventy-four. Beckley, West Virginia. A coal miner breathes into a machine that measures what is left of his lungs.
R002 MINER IN THE BLACK LUNG LABORATORY AT THE APPALACHIAN REGIONAL HOSPITAL IN BECKLEY, WEST VIRGINIA, UNDERGOING TESTS WHILE ON A TREADMILL. HIS LUNG CAPACITY AND HEARTBEAT ARE MONITORED, AND BLOOD SAMPLES ARE TAKEN. AT THE LEFT IS DELILA LAFON, WHO DRAWS THE BLOOD SAMPLES, AND IS THE WIFE OF A MINER. AT THE RIGHT IS JOHN ELLISON CHIEF LAB TECHNICIAN. THE BLOOD WILL BE CHECKED FOR OXYGEN CONTENT
Jack Corn · June 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
The clip on his nose forces every breath through the mouthpiece. The technician who draws the blood is a miner's wife.
The photographer
R004 EARLY MORNING LIGHT ENRICHES A BUCOLIC SCENE AT CLAYPOOL HILL, NEAR RICHLANDS, VIRGINIA, ABOUT A DOZEN MILES FROM THE COAL MINES
Jack Corn · Oct. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
The photographs are federal records. In nineteen seventy-four the Environmental Protection Agency sent a photographer named Jack Corn through the coalfields.
R006 PICTURE OF VIRGINIA-POCAHONTAS MINE #2 NEAR RICHLANDS VIRGINIA, IN A PICTURESQUE SETTING WITH A RED BUD TREE IN THE FOREGROUND. IT IS TYPICAL OF THE CLEAN TYPE OF OPERATIONS AT ALL SIX OF THE COMPANY MINES WHERE METALLURGICAL COAL IS DUG FOR USE IN STEELMAKING. FISH CAN BE SEEN IN THE CREEK ADJACENT TO THE MINE
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Nothing here is colorized. This is what the coalfields looked like to a camera in nineteen seventy-four.
R007 SIGN AT THE ENTRANCE TO WILLIAMSON, WEST VIRGINIA, PROCLAIMS THE TOWN IS IN THE HEART OF COAL FIELDS. ROTARY, KIWANIS AND LIONS SERVICE CLUB (LEFT TO RIGHT) SIGNS NOTE THAT THOSE ORGANIZATIONS ARE PRESENT, WORKING FOR COMMUNITY BENEFIT. THE TOWN HAS THE LARGEST COAL YARD FOR TRAINS IN THE WORLD, FOLLOWED BY DANVILLE, WEST VIRGINIA
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Williamson, West Virginia. The sign at the edge of town welcomes you to the heart of the billion-dollar coal field.
The work
R009 COMPANY FLAG IN FRONT OF THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE VIRGINIA-POCAHONTAS COAL COMPANY NEAR RICHLANDS, VIRGINIA, IN THE SOUTHWESTERN PART OF THE STATE. IT IS CALLED LOCALLY BY ITS ISLAND CREEK COAL COMPANY NAME. V-P IS A SUBSIDIARY OF ISLAND CREEK WHICH IN TURN IS A PART OF THE OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM COMPANY
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
The coal came out of places like this one. The Virginia-Pocahontas Coal Company, near Richlands, Virginia — six mines dug into the southwestern tip of the state.
R010 MINERS WAITING TO START THEIR 4 P.M. TO MIDNIGHT SHIFT AT VIRGINIA-POCAHONTAS COAL COMPANY MINE #4 NEAR RICHLANDS, VIRGINIA THERE ARE TWO WORKING SHIFTS WITH MINERS DIGGING AND TAKING THE COAL OUT OF THE MINE. THE THIRD, CALLED THE "HOOT-OWL" SHIFT (MIDNIGHT TO MORNING), IS INVOLVED IN CLEANUP OPERATIONS. MANY OF THE MINERS CARRY CHEWING TOBACCO INTO THE MINES BECAUSE THEY CANNOT SMOKE WHILE WORKING
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Four in the afternoon. The second shift waits to go down.
R014 MINERS AT VIRGINIA-POCAHONTAS COAL COMPANY MINE #4 ARE SEARCHED FOR SMOKING MATERIALS PRIOR TO TAKING THE ELEVATOR INTO THE MINE FOR THE 4 P.M. TO MIDNIGHT SHIFT. REGULATIONS PROHIBIT SMOKING IN THE MINES AND, IF CAUGHT, BOTH MINERS AND THE MINE CAN BE FINED. MANY OF THE MINERS WHO USE TOBACCO CHEW RED MAN WHILE AT WORK
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Before the elevator, every man is searched for smoking materials. Caught with them, his caption notes, both the miner and the company are fined.
R015 CLOSEUP OF THE BRASS WHICH IS AFFIXED TO THE BELT OF EACH MINER WHO WORKS FOR THE VIRGINIA-POCAHONTAS COAL COMPANY NEAR RICHLANDS, VIRGINIA. IT LISTS THE MINER'S SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER, NAME AND BLOOD TYPE. THE V-P COMPANY IS A SUBSIDIARY OF THE ISLAND CREEK COAL COMPANY WHICH IN TURN IS A SUBSIDIARY OF THE OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM COMPANY. NOT ALL MINES HAVE SUCH AN IDENTIFICATION PLATE
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
On every belt, a brass plate. It carries the miner's name, his social security number, and his blood type.
R016 MINER, WHO HAS JUST FINISHED HIS SHIFT AT VIRGINIA-POCAHONTAS COAL COMPANY MINE #4, NEAR RICHLANDS, VIRGINIA. CARRIES HIS EMPTY LUNCH PAIL. THE BRASS PLATE ON HIS BELT CARRIES HIS NAME AND BLOOD TYPE. THE BELT ALSO HOLDS BATTERIES FOR HIS HEAD LAMP AND LIFE SAVER BREATHING APPARATUS. HIS YELLOW HAT MEANS HE IS A SAFETY MAN. THE LAMP (PARTIALLY OBSCURED ON HIS RIGHT HIP) DETECTS BLACK DAMP PLACES WHERE THERE IS NOT ENOUGH OXYGEN FOR THE MINERS
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
The blood type is not for the clinic. It is for the day they bring him out.
R017 SHIFT OF MINERS IN THE ELEVATOR WHICH WILL TAKE THEM DOWN TO WORK IN THE VIRGINIA-POCAHONTAS MINE #4 NEAR RICHLANDS, VIRGINIA THEY ARE HEADED FOR THE 1,200 FOOT LEVEL. THE BLACK HATS SIGNIFY THAT THE MEN ARE EXPERIENCED MINERS. THE MINER WITH THE GREEN HAT IS A SAFETY MAN. THESE MINES HAVE THREE SHIFTS, TWO WORKING AND ONE CLEANUP
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
The cage drops twelve hundred feet.
R019 VETERAN MINER HAROLD STANLEY, RIGHT, TALKS TO A YOUNG MINER WHO HAS COME INTO THE MINE FOR THE FIRST TIME AFTER 40 HOURS OF CLASSROOM TRAINING. STANLEY PLACED HIS HAND ON THE NEW MAN, SHINED HIS LAMP IN THE MINER'S FACE AND SAID "BE ALERT, BE SAFE, AND UNS (YOU) WILL BE A GOOD MINER AND GET ALONG JUST FINE." THIS IS VIRGINIA-POCAHONTAS COAL COMPANY MINE #3 NEAR RICHLANDS, VIRGINIA
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
A veteran miner named Harold Stanley met one new man coming down for his first shift. Corn's caption records what he did: he put his hand on him, shined his lamp in his face, and said — be alert, be safe, and you will be a good miner and get along just fine.
R022 JERRY YATES, THE SECTION FOREMAN OF VIRGINIA-POCAHONTAS COAL COMPANY MINE #3 NEAR RICHLANDS, VIRGINIA. CHECKS THE TEETH OF A CONTINUOUS MINER TO SEE IF ANY ARE LOOSE OR MISSING. THE COAL IS PUSHED BACK INTO A SHUTTLE CAR WHICH TAKES THE MATERIAL TO THE END OF THE TUNNEL FOR REMOVAL FROM THE MINE. MOST COAL IN THE U.S. IS MINED BY THIS METHOD
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
A section foreman checks the teeth of the continuous miner, the machine that cuts the coal — looking for any that are loose or missing.
R023 MAN OPERATING A CONTINUOUS MINER IN VIRGINIA-POCAHONTAS COAL COMPANY MINE #3 NEAR RICHLANDS, VIRGINIA. NOTE THE WATER SPRAYING IN FRONT OF THE MACHINE TO KEEP COAL DUST PARTICLES OUT OF THE AIR. LIME OR ROCK DUST ALSO IS USED TO CONTROL THE AIRBORNE PARTICLE PROBLEM. THE CONTINUOUS MINER PASSES THE COAL BACK TO A SHUTTLE CAR WHICH TAKES IT OUT OF THE TUNNEL FOR TRANSPORT BY CONVEYOR OUT OF THE MINE
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
And on the front of the machine — water, sprayed at the coal face. Its job is to hold the dust down. Remember the dust.
R025 GEORGE KING, LONG WALL SECTION FOREMAN IN VIRGINIA-POCAHONTAS COAL COMPANY MINE #3 NEAR RICHLANDS, VIRGINIA LOOKS AT A CONVEYOR BELT COMING FROM A WORKING SECTION OF THE MINE. THE WHITE MATERIAL IS LIME OR ROCK DUST TO KEEP DOWN THE AMOUNT OF COAL DUST IN THE AIR. SOME 3,000 TONS OF COAL PER DAY PASS OVER THIS BELT ON THE WAY TO THE CLEANING PLANT. LONG WALL MINING IS RELATIVELY NEW AND ALLOWS ABOUT TWICE AS MUCH COAL TO BE MINED BUT IS EXPENSIVE BECAUSE OF MACHINERY
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
A longwall foreman watches the belt come off a working section. The pale coating on everything is lime — rock dust, kept on every surface to hold the coal dust down.
R026 SHERMAN M PHIPPS IS A FEDERAL COAL MINE INSPECTOR WHO IS CHECKING FOR METHANE GAS AMONG THE LONG WALL JACKS HOLDING UP THE CEILING IN VIRGINIA-POCAHONTAS COAL COMPANY MINE #3. EMPLOYED BY THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF MINES, HE SPENDS ABOUT SIX MONTHS IN EACH MINE. PHIPPS MAKES HIS HOME IN RICHLANDS, VIRGINIA, NEAR THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE V-P COMPANY
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
And a federal mine inspector, checking for methane among the longwall jacks. His caption says he spends most of his working time underground.
R027 THE ELEVATOR TO THE MAIN SHAFT FOR MEN AND EQUIPMENT AT THE VIRGINIA-POCAHONTAS COAL COMPANY MINE #4 NEAR RICHLANDS, VIRGINIA THE GREEN BUILDING ON THE RIGHT CONTAINS AN OFFICE, SHOWER ROOMS AND WAREHOUSES. THE SMALL YELLOW CARS BEHIND THE ELEVATOR FIT INTO THE ELEVATOR AND ARE USED IN THE MINE. A SWITCH ENGINE, USED FOR OUTSIDE WORK, IS SEEN BETWEEN THE ELEVATOR AND THE BUILDING. COAL CARS ARE SHOWN ON RAILROAD TRACKS IN THE FOREGROUND
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Why all of it — the water, the lime, the searches, the inspector? Because of a law that was five years old when these pictures were made.
The law of 1969
December thirtieth, nineteen sixty-nine. The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. An act, quote, to provide for the protection of the health and safety of persons working in the coal mining industry of the United States.
Its first finding set the terms: the first priority of all in the coal mining industry must be the health and safety of its most precious resource — the miner.
The law put a number on the dust. Three milligrams of respirable dust per cubic meter of air — and three years later, two.
Then, on the same page, it wrote the operators a door out: a permit for noncompliance, for any operator unable, using available technology, to comply.
And it ordered a chest X-ray for every working miner, at no cost to the man — one within eighteen months, another three years on, and one for every new man who starts.
R028 GROUP OF MINERS WAITING TO GO TO WORK ON THE 4 P.M. TO MIDNIGHT SHIFT AT THE VIRGINIA-POCAHONTAS COAL COMPANY MINE #4 NEAR RICHLANDS, VIRGINIA. THEY ARE THE SECOND OF TWO WORK SHIFTS WHICH ARE INVOLVED IN DIGGING THE COAL AND BRINGING IT OUT OF THE MINES THE MIDNIGHT TO MORNING OR "HOOT-OWL" SHIFT WORKS ON CLEANUP OPERATIONS
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
The X-ray was looking for a disease with a plain name. Coal workers' pneumoconiosis. The miners called it black lung.
The disease
R029 GROUP OF MINERS WAITING TO GO TO WORK ON THE 4 P.M. TO MIDNIGHT SHIFT AT THE VIRGINIA-POCAHONTAS COAL COMPANY MINE #4 NEAR RICHLANDS, VIRGINIA. THEY ARE SITTING ON A SHUTTLE CAR OF THE TYPE WHICH WILL TAKE THEM INTO THE MINES, AND ALSO IS USED FOR WORK ON THE OUTSIDE. THE YELLOW BAGS CONTAIN TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Corn typed the mechanism into caption after caption, like a man who wanted it on the record: coal dust fills the air sacs of the lungs, and makes it increasingly difficult to breathe.
R030 MINERS WAITING FOR THEIR EXAMINATION AT THE APPALACHIAN REGIONAL HOSPITAL IN BECKLEY, WEST VIRGINIA. DR. DONALD RASMUSSEN'S BLACK LUNG LABORATORY USES KNOWN TESTING METHODS TO DETERMINE IF MINERS ARE SUFFERING FROM THE DISEASE WHICH RESULTS FROM COAL DUST FILLING LUNG SACS AND CAUSING PROGRESSIVE SHORTENING OF BREATH. THE LAB, WITH FUNDS PAID MAINLY BY THE UNITED MINE WORKERS UNION, IS WELL KNOWN TO ALL COAL MINERS WHO COME FROM SEVERAL STATES
Jack Corn · June 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
At the Appalachian Regional Hospital in Beckley, a chest specialist named Donald Rasmussen ran a laboratory that tested miners' breathing. The union helped pay for it.
R031 DR. DONALD RASMUSSEN, PHYSICIAN IN CHARGE OF THE BLACK LUNG LABORATORY AT THE APPALACHIAN REGIONAL HOSPITAL IN BECKLEY, WEST VIRGINIA. MINERS WHO HAVE BEEN TURNED AWAY BY OTHER DOCTORS COME TO HIM TO LEARN WHETHER THEY HAVE AN ACCUMULATION OF COAL DUST PARTICLES FILLING THE AIR SACKS IN THE LUNGS AND CAUSING A PROGRESSIVE SHORTNESS OF BREATH. A CHEST SPECIALIST, THE DOCTOR USES KNOWN TESTING METHODS IN CHECKING FOR BLACK LUNG SYMPTOMS
Jack Corn · June 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
His caption, written by the government's photographer, says this: miners who have been turned away by other doctors come to him.
R032 DR. DONALD RASMUSSEN, PHYSICIAN AT THE BLACK LUNG LABORATORY OF THE APPALACHIAN REGIONAL HOSPITAL, IN BECKLEY, WEST VIRGINIA, PLACES A SYRINGE IN THE ARM OF A COAL MINER ABOUT TO BE TESTED FOR THE DISEASE. BLOOD SAMPLES WILL BE TAKEN AND THE MINERS' HEARTBEAT MONITORED WHILE HE EXERCISES ON A TREADMILL. THESE AND OTHER KNOWN TESTING METHODS ARE USED TO DETERMINE IF THE MINERS HAVE COAL DUST PARTICLES IN THEIR LUNGS WHICH CAUSE A PROGRESSIVE SHORTNESS OF BREATH
Jack Corn · June 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
The tests were simple and merciless. Walk on a treadmill. Breathe into the machine. Give blood from an artery, so the oxygen in it can be counted.
R034 RUSSELL RAMSER WAITS HIS TURN ON THE TREADMILL AT THE BLACK LUNG LABORATORY AT THE APPALACHIAN REGIONAL HOSPITAL IN BECKLEY WEST VIRGINIA. THE 72-YEAR-OLD MINER WORKED 35 YEARS IN THE MINES AND WAS A SUPERINTENDENT IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE UNITED MINE WORKERS BEFORE RETIRING. HE LIVES IN SHADY SIDE, OHIO, NEAR WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA, AND CAME TO DR. DONALD RASMUSSEN'S LAB AFTER BEING TURNED DOWN FOR BLACK LUNG BENEFITS IN OHIO
Jack Corn · June 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
They came from several states. This man, seventy-two years old, thirty-five years underground, came down from Ohio — after being turned down for black lung benefits there.
R037 MEETING OF THE BECKLEY (WEST VIRGINIA) BLACK LUNG ASSOCIATION, ONE OF THE MOST MILITANT OF THE GROUPS CONCERNED WITH THAT ASPECT OF THE MINERS' HEALTH. THE SPEAKER IS ONE OF THE LOCAL PEOPLE WHO ATTENDED THE MEETING. MINERS CONTRACT BLACK LUNG BY INHALING COAL DUST IN THE MINES WHICH FILL AIR SACKS IN THE LUNGS AND MAKE IT INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT TO BREATHE
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
The disease had a politics by then. At Beckley, the Black Lung Association met — Corn's caption calls it one of the most militant of the groups concerned with miners' health.
R039 PICTURE OF PEOPLE SEATED AND WAITING FOR THE BECKLEY (WEST VIRGINIA) BLACK LUNG ASSOCIATION MEETING TO BEGIN. THIS ORGANIZATION IS ONE OF THE MOST MILITANT OF THE GROUPS CONCERNED WITH THAT ASPECT OF THE MINERS' HEALTH. MINERS CONTRACT BLACK LUNG BY INHALING COAL DUST IN THE MINES WHICH FILL AIR SACKS IN THE LUNGS AND MAKE IT INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT TO BREATHE
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
And a fifty-eight-year-old miner named Alvoid Allison sat in the audience. His caption is worth reading slowly.
R040 ALVOID ALLISON, 58, FROM NORTH CAROLINA SHOWN ATTENDING A MEETING OF THE BECKLEY (WEST VIRGINIA) BLACK LUNG ASSOCIATION, ONE OF THE MOST MILITANT OF THE GROUPS CONCERNED WITH THAT ASPECT OF THE MINERS' HEALTH. HE HAS THIRD STAGE (MOST SEVERE) BLACK LUNG, BUT IS HAVING A HARD TIME GETTING BENEFITS BECAUSE OF TECHNICALITIES EVEN THOUGH HE WORKED IN THE MINES FOR 37 YEARS
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
He has third stage — most severe — black lung. But he is having a hard time getting benefits because of technicalities. Even though he worked in the mines for thirty-seven years.
The promise
Technicalities. To understand that word, go back to the law.
R041 VIEW OF MINERS' HOMES IN A COAL COMPANY TOWN NEAR LOGAN WEST VIRGINIA. NEXT TO THE RAILROAD TRACKS. THEY ARE ACROSS THE ROAD FROM THE MINE SUPERVISORS' HOMES. THE ONE STORY MINER HOMES HAVE FOUR ROOMS WHILE THE SUPERVISOR HOMES HAVE FOUR ROOMS ON EACH OF TWO STORIES. THE PHYSICAL SEPARATION BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT SIZE HOUSES WAS SYMBOLIC OF A CASTE SYSTEM OF THE PAST THAT NOW IS CHANGING. SEE PICTURE #13981 FOR SUPERVISOR HOUSING
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Title Four of the nineteen sixty-nine act is called Black Lung Benefits. Congress found that a significant number of coal miners living today are totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis — and that — in the statute's words — few States provide benefits.
So the federal government would pay. Part B put the first years of claims — everything filed by the end of nineteen seventy-two — in the hands of the Social Security Administration.
R044 MINER IS HOOKED UP TO A BREATH MACHINE TO MONITOR HOW MUCH LUNG CAPACITY HE HAS WHILE WALKING ON A TREADMILL DURING TESTS AT THE BLACK LUNG LABORATORY AT THE APPALACHIAN REGIONAL HOSPITAL AT BECKLEY, WEST VIRGINIA. BLOOD SAMPLES ALSO ARE TAKEN AND HIS HEARTBEAT IS MONITORED. THESE AND OTHER KNOWN TESTING METHODS ARE USED TO DETERMINE IF MINERS HAVE COAL DUST PARTICLES ACCUMULATED IN THEIR LUNGS WHICH CAUSE A PROGRESSIVE SHORTNESS OF BREATH
Jack Corn · June 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
How were they denied? Read what Congress felt it had to write, two and a half years into the program — because a statute forbids only what somebody has been doing.
R045 MINER WALKING ON A TREADMILL IN THE BLACK LUNG LABORATORY AT THE APPALACHIAN REGIONAL HOSPITAL IN BECKLEY, WEST VIRGINIA DURING THE TEST BLOOD SAMPLES WILL BE TAKEN FROM HIS WRIST, AND HIS HEARTBEAT WILL BE MONITORED. THESE AND OTHER KNOWN TESTING METHODS ARE USED TO DETERMINE IF THE MINERS HAVE COAL DUST PARTICLES IN THEIR LUNGS WHICH CAUSE SHORTNESS OF BREATH. UNITED MINE WORKERS FUNDS HELP PAY THE COST
Jack Corn · June 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
The dispute underneath was medical. An X-ray photographs the lung. It does not measure the breathing. Doctor Rasmussen's treadmill and blood counts existed to measure what the film could not show.
The correction
May nineteenth, nineteen seventy-two. The Black Lung Benefits Act. Read the title of the act: to extend black lung benefits to orphans whose fathers die of pneumoconiosis.
R047 KIDS PLAYING OUTSIDE A HOME IN SHARPLES, WEST VIRGINIA, NORTH OF LOGAN. NOTE THE WAY THE OWNER HAS BUILT A PLACE TO PARK HIS CAR SPACE IS AT A PREMIUM IN THE VALLEYS OF THE MINING AREA AND THIS TYPE OF PARKING OUTSIDE THE HOME IS COMMON
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Congress had discovered that the promise, as written, skipped people. Orphans. Dependent parents. Brothers. Sisters. The nineteen seventy-two act wrote them in, one category at a time.
R048 A TECHNICIAN AT THE BLACK LUNG LABORATORY IN THE APPALACHIAN REGIONAL HOSPITAL IN BECKLEY, WEST VIRGINIA, MONITORS A MINER WHOSE LUNG CAPACITY IS BEING TESTED. BLOOD SAMPLES ALSO ARE TAKEN AND THEIR HEARTBEAT IS MONITORED WHILE WALKING ON A TREADMILL. THESE AND OTHER KNOWN TESTING METHODS ARE USED TO DETERMINE IF MINERS HAVE COAL DUST PARTICLES IN THEIR LUNGS WHICH CAUSE A PROGRESSIVE SHORTNESS OF BREATH
Jack Corn · June 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Then it turned to the X-ray, and did something remarkable. It legislated evidence.
Fifteen years or more underground, a negative X-ray, and other evidence of a totally disabling breathing impairment — and the law now presumes the miner has black lung. The film alone can no longer say no.
And then the sentence this episode is named for: no claim for benefits under this part shall be denied solely on the basis of the results of a chest roentgenogram.
R049 MRS. LEONA HALL, GALLAGHER, WEST VIRGINIA IS A SECRETARY IN THE UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA DISTRICT HEADQUARTERS IN CHARLESTON. HER HUSBANDS IS A DISABLED MINER
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
The statute lists what must be considered instead. Blood gas studies. Pulmonary function tests. The claimant's medical history. And — in the law's own words — his wife's affidavits.
R050 MS. GAIL FALK SELTZER, A STAFF LAWYER FOR FIELD SERVICES WITH THE UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, WORK ON BLACK LUNG BENEFITS AT THE HEADQUARTERS IN CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA. IN THE FOREGROUND IS THE BABY BED HER CHILD SLEEPS IN WHILE SHE WORKS. MS. SELTZER IS A YALE GRADUATE AND CONTRIBUTOR TO THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT BEING CONSIDERED FOR ADOPTION TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Congress wrote the testimony of miners' wives into the United States Code.
Where the money went
R051 Clarice Brown, 19, is a secretary in the United Mine Workers Field Service office in Charleston, West Virginia. Her father was a miner who died of black lung didease, caused by shortage of breath as the lung sacs are filled with coal dust.
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
What did the money look like, where it arrived? Corn photographed that too.
R052 EDGAR ZORNES OF CLOTHIER, WEST VIRGINIA, NEAR MADISON WITH HIS DOG. A MINER FOR 23 YEARS, HE HAS BLACK LUNG. DOCTORS HAVE DETERMINED MINERS CONTRACT BLACK LUNG FROM AIR-BORNE PARTICLES OF COAL DUST IN THE MINES WHICH FILL UP AIR SACKS IN THEIR LUNGS AND MAKE IT INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT TO BREATHE
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Edgar Zornes of Clothier, West Virginia. Twenty-three years in the mines. His caption says simply: he has black lung.
R053 PAUL BRYANT, 39, A NEIGHBOR OF PAUL DAVIS IN NEWTON, WEST VIRGINIA, NEAR CHARLESTON. BRYANT HAS A COMBINATION OF THIRD STAGE (MOST SEVERE) BLACK LUNG DISEASE COMBINED WITH A LUNG AILMENT (SILICOSIS) CAUSED BY ROCK DUST. ROCK DUST IS USED IN THE MINES TO KEEP DOWN THE COAL DUST
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Paul Bryant of Newton, thirty-nine years old. Third-stage black lung, plus silicosis — from the rock dust that is sprayed to keep the coal dust down. The cure for one disease helped give him the second.
R054 KEN HATFIELD, 74, OF NEWTON, WEST VIRGINIA, NEAR CHARLESTON, IN MINGO COUNTY. A WORLD WAR II VETERAN, HE BEGAN WORKING IN THE MINES AT 18 AND WAS EMPLOYED UNDERGROUND AT LEAST 30 YEARS. A SICK MAN, HE HAS LOST ONE LEG. HE RECEIVES $78 A MONTH IN SOCIAL SECURITY PAYMENTS, PLUS A VETERANS PENSION OF $148 PER MONTH. HATFIELD SAID HE WAS HAVING A TOUGH TIME. PAUL BRYANT IS A NEIGHBOR AND LOOKS IN ON HIM
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
His neighbor Ken Hatfield, seventy-four. Thirty years underground. One leg. Seventy-eight dollars a month in social security and a veteran's pension. His caption says he was having a tough time.
R055 EDWARD AUSTIN, 64, LIVES IN THE BLACK PORTION OF FIRECO, A SMALL TOWN NEAR BECKLEY, WEST VIRGINIA, IN RALEIGH COUNTY. HE RECEIVES BLACK LUNG BENEFITS AND A UNITED MINE WORKERS PENSION, AFTER WORKING IN THE MINES FROM 1925 TO 1956. HE HAS 20 CHILDREN AND DOES NOT REGRET HAVING THEM ONE BIT
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Edward Austin of Fireco — the caption places him in the Black section of town — worked the mines from nineteen twenty-five to nineteen fifty-six. Black lung benefits and a union pension. Twenty children, and, the caption adds, he does not regret having them one bit.
R057 HARVEY THAXTON, 64, LIVES WITH HIS MOTHER IN RHODELL, WEST VIRGINIA (SEE PICTURE #14030), NEAR BECKLEY. A RETIRED MINER, HE USED BLACK LUNG MONEY TO BUY WHISKEY AND PAINT THE WALL IN THE PICTURE RED. HE RECEIVES A MONTHLY BENEFIT IN ADDITION TO A ONE TIME BLACK LUNG PAYMENT. THE PICTURE ON THE WALL SHOWS HIM IN WORLD WAR II UNIFORM WITH HIS WIFE, NOW DEAD
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Harvey Thaxton of Rhodell used part of his black lung money to buy whiskey — and to paint this wall red. The photograph on it shows him in his World War Two uniform, with his wife, who was gone by nineteen seventy-four.
R059 J.L. BOLEN, 74, A BLIND, RETIRED COAL MINER IS ACCOMPANIED ON A WALK FOR FRESH AIR BY HIS WIFE IN BESOCO, WEST VIRGINIA, NEAR BECKLEY HE ALSO LIKES TO WALK AT NIGHT. BOLEN WAS BORN IN BESOCO, NAMED FOR THE COAL COMPANY THAT USED TO MINE THERE. HE STARTED IN THE MINES AT AGE 14, AND NOW GETS BLACK LUNG BENEFITS AS WELL AS A UNITED MINE WORKERS PENSION
Jack Corn · May 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
J.L. Bolen of Besoco, seventy-four, blind, started in the mines at fourteen. Black lung benefits and a miner's pension. He liked to walk for fresh air, his wife beside him.
R060 HOUSES IN BESOCO, WEST VIRGINIA, NEAR BECKLEY. THEIR CONDITION MIRRORS THE DECLINE OF THE ONCE BUSY MINING TOWN. THE MINES ARE NO LONGER WORKED THERE. THE PEOPLE WHO REMAIN BEHIND MOSTLY ARE THOSE RECEIVING BLACK LUNG, SOCIAL SECURITY, PENSIONS OR WELFARE
Jack Corn · June 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Besoco itself — named for the coal company that used to mine there. The mines are gone. The caption says the people who remain are mostly those receiving black lung, social security, pensions or welfare.
R061 AERIAL VIEW OF CHATTAROY, WEST VIRGINIA, NEAR WILLIAMSON SHOWING THE SCHOOL NEAR THE TOP OF THE PICTURE. THERE IS NO INDUSTRY IN THE TOWN. MOST OF THE PEOPLE SURVIVE ON WELFARE, PENSIONS, SOCIAL SECURITY AND BLACK LUNG BENEFITS. A FEW PEOPLE DRIVE TO NEARBY WILLIAMSON TO WORK. IT IS A NICE AND CLEAN TOWN
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
That sentence repeats across Corn's captions like a rubber stamp. Chattaroy, near Williamson: no industry in the town, and most of the people survive on welfare, pensions, social security and black lung benefits.
What still burned
R066 SLAG HEAP ON BUFFALO CREEK NEAR MAN AND LOGAN, WEST VIRGINIA. AN EARTHEN DAM GAVE WAY ON THIS STREAM IN THE EARLY 1970'S DURING A RAINSTORM CREATING A TIDAL WAVE OF FLOOD WATER WHICH KILLED 104 PEOPLE LIVING IN THE VALLEY BELOW
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
This slag sits on Buffalo Creek. Two years before Corn's visit, a coal-waste dam upstream gave way in a rainstorm. His caption counts one hundred four dead.
Brookside
R068 ROW OF MINERS' HOMES IN THE BROOKSIDE MINE COMPANY TOWN OF BROOKSIDE KENTUCKY, NEAR MIDDLESBORO. THE MINE, OWNED BY THE DUKE POWER COMPANY, WAS THE SCENE OF A PROTRACTED AND SOMETIMES VIOLENT STRIKE BETWEEN THE MINE AND THE UNITED MINE WORKERS UNION DURING 1974. THE STRIKE ENDED WHEN A MAN WAS SHOT AND KILLED ON THE PICKET LINE IN HARLAN COUNTY. THE HOME OF THE JERRY RAINEY FAMILY IS IN THE FOREGROUND. THEY WERE THREATENED WITH EVICTION DURING THE STRIKE
Jack Corn · June 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
And the oldest fight in the coalfields had not ended either. Brookside, Kentucky. Harlan County. Summer of nineteen seventy-four.
R069 PICKET LINE AT THE BROOKSIDE MINE COMPANY IN HARLAN COUNTY KENTUCKY, NEAR MIDDLESBORO IN THE SOUTHEASTERN PART OF THE STATE THE STRIKERS ARE PLAYING CARDS ON THE HOOD OF A CAR. THE MINE CAN BE SEEN IN THE BACKGROUND. THE MINE, OWNED BY THE DUKE POWER COMPANY AND THE UNITED MINES WORKERS WERE INVOLVED IN A LENGTHY AND SOMETIMES VIOLENT BATTLE. THE STRIKE ENDED WHEN A MAN WAS SHOT AND KILLED ON THE PICKET LINE
Jack Corn · June 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
The miners at the Brookside mine — owned by the Duke Power Company — struck for a union contract. Corn's caption calls the strike protracted, and sometimes violent. The picket line passed its shifts playing cards on the hood of a car, the mine in sight behind them.
R070 CLOSEUP OF A PICKET SIGN MADE BY MINERS ON STRIKE AGAINST THE BROOKSIDE MINE COMPANY IN BROOKSIDE, KENTUCKY, NEAR MIDDLESBORO IN THE SOUTHEAST PART OF THE STATE. VIOLENCE OCCURRED DURING THE STRIKE WHICH LASTED SEVERAL MONTHS. IT ENDED WHEN A MAN WAS SHOT AND KILLED ON THE PICKET LINE. THE STRUGGLE WAS BETWEEN THE MINE OWNED BY THE DUKE POWER COMPANY, AND THE UNITED MINE WORKERS
Jack Corn · June 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Somebody painted the line's position on a board. Put your heart in the U.M.W.A. I prefer a union man for a friend.
R071 CLOSEUP OF JERRY RAINEY, 34, MINER AT THE BROOKSIDE MINE COMPANY WHO WAS OUT ON STRIKE IN THE SUMMER OF 1974
Jack Corn · June 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Jerry Rainey, thirty-four, out on strike.
R072 NANNIE RAINEY, 34, WIFE OF MINER JERRY RAINEY, WHO LIVES IN HOUSING OWNED BY THE BROOKSIDE MINE COMPANY NEAR MIDDLESBORO KENTUCKY. THE COMPANY IS OWNED BY THE DUKE POWER COMPANY. SHE WAS ARRESTED DURING THE STRIKE IN 1974 DURING AN ALTERCATION ON THE PICKET LINE IN WHICH SHE WAS ACCUSED OF WHIPPING A KENTUCKY STATE HIGHWAY PATROLMAN WITH A SWITCH, A CHARGE SHE DOES NOT DENY. SHE AND HER CHILDREN WENT TO JAIL UNTIL BAILED OUT BY UNION OFFICIALS
Jack Corn · June 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
His wife Nannie, in company housing. Her caption records that she was arrested during the strike.
R073 TWO YOUNG PEOPLE ON THEIR WAY TO A HIGH SCHOOL FUNCTION IN BROOKSIDE, KENTUCKY, NEAR MIDDLESBORO. THEY ARE WALKING SINGLE FILE ON THE HIGHWAY BECAUSE THERE ARE NO SIDEWALKS. STRIKE SIGNS ADORN THE TREE PROCLAIMING THE UNION SIDE OF THE STRIKE AGAINST THE BROOKSIDE MINE COMPANY. SOME OF THE PICKETERS ARE PARTIALLY VISIBLE TO THE EXTREME LEFT EDGE OF THE PICTURE. IT WAS A LONG AND SOMETIMES VIOLENT STRIKE THAT ENDED WHEN A MAN WAS SHOT AND KILLED ON THE PICKET LINE
Jack Corn · June 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Strike signs stacked at the roadside — the tall one signed by the man who painted it — and two young people walking the shoulder of the highway to a school function.
R074 JACK SMITH, 42, A DISABLED MINER WHO LIVES IN RHODELL, WEST VIRGINIA, NEAR BECKLEY. HE HAD WORKED IN THE MINES ONE YEAR WHEN A ROCK CAVEIN CRUSHED HIS LEGS, AND IT TOOK HIM 18 YEARS BEFORE HE RECEIVED WORKMAN'S COMPENSATION. HIS WHEELCHAIR WAS BOUGHT BY HIS FRIEND, ARNOLD MILLER, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED MINE WORKERS. SMITH NOW OPERATES A BEER JOINT AND STAYS UP ON UNION ACTIVITIES. HE HAS MANNED PICKET LINES IN THE PAST IN HIS WHEELCHAIR. THE DOG IS A FAMILY PET
Jack Corn · June 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
In Rhodell, West Virginia, the union's fight had a veteran who could no longer walk a line. Jack Smith, disabled at twenty-one when a mine roof crushed his legs — after one year underground.
R075 CLOSEUP OF JACK SMITH, 42, DISABLED MINER FROM RHODELL, WEST VIRGINIA, NEAR BECKLEY, WITH THREE OF HIS FOUR DAUGHTERS. HE LOST BOTH LEGS IN A MINE ACCIDENT, AND WAITED 18 YEARS BEFORE RECEIVING WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION. DURING PART OF THAT TIME THE FAMILY HAD TO LIVE ON WELFARE WHICH MADE THEM BITTER. THEY ARE DOING OKAY NOW WITH THE COMPENSATION AND THE MONEY HE MAKES OPERATING A BEER JOINT A BLOCK FROM HIS HOUSE
Jack Corn · June 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
It took him eighteen years to collect workmen's compensation. During part of that time the family lived on welfare, and his caption says it made them bitter.
R076 JACK SMITH, 42, A DISABLED MINER WHO LIVES IN RHODELL, WEST VIRGINIA, SHOWN WITH ONE OF HIS DAUGHTERS, DEBRA, IN THE TAVERN HE NOW OPERATES. HE HAD WORKED IN THE MINES ONE YEAR WHEN HIS LEGS WERE CRUSHED IN A ROOF CAVEIN. IT TOOK HIM 18 YEARS TO RECEIVED WORKMAN'S COMPENSATION. HIS WHEELCHAIR WAS BOUGHT FOR HIM BY HIS FRIEND, ARNOLD MILLER, NOW PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED MINE WORKERS SMITH IS ACTIVE IN THE UNION, AND HAS MANNED PICKET LINES IN THE PAST
Jack Corn · June 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
He ran a beer joint a block from his house, from a wheelchair bought for him by his friend Arnold Miller — by then the president of the United Mine Workers.
R077 JACK SMITH, 42, RHODELL, WEST VIRGINIA, SEATED IN THE BEER JOINT HE OPERATES IN A WHEEL-CHAIR BOUGHT FOR HIM BY HIS FRIEND ARNOLD MILLER, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED MINE WORKERS UNION. HE WAS DISABLED AT AGE 21 AFTER A YEAR IN THE MINES AND HAD TO WAIT 18 YEARS TO COLLECT WORKMAN'S COMPENSATION. HE STAYS CURRENT ON UNION AFFAIRS AND WILL MAN A PICKET LINE. DURING THE STRIKE FOR BLACK LUNG BENEFITS HIS WIFE WHEELED HIM IN FRONT OF A TRAIN TO STOP IT
Jack Corn · May 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
And one line in his caption stands for the whole era. During the strike for black lung benefits, his wife wheeled him in front of a train to stop it.
R078 JACK SMITH, 42, A DISABLED MINER IN RHODELL, WEST VIRGINIA, IS WHEELED DOWN THE STREET BY HIS DAUGHTER, DONNA, 16, TO THE BEER JOINT HE OPERATES. HE HAD WORKED IN THE MINES FOR ONE YEAR WHEN HIS LEGS WERE CRUSHED IN A ROOF CAVERN, BUT IT WAS 18 YEARS BEFORE HE RECEIVED WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION FOR THE ACCIDENT. UNDER HIS ARM IS THE CASH BOX HE USES AT THE TAVERN. SMITH IS ACTIVE IN THE UNION AND HAS MANNED THE PICKET LINES IN HIS WHEELCHAIR IN THE PAST
Jack Corn · June 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
His daughters wheeled him to work down the middle of the street, the cash box under his arm.
R080 MR. AND MRS. BERRY HOWARD OF CUMBERLAND, KENTUCKY, AND THE NEW TRUCK HE JUST BOUGHT WITH SOME OF HIS BLACK LUNG PAYMENTS. HE RETIRED FROM THE MINES SEVERAL YEARS AGO. THE DISEASE RESULTS FROM COAL DUST PARTICLES FILLING AIR SACS IN THE LUNGS AND CAUSES A PROGRESSIVE SHORTNESS OFF BREATH
Jack Corn · Oct. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
In Cumberland, Kentucky — Harlan County again — the money bought other things. Berry Howard, retired, put some of his black lung payments into a new truck.
R081 CLOSEUP OF MRS. BERRY HOWARD, WIFE OF A RETIRED COAL MINER WHO LIVES IN CUMBERLAND, KENTUCKY. HER HUSBAND HAD JUST BOUGHT A NEW TRUCK WITH SOME OF HIS BLACK LUNG PAYMENTS. THE DISEASE RESULTS FROM COAL DUST PARTICLES FILLING AIR SACS IN THE LUNGS AND CAUSES A PROGRESSIVE SHORTNESS OF BREATH
Jack Corn · Oct. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
And a portrait of his wife.
R083 MRS. SHARON BOWLING, 25, AND SON, MARK, 2, OUTSIDE THEIR HOME IN CUMBERLAND, KENTUCKY. WIFE OF A MINER, SHE IS SHOWN LOOKING AT THE UNITED MINE WORKERS JOURNAL, HER "BIBLE"
Jack Corn · Oct. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
And Sharon Bowling, twenty-five, a miner's wife, reading the United Mine Workers Journal outside her door. Her caption calls it her bible.
The new mines
R085 ENTRANCE TO A NEW OPENING AT A MINE OWNED BY THE TENNESSEE CONSOLIDATED COAL COMPANY NEAR JASPER AND CHATTANOOGA. THE WOOD FRAME WILL BE PLACED IN THE ENTRANCE. IT IS A PROGRESSIVE AND NON-UNION MINE, AND SELLS MOST OF ITS METALLURGICAL (HIGH GRADE) COAL TO JAPAN
Jack Corn · Aug. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
The industry itself was not dying. It was changing hands and changing shape. In Grundy County, Tennessee, the Tennessee Consolidated Coal Company opened a new mine — non-union, its caption notes — in a seam three feet high.
R086 THE GENERAL MINE FOREMAN AT ONE OF THE TENNESSEE CONSOLIDATED COAL COMPANY MINES NEAR JASPER AND CHATTANOOGA STANDS BESIDE THE SHUTTLE CARS USED TO TRANSPORT THE MINERS TO WORK. THEY LAY DOWN ON THE CARS TO CLEAR THE THREE FOOT HIGH CEILINGS DURING THEIR TWO MILE TRIP. IT IS A PROGRESSIVE NON-UNION MINE THAT SELLS MOST OF ITS METALLURGICAL (HIGH GRADE) COAL TO JAPAN
Jack Corn · Aug. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
The men rode to work lying on their backs.
R089 MINER WAYNE GIPSON, 39, WITH HIS DAUGHTER TABITHA, 3. HE HAS JUST GOTTEN HOME FROM HIS JOB AS A CONVEYOR BELT OPERATOR IN A NON-UNION MINE. AS SOON AS HE ARRIVES HE TAKES A SHOWER AND CHANGES INTO CLOTHES TO DO LIVESTOCK CHORES WITH HIS TWO SONS. GIPSON WAS BORN AND RAISED IN PALMER, TENNESSEE, BUT NOW LIVES WITH HIS FAMILY NEAR GRUETLI, NEAR CHATTANOOGA. HE MOVED NORTH TO WORK AND MARRIED THERE, BUT RETURNED BECAUSE HE AND HIS WIFE THINK IT IS A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE
Jack Corn · Dec. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Wayne Gipson, thirty-nine, a belt operator in the mines and a Methodist minister, home from his shift with his face still black, his three-year-old daughter beside him. His caption says the shower comes first, then the change of clothes.
R091 WILDER, TENNESSEE, IN THE CUMBERLAND MOUNTAINS NEAR COOKEVILLE IN THE EASTERN PART OF THE STATE. IT IS AN ALMOST ABANDONED TOWN IN A ONCE GREAT MINING AREA. IT REACHED A POPULATION OF MORE THAN 20,000 IN THE 1920'S AND HAD A SLIGHT COMEBACK DURING WORLD WAR II. NOW THE POPULATION OF SOME 400 LIVES ON WELFARE AND PENSIONS
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
And further up the plateau, Corn photographed where the industry had already been. Wilder, Tennessee. More than twenty thousand people in the twenties. Some four hundred when he came through — living, the caption says, on welfare and pensions.
R092 SMALL U.S. POST OFFICE IN WILDER NEAR COOKEVILLE, TENNESSEE. IT SERVES AREA RESIDENTS, MANY OF WHOM LIVE ON WELFARE OR PENSIONS THE FLAG POLE IS FROM THE TRUNK OF A SMALL PINE TREE. IN THE BACKGROUND IS AN OLD COAL TIPPLE WHICH IS ABANDONED
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
The post office flagpole is the trunk of a small pine tree. The tipple behind it is abandoned.
What no statute could do
R093 HOUSES PERCHED ON A HILLSIDE AT LOGAN, WEST VIRGINIA. MANY HOMES ARE BUILT THIS WAY BECAUSE LEVEL LAND IS AT A PREMIUM IN THE VALLEYS OF THIS COAL MINING AREA. AS A RESULT MANY OF THE YOUNG MINERS ARE BUYING MOBILE HOMES FOR HOUSING BECAUSE THEY TAKE LESS SPACE AND COST LESS THAN CONVENTIONAL HOUSING
Jack Corn · Apr. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
The nineteen sixty-nine act promised that the disease would be counted. The nineteen seventy-two act had to add: counted even when the X-ray says otherwise. What no statute could do is give back the breath.
R094 THE COOL MORNING AIR CONDENSES A BOY'S BREATH AS HE WALKS ALONG A COAL CAR ON HIS WAY TO SCHOOL IN CUMBERLAND, KENTUCKY, IN HARLAN COUNTY. COAL MINING REMAINS THE LARGEST SINGLE INDUSTRY IN THE AREA. WHEN THE YOUNGSTERS GROW UP MANY OF THEM FACE THE CHOICE OF WORKING IN COAL RELATED JOBS OR MOVING AWAY FROM THE AREA, AND FAMILY AND FRIENDS
Jack Corn · Oct. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Jack Corn photographed a boy walking to school past a coal car in Cumberland, Kentucky, on a cold morning in October, nineteen seventy-four. You can see his breath.
R095 SUNRISE OVER BLACK MOUNTAIN WHICH SEPARATES VIRGINIA AND KENTUCKY, NEAR KINGSPORT, TENNESSEE. NEAR HARLAN COUNTY, KENTUCKY THIS AREA HOLDS SOME OF THE RICHEST COAL RESERVES IN THE EASTERN PART OF THE UNITED STATES. THE VIEW IS TOWARD VIRGINIA
Jack Corn · Oct. 1974 · National Archives, RG 412 · DOCUMERICA. View the original.
Every photograph in this film is a federal record, in its original color, free at the National Archives. The statutes are in the description. If your people were in the coal camps — the comments are open.
Sources
- [S1] Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, Public Law 91-173, 83 Stat. 742 (approved Dec. 30, 1969). Read from the United States Statutes at Large, vol. 83, 400-dpi scan. https://archive.org/details/sim_united-states-united-states-statutes-at-large_1969_83
- [S2] Black Lung Benefits Act of 1972, Public Law 92-303, 86 Stat. 150 (approved May 19, 1972). Same edition, vol. 86 (leaf = printed page + 41). https://archive.org/details/sim_united-states-united-states-statutes-at-large_1972_86
- [S3] Jack Corn, photographs for DOCUMERICA, Environmental Protection Agency, April–December 1974. National Archives, Record Group 412 (naIds 556313–556611 range); files via Wikimedia Commons at the Archives' full resolution. Federal works, public domain. The colors are real — these are period color transparencies, not colorizations. https://catalog.archives.gov/search?q=jack%20corn%20documerica