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September 1939. Ducktown, Tennessee. "Copper miners on strike waiting for scabs to come out of mines." Acetate negative by Marion Post Wolcott. View full size.
From Tennessee4me
Ducktown/Copperhill strike
In 1938 copper miners went on strike in Ducktown and Copperhill. Members of the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations), the miners wanted better working conditions. Many were sick with what they called "miners tuberculosis," probably silicosis. Lucy Mason, an organizer with the CIO, wrote about the “thin, yellow faces and sunken chests of men whose lives were eaten away each day they worked.”
During one visit to Copperhill, Mason said her local driver, Jim Anderson, a member of the CIO, carried a gun with him, because “someone might want to get me.” The CIO lost the strike in Copperhill.
At what age back then did you start to wear a hat? This photo shows almost everyone under thirty without a hat, and everyone over that age with a variety of hats, mostly fedoras.
He's a big Paints fan.
My father, born 1918, wore his socks like that his entire life. Twist a pinch of fabric and roll the sock top down over it. The alternative, adjustable sock garters, did not have the panache.
I don't think the gentleman in front will be hitting any golf balls.
Strike Force (including the four hidden faces): 35; Office Xmas Party: 47. In the happiness sweepstakes, figuring the percentage of smiling faces (admittedly rather subjective in some cases) it came out 20% for the strikers and 40% for the Xmasers. Apparently being employed at Christmas is only twice as much fun as being on strike during the Depression.
Hidden faces:
"I'll hit my shot as soon as they finish taking the photo."
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