99 Years Later

     Today is the 99th anniversary of the worst mine disaster in Alabama History, an event that finally spurred the state into ending the racist and immoral practice of "convict leasing".
     The anniversary falls, appropriately, as the search winds down for any more survivors of a coal mine disaster in West Virginia. Twenty-five are known dead, four still missing there.

     An explosion at 6:30 in the morning on April 8, 1911 killed 128  miners, all but a few convicts "leased" to the mining company by the State. The majority of prisoners then (and now) were black.
     Not surprisingly, many of the early men leasing prisoners were former slave owners. 
     Ten days after the explosion, the Alabama Legislature approved a weak mine safety bill, but the leasing of convicts would continue for almost two decades.
     The story of the Banner Mine tragedy is one of political corruption and public apathy. I'm willing to bet that the convict lease system would be approved today if it were put on the November ballot. It wouldn't stand court challenge, but I'll bet voters would approve it. Better that than letting those convicts stay in their air conditioned cells watching free cable TV all day, right?
     Mine safety has improved a great deal in the last 99 years, primarily because of unions. Yet it is still a dangerous business. In China in 2009, there were 3,250 miners killed. In the U.S. that same year, 30.

     The old Banner Mine site is unmarked, but it's in this general area West of Highway 78 in Jefferson County. I found it thanks to Graysville Mayor Doug Brewer* and Sheriff's Deputy Dennis Ferguson. 

     The men who died in the explosion were buried on a nearby hilltop, though the graves are no longer visible. There is no historic marker to commemorate the disaster.

[*Doug and I worked together a few years back at WERC Radio. He got smart and went into a legit occupation.]