Faith Joell Leone

ABSTRACT SUBMITTED: This research examines social memories of work and labor in two interconnected districts of West Virginia and Alabama. In doing so, it investigates how stories about the past shape and are shaped by dynamics of class, race, and kinship histories, shedding light on working people’s aspirations during and after one of the longest mining strikes in US history. Eighteen months of ethnographic fieldwork revealed that labor organizers and culture workers invest in creating opportunities for multigenerational exchange and attempting to narrate the past in ways that imagine collective futures. These efforts are shaped by people’s various—sometimes contradictory or competing—commitments to causes including occupational health, social safety nets for retirees, and family obligations. These commitments are narrated in stories about past labor strikes, which in turn shape people’s expectations of present-day organizing and work stoppages. Further, amongst white Appalachians in particular, memories of work and labor reflect desires for multiracial working-class coalitions. Sometimes this is articulated through balancing stories of multiracial solidarity in the coalfields with stories that acknowledge racism in workplaces and communities, while at other times, this is articulated through stories that minimize inequalities and divisions underground.