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You searched for: Source A&M 4224, West Virginia Folklife Program Collection Remove constraint Source: A&M 4224, West Virginia Folklife Program Collection Subject Coal mines and mining Remove constraint Subject: Coal mines and mining

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["Cora Lee (Phillips) Hairston (b. 1942, Sarah Anne, WV) is a musician and writer from Logan County, West Virginia. She and her husband Fred, also a musician, currently live in Omar, West Virginia. Cora Hairston is the author of two novels, Faces Behind the Dust and Hello World Here Comes Claraby Rose, both fictionalized accounts based on her childhood growing up in a Black coal camp. She spoke about her childhood, her music, and her writing practice."]

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["Charli Shea Fortney-Heiskell of Morgantown, WV is 11 years old and the granddaughter of Mary Jane Coulter, the Executive Director of the Scotts Run Museum. Charli Shea is often at the Museum during the Saturday coffee shop.This interview is part of a collection of interviews conducted with Scotts Run natives/residents and/or members of the Scotts Run Museum."]
["Ernest Hofer, born in Helvetia in 1950, is from a family with deep roots in Helvetia. His grandfather was the first baby boy born in the community in the 1870s. Aside from serving in Vietnam for two years, Hofer has lived in Helvetia his entire life. Hofer recently retired from working in the mines, and has worked at the Pickens [Helvetias neighboring town] Ramp Supper for forty-two years, and the Helvetia Ramp Supper for twenty-five. He is treasurer of the Helvetia Community Hall Association and is a member of the Pickens Volunteer Fire Department. He retired from working in the mines earlier this year.People aren't going to tell you where the ramp patch isthat's a well-kept secret and I'm not tellin' you where mine's at! And a lot of the property has been closed to ramp-digging due to the lumber companies, leasing the property. Which...has hurt the ramp suppers a lot. So, you just can't dig 'em. This interview is part of a series of interviews conducted with foodways practitioners in Helvetia, West Virginia, as part of the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance. Learn more: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]

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["Sarah Boyd Little, 94, is an African American gospel singer who grew up in Scots Run, West Virginia. When she was in high school, Littles choir sang for President Roosevelt at the White House. Little still performs in the group Al Anderson and Friends, and is active in the Scots Run community. I spoke with her and West Virginia University art professor Eve Faulkes at Faulkes home in Morgantown. This interview is part of a collection of interviews conducted with Scotts Run natives/residents and/or members of the Scotts Run Museum."]

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["Elaine (Moore) Purkey is an activist songwriter and musician from Harts Creek, West Virginia in Lincoln County. She was born on May 29, 1949, on the same piece of property where she still lives. She was raised in a family of musicians and flatfoot dancers and attributes her powerful voice to the acapella singing she learned as a member of the Church of Christ. As a teenager she played in bands with her brother, and in early adulthood she was the lead singer of a local country band. In the 1980s, she began performing regularly on the Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbors Show, a live radio program out of Logan County that has been on the air since 1967. She now hosts the show. Purkey wrote songs for the Pittston Coal Strike and Ravenswood Lockout and has performed at concerts and festivals across the continent. Her song \"One Day More\" written for the Ravenswood Lockout, is featured on the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings compilation Classic Labor Songs. Purkey is portrayed in the 2014 film Moving Mountains, based on a book by Penny Loeb. A proud mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Purkey teaches singing classes to children at the Big Ugly Community Center."]

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["George Sarris was born in Liberty, West Virginia in Scotts Run, March 15th 1940. His parents were Greek immigrants from Crete. His father worked in the coal mines and then quit to open a restaurant in Osage. In this interview, Sarris talks about growing up in the diverse coal community of Scotts Run, including his opinion of the Roosevelts and his memories of his fathers restaurant. He speaks about the importance of the Scotts Run Museum today and the friendships he maintains with others who grew up in the community.This interview is part of a collection of interviews conducted with Scotts Run natives/residents and/or members of the Scotts Run Museum."]