Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA): A Pictorial Walk Through the 20th Century - History of African-American Miners in the Appalachian Coal Fields

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History of African-American Miners in the Appalachian Coal Fields
	One of the largest coal companies operating in the Richmond Basin (Virginia) in the late 1830's was the famous Midlothian Mining Company, chartered in 1836. The Midlothian mining company employed some 150 black workers. The company hired excess slaves from nearby farmers. Following the Civil War, the company employed as many newly freed blacks as possible rather than replacing them with whites.
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