A friend of mine from ‘up home’ reccomened a book about anthracite coal mning in NE Pa where I grew up. Because of those mines people from all over Europe game to find a better life than the ones they led working in mines in Wales, Polland, Italy, Ireland etc. The conditions were horrible here but better than they had been in their native countries.
My paternal Grandfather worked many years in the mines around and above Scranton. The book “Dirty Miners” written in 2015 is a fact based novel of the miners and their families, as well as, a history of mining in that area. My oldest uncle and father also worked as coal miners for a period of time. However, we never asked about their experiences those hundreds of feet undergound. The the father of the narrator of the book worked his whole life in those dark places and yet Damien never talked with him until he brought Damiano to live with his family in the last years of his dad’s life.
Damiano went to work in the mines at nine years old because his dad was killed in a cave in. The author, John Fitzgerald, described in great detail what this young boy endured. I had no idea what my grandfather faced each day–constantly aware of impending danger. However, unjust, unbearable, and unacclaimed the work of our ancestors was, there remains in us a great and powerful force–a dignity of forebearance in providing for one’s family with the hope of a better life for their children and grandchildren.
This book is a wake-up call for thanksgivng and the realization of our true worth eminating from those dirt and coal dust covered men and the women who supported them. Happy Thanksgiving!
DJ Pasternak, Author 