X-Nico

5 unusual facts about Harlan County


Harlan County

Harlan County, USA, a documentary film about mineworkers in the Kentucky county and their fight to organize a trade union

Hazel Dickens

She appeared in the documentary Harlan County, USA and also contributed four songs to the soundtrack of the same film.

National Student League

The NSL began making a name for itself by involving itself in the TUUL led Harlan County miners strike.

Samuel Ornitz

In 1931, Ornitz collaborated with Theodore Dreiser, John Dos Passos and other left-leaning writers on the report of the Dreiser Committee, an investigation of the Harlan County War strike in Harlan County, Kentucky.

You Got to Move

Fought to get damage payments for the people in her community in Cranks Creek, Harlan County, Kentucky much of whose property was destroyed by a series of floods related to strip-mining abuses; succeeded in reclaiming much of the mountainous land around Cranks Creek.


Florence Reece

Reece appeared in the Academy Award-winning documentary film, Harlan County, USA, singing her anthem to rally the striking miners.

Kenneth Yablonski

Kenneth Yablonski appears in documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple's film, Harlan County, USA, which won the 1976 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.


see also

Alma, Nebraska

Alma's status as county seat was challenged by residents of Orleans, but an 1884 Nebraska Supreme Court decision affirmed Alma's status as seat of Harlan County.

National Student League

Inspired by the example of Waldo Frank and Theodore Dreisers writers delegation, the group decided to send a student delegation to Harlan County to provide relief for the striking miners and to investigate conditions in the area.