WHAT WE'RE READING: Matewan Writer And Director On The Film’s Lessons For The Labor Movement
Harold Phillips | Published on 8/4/2026
From The Guardian:
"Miners were amid the wake of a contentious union election within the United Mine Workers of America. Fierce tensions had led to the murder of union reform candidate Joseph Yablonski and his wife in December 1969. Miners told Sayles the conflict was comparable to the Matewan Massacre, an event in 1920 he had never heard about before and, like much labor history, had largely been shelved away from the forefront of the American consciousness. Learning that bit of American history would eventually inspire Sayles to write a screenplay and eventually direct the 1987 film Matewan."
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