Aug 10, 2017 4 min read

The Wheeling Academy of Law and Science Foundation, in partnership with Wheeling Heritage and the Ohio County Public Library, will offer the first Reuther-Pollack Labor History Symposium Sept. 2 at the First State Capitol, 1413 Eoff St., Wheeling, W.Va.

Donation is $20 and includes a box lunch and a full day of presentations from five of the foremost labor historians in West Virginia. A $10 half-day admission for presentations only also is available, and students will be admitted at half price.

The date of the symposium is appropriate because it is near the birthday of Wheeling’s well-known union leader Walter Reuther (Sept. 1, 1907), the culmination of the Battle of Blair Mountain (Sept. 2, 1921) and Labor Day, which this year is Sept. 4.

In addition to Reuther, who is widely regarded as one of the most influential and charismatic labor leaders of the 20th century, the symposium also is named in honor of Augustus Pollack, the Wheeling business owner whose progressive policies toward his employees led organized labor to erect a monument in his honor. It is thought to the only monument ever built by labor in honor of a business owner.

As part of the symposium, the Ohio County Public Library will offer a free screening of the PBS “American Experience” documentary, “The Mine Wars,” at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 31.

“The Mine Wars” tells the story of the miners in the mountains of southern West Virginia who came together in a protracted struggle for their rights. Decades of violence, strikes, assassinations and marches accompanied their attempts to form a union, culminating in the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921, the largest armed insurrection since the Civil War. Dr. Charles Keeney, one of the experts who appears in the film, will be a symposium speaker.

The symposium schedule is as follows:

• 10 to 10:50 a.m. – Registration and reception.

• 10:50 to 11 a.m. – Welcome and introductory remarks.

• 11 a.m. to noon – “Augustus Pollack, Valentine Reuther and the Ohio Valley Trades & Labor Assembly, 1882 to 1915: The Golden Age of Wheeling Unionism” with Dr. David Javersak, dean emeritus of liberal arts and professor emeritus of history at West Liberty University. He has studied the Ohio Valley Trades & Labor Assembly since writing his dissertation on the subject as a doctoral candidate.

• Noon to 1 p.m. – “Those So-Called Hunkeys are the Cleanest Union Men: Immigrants Battle the Open Shop in Wheeling, 1918-1924” with Dr. Hal Gorby, a teaching assistant professor of history and director of undergraduate studies at West Virginia University. He also consulted on the research and script editing for “The Mine Wars.”

• 1 to 2 p.m. – Lunch break and walking tour to Reuther and Pollack monuments with Javersak.

• 2 to 3 p.m. – “Capital Mobility, Rural-Industrial Workers and the Search for Stability in Hancock County” with Dr. Lou Martin, an associate professor of history at Chatham University and author of “Smokestacks in the Hills: Rural-Industrial Workers in West Virginia.”

• 2 to 4 p.m. – “Americanism and Selling Free Enterprise in Post-War West Virginia” with Dr. Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, a professor in the History Department at West Virginia University. Her research has focused on post-World War II labor and social history.

• 4 to 5 p.m. – “The Mind Guard System: Mine Wars, Labor, and the Politics of Memory in West Virginia” with Dr. Charles Keeney, who has published two books, including “Defending the Homeland: Historical Perspectives on Radicalism, Terrorism, and State Responses,” and is a founding member of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum.

The WALS Foundation is a nonprofit community organization established in 2004 to promote educational programming and consulting in education, employment, local history and preservation, energy and the environment.

Seating for the symposium is limited, and registration is recommended. RSVP by emailing spd@walslaw.com or calling 304-232-8100. Proceeds help fund future educational programming at WALS. For more information about the symposium, visit www.walswheeling.com or the WALS Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/events/1430439130382850.