Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
Miner’s Red Bandana, c.1920
Although the word has many claimed origins in the United States, the slang term “redneck” crystalized in the militant labor union movement in the central Appalachian coalfields at the turn of the 20th century. The multi-ethnic, multi-racial army of miners who joined the armed march that erupted into open conflict on Blair Mountain in the summer of 1921 wore a hodge-podge of impromptu battle attire, ranging from their daily work clothes to US Army uniforms fresh from their overseas service in the first World War. But each of these striking miners all wore commonly-available red bandanas around their necks — bandanas which have become a distinctly American piece of apparel to this day, always patterned with paisley, a motif with a direct lineage to ancient Persian textiles.
On Blair Mountain, these workers fought a guerilla war in the forest for days against a well-armed vigilante army led by regional, ruling class elites in the pocket of the coal industry, who themselves wore white armbands. Those “defenders” called the miners who had finally picked up weapons to fight for their basic human rights “rednecks” because of the red bandanas they wore.
This bandana belonged to Hub Bane, the grandfather of donor Ed Harless. Bane was living at Burnwell, West Virginia during the Paint Creek and Cabin Creek Strikes (1912-13) and experienced the evictions and strife that defined that early era of the Mine Wars firsthand. In the lead-up to the Battle of Blair Mountain, there was an encampment of gathering unionist miners at Hernshaw, West Virginia, north of the eventual battlefield. 21 years old that summer, Bane walked from his home in Burnwell to join the Hernshaw encampment wearing this bandana and carrying his rifle, a 2lb bag of flour, and "catridges" (cartridges) for his rifle. For unknown reasons, he chose to return home and not to join the march once it began advancing south.
