Oberlin, 35 miles southwest of Cleveland, probably had more bicycles per capita than most towns because the college prohibited student ownership of cars…
Tappan Square, at the center of the college, and its American Elm trees.
A civil rights rally in October 1963 brought four hundred Oberlin townspeople and students together to protest alleged hiring discrimination by the Northern Ohio Telephone Company. Harry Hawkins, disabled by a leg injury, showed his support by waving an American flag from his car. "I sure would have liked to be out there marching. Everyone in town should be here."
An unidentified woman also carried a flag. When asked why, she observed, "I've lived under it for 63 years and I thought it belonged here. It shows I have every right in the Constitution."
At the end of the march participants joined hands around Oberlin's Historic Elm tree and sang "We Shall Overcome." Oberlin's police chief, Frank Winkler, said, "It's a very peaceful, well-conducted demonstration."
Despite the efforts of the local NAACP chapter, Northern Ohio Telephone Company president and general manager Col. William Henry refused to meet with protesters, asserting, "there is nothing to negotiate."
The trip to Hazard, Kentucky begins in Cleveland, where Teamsters loaded a truck with groceries: some purchased with student funds and some donated by area wholesalers. Fred Magdoff (light-colored trousers), one of the student organizers, looks on.
Laundry Day, Eastern Kentucky, 1963
A stream clogged with debris runs past one of many small coal mines in eastern Kentucky. The United Mine Workers had decided not to organize mines with only a few workers, so many coal miners did not benefit from the wages and job protections that the union had negotiated with the larger mining companies. At the same time these mines were unprofitably small, and their owners felt unable to meet demands for higher wages, benefits, and better working conditions.
Hazard is nestled in the Cumberlands of eastern Kentucky. Floods in March, 1963, had inundated large areas of the town, built in the floodplain of the Kentucky River.
Two leaders of the striking miners meet Oberlin's shipment outside of Hazard. Both men are armed and they offer pistols to the two students, who refused.
Fred Magdoff listens as the strikers explain the dangers of taking the groceries into town during the day. The mine owners are determined to break the strike. We have to wait outside town until nightfall.
The truck pulls up outside a hall that will serve as a distribution point for the donated food. Teamsters and miners begin the unloading.
Miners carry cases of dry milk into the hall.
Cases of bread, cereal, canned goods and milk powder; and bags of potatoes, beans and flour, are stacked in the hall. The unloading proceeded quickly and without incident.
The truck is empty and the hall is full. A miner's wife breaks out a loaf of bread.
