Coal Creek Labor Saga

On July 13, 1891 three hundred miners who worked in the towns of Briceville and Coal Creek in Anderson County, Tennessee marched to the Tennessee Coal Mining Company’s stockade outside Briceville. The stockade housed 40 convicted criminals who had been leased to the company by the state to work as convict laborers. These convict laborers were placed in jobs previously held by local miners. The miners took control of the convicts, marched them to Coal Creek and boarded them on a train bound for Knoxville. This incident began a year-long rebellion aimed at convincing the state to end the convict-lease program that begin in 1866. 

Weblink address (URL): 
Coal Creek Labor Saga
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Standards & Objectives

Learning objectives: 

In the course of the lesson, students will be able to:

  • Make inferences from a text and cite specific textual evidence
  • Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research
  • Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words 
Essential and guiding questions: 
  • What do primary sources such as telegrams and letters tell us about the Coal Creek Labor Saga?
  • What was the convict lease program and how did it impact life for the coal miners in Tennessee?
  • Were the actions of the miners, the State of Tennessee, and the Tennessee state militia justified? 

Lesson Variations

Blooms taxonomy level: 
Understanding
Extension suggestions: 

Assessment and Enrichment Options:

  • Students exchange the assessment letters with the opposite side (miner to a militia) and then write a response letter back to student.
  • Students draw a map to their letter labeling the locations such as Anderson County, Rocky Top, Coal Creek, Briceville, Brushy Mountain State Prison, Knoxville, Nashville, Chattanooga, other coal mine strikes in TN, etc.
  • Write a letter to the editor of a Tennessee newspaper either defending the convict lease program or supporting the miners in the Coal Creek Labor Saga.
  • Write a response letter back to the Citizens of Coal Creek concerning the fate of James Muldoon. 

Helpful Hints

Materials Needed:

  • Access to TSLA website
  • Copies of the primary sources from the Coal Creek Labor Saga collection on the Library & Archives Education Outreach Website
  • Copies or access to the background information on Coal Creek Labor Saga
  • Copies of TSLA's Worksheet for Analysis of a Written Document (page 1 only)
  • Internet access for watching background information video(s)