The History
How to Help
Welcome to the Remember Virden Website
We are making a documentary that tells the dramatic story of the fight for living wages and decent conditions in the coal fields of Illinois. It was a class and race conflict that riveted the nation from 1898-1900. Dozens of people lost their lives as a result of these battles, which established Illinois as the seedbed of militant unionism. When labor heroine “Mother Jones” asked to be buried in Mt. Olive, Illinois with some of the casualties of the mine wars, she sought to recognize this legacy and remind all of us of this conflict and its meaning.
It was one of the bloodiest class conflicts in American history, but even most people in Illinois know little about it. This conflict:
- Shows how workers organized for a living wage in the late 19th century
- Helps us to understand the role of race as a dividing line
- Allows us to witness the effects of extreme poverty on families
- Tells the little known story of a governor who intervened on the side of workers.
