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Professor Gorby nominated for an Emmy for research on Mine Wars documentary

Dr. Hal Gorby's contributing research for the PBS documentary "Mine Wars" helped the film earn a News and Documentary Emmy nomination in the category of Outstanding Research. Although the film did not win at the award's ceremony earlier this month, Dr. Gorby was recognized for his research in the nomination forms. 

The documentary looks at the battle in West Virginia mines, the largest armed insurrection since the Civil War, as a fight for miner's dignity and rights.

You can watch the film on PBS
mine wars

Mine Wars Synopsis

At the dawn of the 20th century, coal was the fuel that powered the nation. Yet few Americans thought much about the men who blasted the black rock from underground and hauled it to the surface. The Mine Wars tells the overlooked story of the miners in the mountains of southern West Virginia — native mountaineers, African American migrants, and European immigrants — 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. The West Virginia mine wars raised profound questions about what freedom and democracy meant to working people in an industrial society.