The Black Coal Miner Memorial in Lynch, Kentucky, is located on the side of the ‘Lynch Colored Public School,’ which is a segregation-era high school for Black teenagers in Lynch. The memorial consists of three plaques. The one in the center depicts a Black coal miner surrounded by mining equipment below the inscription ‘In Memory of the Black Coal Miner.’ There are two golden plaques on either side of this plaque. One describes each of the images on the main plaque. The other is a more detailed dedication to Black coal miners. The Eastern Kentucky Social Club erected this monument in 2017. Members of this club include Thomas E. Wagner, William Turner, Carolyn Sundy, and Phillip J. Obermiller, whose names are included on the plaque titled “To Honor the Black Coal Miners and Keep Their Legacy Alive.”
“In Memory of the Black Coal Miner,” photos by Zoe Brooks
Further Readings:
Eastern Kentucky Social Club
“Eastern Kentucky Social Club,” in Black in Appalachia.
They Will Remember Us: The Miners of Black Harlan
Radcliffe Roye, “‘They Will Remember Us’: The Miners of Black Harlan,” in The New York Review, 2019.
Lynch Colored School
Tim Talbott, “Lynch Colored School,” in Explore KY History.
Black Workers Helped Build Appalachia’s Economy. Today, They’re Still Shortchanged
Eric Dixon, “Black Workers Helped Build Appalachia’s Economy. Today, They’re Still Shortchanged,” Ohio River Valley Institute, 2023.
Black History Month: An Early Look at William Turner’s Memoir ‘Harlan Renaissance’
William Turner, “Black History Month: An Early Look at William Turner’s Memoir ‘Harlan Renaissance’,” in The Daily Yonder, 2021.