Digging Our Own Graves: Coal Miners and the Struggle Over Black Lung Disease
This fully updated edition of a classic work from one of the leading historians of Appalachia documents a community's struggle against the deadly black lung disease.
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Barbara Ellen Smith is professor of women's and gender studies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
"This book offers us a long view on the power of organizing around workplace health and safety that can help frontline workers -- from teachers to grocery and sanitation workers -- strategize now, but also develop long-term strategies for workplace organizing around the impacts of the less-understood, long-term impacts of COVID-19, which are going to force us to bring disability politics more centrally into workplace organizing." --Jacobin
"Digging Our Own Graves is a lesson on a public health disaster. Smith explores the deep roots of a worker power struggle in Appalachia that continues today." --Celeste Monforton
(Fellow) Collegium Ramazzini
"A valuable contribution to this important history." --Grant Crandall
"Barbara Smith's updated edition of her book, Digging Our Own Graves provides a significant addition to the history of the battles against black lung from its beginnings to our current efforts against resurgent severe disease." --Bob Cohen
