Sarah Blizzard
{{Short description|American labor leader}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sarah Blizzard
| image = Motherblizzard.jpg
| alt = headshot of a white older woman with grey curly hair and glasses wearing a dark shirt with white spots
| caption =
| birth_name = Sarah Rebecca Rogers
| birth_date = {{Birth date |1864|10|06}}
| birth_place = Edmond, West Virginia, US
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1955|09|28|1864|10|06}}
| death_place = West Virginia, US
| other_names =
| spouse = Timothy Blizzard
| children = Bill Blizzard
| known_for = UMWA supporter
| notable_works =
}}
Sarah Rebecca Blizzard ({{née}} Rogers; October 6, 1864 – September 28, 1955) was an American labor activist involved with the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). She was the mother of UMWA officer Bill Blizzard, and was known to the coal miners as "Mother" or "Ma" Blizzard. UMWA President Cecil Roberts is her great-grandson.
Background
Born in Fayette County, West Virginia, Sarah witnessed the arrival of the railroads circa 1880 and the beginnings of the coal mining industry in southern West Virginia.{{cite web | url = https://www.wvpublic.org/radio/2018-09-28/september-28-1955-labor-activist-mother-blizzard-dies | title =September 28, 1955: Labor Activist Mother Blizzard Dies | work = West Virginia Public Radio | date = September 28, 2020}} Blizzard was involved with the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) from its beginnings and encouraged her family to participate with the union.{{cite encyclopedia | url = https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/546 | title = Mother Blizzard | first = Shae | last = Davidson | date = September 26, 2012 | encyclopedia = The West Virginia Encyclopedia}} Women were not allowed in the mines, but focused on running their households and raising their families. They held a key role in supporting the men in the mines and when they went on strike.{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iTUsAQAAMAAJ&q=%22mother+blizzard%22| title = Women coal miners| work = Coal Employment Project & Coal Mining Women's Support Team | volume =5-8 | last1 = | first1 = | year = 1982 }}
The Blizzard family was evicted from their home in Kilsyth, West Virginia due to Sarah's support of the miners in the coal strike of 1902. After their eviction, the family moved to Cabin Creek, West Virginia. During the Paint Creek–Cabin Creek strike of 1912, Blizzard allowed striking miners to camp on her family's land.{{cite news |last1=Thiruvengadam |first1=Meena |title=Olympic gold medalist Mary Lou Retton, author Pearl S. Buck among influential women from West Virginia |url=https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/life/women-of-the-century/2020/08/13/west-virginia-equal-suffrage-movement-first-woman-olympic-gold-medalist/3286033001/ |work=USA Today |date=August 20, 2020}} Ma Blizzard and Mother Jones organized an "umbrella march" where pro-union women marched with umbrellas in support of the miners. Blizzard led a group of women to damage the railroad tracks used by the Bull Moose Special, "train-riding, machine-gunning lawmen" who shot into tent colonies used by miners and their families evicted by the coal companies for striking.{{cite web|last1=Slavin|first1=Peter|title=Bill Blizzard, Blair Mountain and justice for miners|url=http://blueridgecountry.com/archive/people/bill-blizzard-blair-mountain/|website=Blue Ridge Country|access-date= March 13, 2018|date= August 16, 2011}}
File:Residents of Holly Grove tent colony.png{{Cite book |last=Labor Publication Society |url=https://archive.org/details/v11n07-aug-1922-LA/page/20/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Labor Age (Vol. 11, No. 7) - August 1922 |date=1922 |pages=20}})]]
After the 1912 strike, Blizzard was called to testify before the Congressional committee investigating the conditions which led to the strike. One aspect of her testimony was the actions of the guards towards the community during the strike.{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HQM9AAAAYAAJ&q=sarah+blizzard&pg=PA455 | title = Conditions in the Paint Creek District, West Virginia: Hearings ... Sixty-third Congress, First Session Pursuant to S. Res. 37, a Resolution Authorizing the Appointment of a Committee to Make an Investigation of Conditions in the Paint Creek District, West Virginia| year = 1913}} Ma Blizzard never left her community, but in the following years focused her energy on supporting the work of the miners.{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nPoqAAAAMAAJ&q=%22mother+blizzard%22 | title = On the Battle-lines, 1919-1939| isbn = 9780717806461| last1 = Shields| first1 = Art| year = 1986| publisher = International Publishers}}
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book | url = https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/major-labor-figures-of-the-west-virginia-mine-wars.htm | title = Major Labor Figures of the West Virginia Mine Wars | work = U.S. National Park Service}}
- {{cite book | url = http://www.wvgenweb.org/wvcoal/blizzard/two.htm | title = Miners' Families | work =wvgenweb.org | access-date = May 12, 2009 }}
- {{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=rr_wAAAAMAAJ&q=%22mother+blizzard%22 | title = Mother Jones and Her Sisters: A Century of Women Activists in the American Coal Fields| isbn = 9780787251505| last1 = Roberts| first1 = Ron E.| last2 = Cook-Roberts| first2 = Carol| year = 1998| publisher = Kendall/Hunt}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120614054932/http://blairmountainmuseum.org/ Blair Community Center and Museum] for a museum and research facility that specializes in the West Virginia Mine Wars
- {{cite book |last=Blizzard |first=William C. |title=When Miners March |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b5-RE_XdH_IC&q=when+miners+march |year=2005 |publisher=Appalachian Community Press |location=Gay, WV |isbn=978-0-9764706-0-1 }}
{{Battle of Blair Mountain}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blizzard, Sarah}}
Category:Activists from West Virginia
Category:People from Cabin Creek, West Virginia
Category:People from Fayette County, West Virginia