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Black Out-Migration From West Virginia In The Context Of Racial Discrimination In Employment In The Coal Industry: 1935-1955, Megan E. Cox

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This research assessed two major theories of black labor migration patterns, Marx’s theory of exploitation and Bonacich’s labor market segmentation. These theories have been applied to the coal producing counties of southern West Virginia. Institutional discrimination of black workers, coupled with the exploitation of coal miners in general, created the social relationship of super-exploitation.

This study investigated the conditions the coal companies utilized to aid and abet the exploitation of black workers and ultimately push black labor out of West Virginia. Also, this thesis examined the migration patterns of black workers into West Virginia from the failing southern agricultural industry …