Kevin Corley
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Kevin Corley is a retired history teacher and school administrator from central Illinois. As a teacher, he spent time talking to his students about the coal mines of central Illinois and the unionization of workers. Many of his students at the time were descendants of mining families. In 1988, he had the opportunity to do oral history interviews of over forty central Illinois residents who had experienced the tumultuous mining events of the 1930s.His novels focus on the Christian County coal mines in the early 1900s. ”Sixteen Tons” covers the years 1898 to 1933, when the United Mines Workers Union was just emerging. ”Throw Out the Water”, covers the Christian County Coal Mine War from 1933 to 1937 in which there were dozens of bombings, gunfights, and unsolved murders. The war stemmed from the struggle between the Progressive Miners of America and the United Mines Workers Union.
Sixteen tons : | Throw out the water :