Appalachian Ghost: A Photographic Reimagining of the Hawk's Nest Tunnel Disaster

by Raymond Thompson Jr., Catherine Venable Moore (Foreword)

In the early days of the Great Depression, the search for steady work drove thousands of migrant laborers—many of whom were African American—from all over Appalachia to a rural area near Fayetteville, West Virginia. Union Carbide Corporation had begun construction on a three-mile tunnel to divert the New River, and many hands were needed.

Toiling for five years in confined spaces with poor ventilation, no means of dust control, and limited use of personal breathing protection, the workers were repeatedly exposed to pure silica dust. Many developed silicosis, an incurable and debilitating lung disease that is estimated to have caused the deaths of nearly eight hundred workers, two-thirds of whom were Black. Soon after, the US House of Representatives Committee on Labor classified silicosis as an occupational hazard. Despite the disaster's impact, information about its severity was largely suppressed—a decision that ensured the event faded quickly from public memory. Aside from a small plaque at Hawk's Nest State Park, which inaccurately admits to only 109 victims, there is little to mark the site of the worst industrial accident to date in the United States.

In Appalachian A Photographic Reimagining of the Hawk's Nest Tunnel Disaster, author Raymond Thompson Jr. explores the possibilities of that tragedy by reviving the faces and spaces of Hawk's Nest. Using primary source materials to re-create the workers' experiences in photographs, Thompson recontextualizes archival images to present a counter-archive that positions the Black experience at Hawk's Nest within the larger story of the American labor landscape. His photographs and poetry give voice to the silenced, resisting revisionist narratives that often ignore the sacrifices of African Americans and erase their instrumental role in the development of America's infrastructure.

136 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 13, 2024

Reviews

[Judy Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

This writer provides a haunting, photographic retelling of the nation's worst industrial tragedy - I'm sorry, but I cannot call it an accident. Hundreds of workers were deliberately exposed to silicon without the benefit of protective equipment. Union Carbine knew of the dangers and protected its white-collar workers, but not the hundreds who labored inside the tunnel that was part of a new hydroelectric plant. Hawk's Nest is little known in American History and Thompsons gives this travesty the attention it deserves.