In Western North Carolina and across the country, labor unions seem to be a dying breed these days, and many local residents don’t seem overly concerned about it. Yet WNC’s complex history of unionization stretches back to the late 19th century. From high-profile labor disputes and the emergence of “right to work” laws to the […]
In the damp morning hours of Oct. 2, 1929, gunfire erupted between law enforcement and a crowd of picketing mill workers at the gates of the Marion Manufacturing plant in the quiet foothills of McDowell County, leaving six residents dead and a town torn apart in its wake. The “Marion Massacre,” as the conflict came […]
In the ongoing effort to help Marion come to grips with its own troubled history, researchers, storytellers and about 25 interested residents gathered June 29 at the M.A.C.A. Auditorium to discuss the area’s tumultuous labor strikes of 1929.
This scrapbook of news articles and photos chronicles the labor strikes of 1929 in Marion, N.C., which came to a bloody head when six picketing mill workers were fatally shot and dozens more were injured by local law enforcement. 
This is a companion piece to our March 29 cover story, “Mountain Shame.” Click the link to read the original article.
In the following multimedia companion pieces to this week’s cover story, “Mountain Shame,” we offer a narrated slide show of images culled from a newly unveiled scrapbook that documents the violent 1929 labor strikes in Marion, N.C. We’ve also posted the audio documentary, Strike, which examines the demonstration and its effect on the rural mountain town.
As the sun rose on the morning of Oct. 2, 1929, hundreds of picketing mill workers in Marion, N.C., found themselves in a deadly standoff with law enforcement. (photo by Jonathan Welch)
