"Nancy Mette — Bridey Mae Tolliver"
Matewan is a town in Mingo County, West Virginia, United States at the confluence of the Tug Fork River and Mate Creek. The population was 412 at the 2020 census, down from 499 in 2010. The Norfolk Southern Railway's Pocahontas District passes through the town. It was a key site of the Coal Wars and the location of the Battle of Matewan in 1920.
"You think this man is the enemy? Huh? This is a worker! Any union keeps this man out aint a union, its a goddam club! They got you fightin white against colored, native against foreign, hollow against hollow, when you know there aint but two sides in this world - them that work and them that dont. You work, they dont. Thats all you got to know about the enemy."
"I take care of my people. You bring em trouble, and youre a dead man. Sleep tight, Kenehan."
"Fellas, we’re in a hole full of coal gas here. The tiniest spark at the wrong time is going to be the end of us. So we got to pick away at this situation, slow and careful. We got to organize and build support. We got to work together. Together! Till they can’t get their coal out of the ground without us cause we’re a union! Cause we’re the workers damn it and we take care of each other!"
"Now you watch your mouth, peckerwood. Ive been called nigger, and I cant help thats the way white folks is, but I aint never been called no scab!"
"[Narrating] It were 19 and 20 in the southwest fields and things was tough. The miners was trying to bring the union to West Virginia and the coal operators and their gun thugs was set on keeping them out."
"David Strathairn — Sid Hatfield"