Episode #206: To Save the Land and People

“A wonderfully human and good humored presentation of a major tragedy. A downright truth-telling of a defeat without despair.” – George Stoney, filmmaker and professor, New York University

“Extraordinarily powerful… deserving of national and international recognition.” -- Herbert Reid, Professor of Political Science, University of Kentucky

Synopsis: To Save the Land and People is a history of the early grassroots efforts to stop strip mining in eastern Kentucky, the program makes a powerful statement about the land and how we use it, and how its misuse conflicts with local culture and values.

Full Description: Strip or “surface” mining – where coal is blasted and scrapped from the mountain surface – increased dramatically in the Appalachian region in 1961 when the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) signed contracts to buy over 16 million tons of strip mined coal. Though cheaper for the buyer than deep mined coal, the damage done by strip mining was far reaching and had immediate impact on coalfield residents. To Save the Land and People is a history of the early grassroots efforts to stop strip mining in eastern Kentucky, where “broad form” deeds signed at the beginning of the 20th Century were used by coal operators to destroy the surface land without permission or compensation of the surface owner. The program focuses on the Appalachian Group to Save the Land and People, whose members used every means possible – from legal petitions and local ordinances, to guns and dynamite – to fight strip mining. The documentary makes a powerful statement about the land and how we use it, and how its misuse conflicts with local cultures and values.

Funding provided by the Kentucky Humanities Council, KET Fund for Independent Production, Kentucky Oral History Commission, Commission on Religion in Appalachia, The Ford Foundation.

Producer – Anne Lewis: Director of Appalshop’s Headwaters Television project since 1982, Anne Lewis has also produced many of the programs in the first and second series. A recipient of a Rockefeller Foundation Film/Video/Multimedia Fellowship, Anne’s 1989 documentary On Our Own Land received the duPont-Columbia Award for Independent Broadcast Journalism. Prior to joining Appalshop, Anne was Associate Director of Harlan County, U.S.A.

Screening Highlights ** Austin Film Society, Texas Documentary Tour * South By SouthWest Film Festival * Louisville Film & Video Festival - Juror's Award * First Interstate Summit for the Mountains, Pipestem, WV

Click here for zipped package of these print quality photos.

women stop work on a strip mine in east Kentucky. Photo by Robert Cooper

A strip mine in operation

A reclaimed strip mine in Kentucky

 Photos for press and private use. All rights reserved.