Some white residents of Schuylkill County believed former slaves were going replace them in the coal mines during the Civil War.
A racist conspiracy theory found root in Schuylkill County in 1862

Some white residents of Schuylkill County believed former slaves were going replace them in the coal mines during the Civil War.
Fannie A. Couch wrote to Schuylkill County from Tennessee to provide updates about the Freedmen's School she was managing.
Charles H. King, Jr. eloquently described his childhood in Pottsville in his book, "Fire in my Bones."
Frederick Douglass gave two speeches in Pottsville, Pennsylvania in October 1867.
Fannie Couch and Hannah Streeper prepared to leave Schuylkill County to teach black students in Tennessee in 1867.
In December 1866, a committee was formed in Pottsville that sought to fund and carry out education for former slaves in the war-torn South.
Charles H. King Jr. lead seminars about race in America and participated in the Civil Rights movement. He grew up in Schuylkill County.
In the summer of 1940, a new minister at Pottsville's Bethel AME Church sought to reach out to the Coal Region's white community for economic cooperation.