John Mitchell Day and FDR’s New Deal speech | Wilkes-Barre, PA in 1936

On the eve of the 1936 election, Franklin D. Roosevelt came to Wilkes-Barre, PA and delivered one of the sharpest labor speeches of his presidency—rooted in Coal Region history and aimed squarely at corporate coercion. John Mitchell Day gave FDR the setting, and coal miners gave him the audience. Read the full story.

A powerful editorial from Pottsville’s black community | 1940

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.