Our Roots Run Deep as Ironweed: Appalachian Women and the Fight for Environmental Justice

225 Pages·2013·2.65 MB·English

by  Shannon Elizabeth Bell

Our Roots Run Deep as
iron w eed
Appalachian Women and the Fight for Environmental Justice
shannon elizabeth bell
our roots
run deep
as ironweed

Our Roots
Run Deep
as Ironweed
Appalachian Women
and the Fight for
Environmental Justice
shannon elizabeth bell
university of illinois press
Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield
© 2013 by the Board of Trustees
of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 c p 5 4 3 2 1
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bell, Shannon Elizabeth.
Our roots run deep as ironweed : Appalachian women
and the fight for environmental justice / Shannon Elizabeth Bell.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-252-03795-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-252-07946-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-252-09521-4 (ebook)
1. Women—Appalachian Region—Political activity.
2. Women and the environment—Appalachian Region.
3. Human beings—Effect of environment on—Appalachian Region.
4. Environmentalism—Appalachian Region.
I. Title.
hQ1236.b365 2013
305.40974—dc23 2013017243
For Cedar.
Now I truly understand.

contents
Acknowledgments ix
List of Figures xi
Introduction 1
1. “How Can They Expect Me as a Mother to Look
Over That?”: Maria Gunnoe’s Fight for Her Children’s
Health and Safety 11
2. “We Became Two Determined Women”: Pauline Canterberry
and Mary Miller Become the Sylvester Dustbusters 27
3. “Let Us Live in Our Mountains”: Joan Linville’s Fight
for Her Homeland 44
4. “You Gotta Go and Do Everything You Can—
Fight for Your Kids”: Donetta Blankenship Speaks
Out against Underground Slurry Injections 60
5. “It’s Just a Part of Who I Am”: Maria Lambert
and the Movement for Clean Water in Prenter 70
6. “I’m Not an Activist against Coal; I’m an Activist
for the Preservation of My State”: Teri Blanton
and the Fight for Justice in Kentucky 84
7. “I’m Not Going to Be Run Out, I’m Not Going
to Be Run Over, I’m Not Going Out without a Fight”:
Patty Sebok’s Battle against Monster Coal Trucks 94
8. “Our Roots Run So Deep, You Can’t Distinguish Us from
the Earth We Live On”: Debbie Jarrell and the Campaign
to Move Marsh Fork Elementary School 112
9. “It’s Not Just What I Choose to Do, It’s Also, I Think,
What I Have to Do”: Lorelei Scarboro’s Drive to Save
Coal River Mountain 120
10. “Money Cannot Recreate What Nature Gives You”:
Donna Branham’s Struggle against Mountaintop Removal 135
11. “I Want My Great-Great-Grandchildren to Be Able
to Live on This Earth!” The Legacy of the Courageous
Julia “Judy” Bonds 148
12. Conclusion 168
Notes 191
References 195
Index 203
acknowledgments
I cannot begin to express how deeply grateful I am to the twelve strong, brave,
and determined women whose stories fill this book. Donetta Blankenship,
Teri Blanton, Donna Branham, Pauline Canterberry, Maria Gunnoe, Debbie
Jarrell, Maria Lambert, Joan Linville, Mary Miller, Patty Sebok, and Lorelei
Scarboro, you are amazing individuals. Judy Bonds, words do not adequately
convey how much you are missed and what an inspiration you have been, and
continue to be, in my life and in the lives of so many others. I have learned
so much from all of you and am eternally thankful that I have had the chance
to meet you, hear your stories, and share your stories with others.
Thank you also to Lisa Henderson Snodgrass, Andy Mahler, Vernon Haltom,
Maria Gunnoe, and Bill Price for allowing me to include the beautiful tributes
you spoke and sang at Judy Bonds’s memorial service in January 2011.
My dear friends Vivian Stockman and Tricia Feeney with the Ohio Valley
Environmental Coalition deserve special recognition and thanks for connect-
ing me with many of the women in this book. Thanks also to Sarah Haltom,
Vernon Haltom, and Matt Noerpel from Coal River Mountain Watch, who
also helped me to make connections in the community. I would also like to
acknowledge Melissa Ellsworth and Manali Sibthorpe, who were wonderful
companions during a number of my interviews.
The Center for the Study of Women in Society (CSWS) at the University
of Oregon believed in this project when it was just an idea in a new graduate
student’s mind. Many thanks to CSWS for providing me with a Graduate
Student Research Support grant during the summer of 2007 to conduct
the bulk of the interviews for this research. Thank you also to the following