Helen, WV

Helen, WV. African American Heritage Tour. In the 1910s, the East Gulf Coal Company opened what came to be known as the Helen Mine and Coal Camp. Realizing their need to attract a more reliable and family-oriented workforce, the coal operators began constructing "model towns.” Here in the model town of Helen there was a boarding house, company store, clubhouse, movie theater, and even a telephone exchange. Residential areas and businesses were all segregated. Although they lived in separate neighborhoods, African Americans could vote, hold public office, and send their children to school. , While black miners were segregated in the community, some equality did exist underground in the coal mines of southern West Virginia. In the mines, black workers were provided equal wages for equal work. About 75 percent of black workers became coal loaders. Others were daymen and coke workers. Picking and loading coal was hard, dangerous, back-breaking work, but provided the most opportunity for earning money. , Helen's population began to decline, especially for African Americans, in the 1950s with the advent of new machinery. After 1953, the services of hand loaders or unskilled laborers were no longer needed. The town, like so many, began its long decline in population and vitality. Helen's rich heritage lives on in its citizens and in the community's coal-related street names: Lantern, Check, and Scrip Alleys. , , To learn more, download the African American Heritage Auto Tour at www.nps.gov/neri , , Photos courtesy George Bragg