Untitled [Valley Landscape]

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"For years Anne and I had read about the serious problems facing miners in Appalachia. We read about the mine explosions resulting in numerous deaths. Many miners suffered from black lung disease, which the mine owners did not consider an illness caused by work in the mines and therefore not subject to worker's compensation. In 1962 we decided to spend out summer vacation time in the minefields of Appalachia. Most of the larger mines were closed at that time. The only ones functioning were small, run by a handful of miners who leased them from the big mine owners. Day after day we drove around looking for small mines, where I asked the miners if I could photograph them. Mainly I concentrated on the families who lived in the mining areas. I photographed them in their homes and on their porches, where they sat to get some relief from the stifling heat. The results of the first summer's work were so encouraging that we returned to that area over a period of nine summers." – Milton Rogovin