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Coal miners evicted from company-owned housing, northeast Pennsylvania, 1902.
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Because mining companies owned their employees' housing, striking workers risked their homes as well as their jobs. Shown here is an eviction during the Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902.

Credit: Courtesy Pennsylvania State Archives

In coal patch towns across Pennsylvania miners and their families lived in company-owned housing and were forced to buy at company-owned stores. By joining a union or protesting wages or work conditions, miners risked losing their homes as well as their jobs. During the 1902 anthracite coal strike, the expulsion of families from company housing strengthened rather than weakened the resolve of striking workers and their supporters.

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