Second Annual Anthracite Heritage Week Planned

The week of October 19-23, 2009 will be recognized as Anthracite Heritage Week in the North Schuylkill School District and other Schuylkill County schools. The weeklong event, the second annual, is an opportunity for our school's K-12 teachers to craft lessons which help promote an understanding and pride in the culture and history of the anthracite coal region.

Anthracite Heritage Week is held during a week when October 23rd falls. This date was chosen because of its historical significance. Most historians recognize this date as the end of the 163-day Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902, as the majority of mines resumed operations that day. The Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902 was successfully mediated through the intervention of the federal government, a landmark in U.S. labor history.

Among the highlights of North Schuylkill’s AHW 2009, celebration will be a tour of the Pioneer Tunnel in Ashland, Pa., by the district’s high school students and an assembly for its elementary students performed by Van Wagner. Wagner, a song-writer and underground coal miner, will perform a program which celebrates the past, present and future of Pennsylvania’s Anthracite Coal mining heritage. A goal of his program is to remind the audience why they should be proud to be from the Anthracite Coal Region!