which she originally wrote at the age of twelve while her father was out on strike with other coal miners, according to The Penguin Book of American Folk Song by Alan Lomax.
[1] In 1931, during the Harlan County strike by the United Mine Workers of America and the National Miners Union, in which her husband was an organizer, Reece updated her song to the version known today.
More recently, Billy Bragg, Dropkick Murphys, Rebel Diaz, Natalie Merchant, Ani DiFranco, and Tom Morello each recorded their own interpretations of the song.
[3] Reece appeared in the Academy Award-winning documentary film Harlan County, USA, singing her anthem to rally the striking miners.
After a lifetime of speaking on behalf of unions and social welfare issues, Florence Reece died of a heart attack in 1986 at the age of 86 in Knoxville, Tennessee.