Roving Picket Movement

The Roving Picket Movement was the culmination of years of unrest from mine workers about their working conditions in Appalachia, a region of the United States.

Miners protested at several mines in eastern Kentucky, and laid the foundation for future movements within the Appalachian coal community.

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy assembled a task force, as part of the Appalachian Regional Commission, with the goal of preserving the union hospitals.

[5] This desire was part of a larger movement of the federal government intervening in Appalachia through antipoverty programs during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.

[6] Berman Gibson was the leader of the Roving Picket Movement and believed in lobbying elected officials to achieve the goal of getting the medical cards reinstated.

[5] Gibson and his followers were making plans for a miners' march on Washington D.C. during the spring of 1963, which got the attention of President Kennedy.

[1] The miners involved with the Roving Pickets traveled to Washington to make sure that the Appalachian region was not forgotten about and that legislation would be put in place.

Johnson didn't forget about those miners and stated in his inaugural speech that there was going to be an "unconditional war on poverty" and even thanked the Appalachia region for their extra effort.

An example of the type of hospital that was closed by the United Mine Workers of America
Machinery such as this coal tipple were destroyed by the Roving Pickets during their protests.
The Appalachian Regional Development Act. The page shown has a description of the act and what it was made to try to accomplish.