Designing maps to describe the Battle of Blair Mountain
Do you know about the Battle of Blair Mountain, the largest labor uprising in U.S. history? We didn’t either! Recently we had the pleasure of designing maps for the new literary release: On Dark and Bloody Ground: An Oral History of the West Virginia Mine Wars, which describes that event. The book is being published to coincide with the Battle of Blair Mountain’s centennial this September.
The maps we produced for the book are designed to help readers get the context of where the events described in the interviews took place. Many place names are mentioned, so a reader may want to flip back and forth to the maps to more deeply understand the stories. We created the maps by collaborating with the author (who happens to be Emily’s mom!) and closely studying historical documents and present-day maps.
To read excerpts of “On Dark and Bloody Ground” in a recent feature in Harper’s Magazine or to find a link to purchase the book check out the link in our bio.
