The women of Appalachia - fearless and still fighting

[theHandpuppet]

Do you know of an Appalachian woman who deserves to be recognized for her achievements and/or activism? Email [e-mail] and tell them about your nominee, including their name and a couple of paragraphs detailing their accomplishments.
For the complete list of women whose names are in the current database, please visit the link provided below.

Appalachian Voices
http://appvoices.org/appalachianwomen/

Fearless women settled Appalachia – and are still fighting for it.

Alongside men, they plowed fields, put up food, kept the family and faced conflict.

Women like Mary Draper Ingles, taken hostage in 1755 by Shawnee Indians, hiked 500 hundred miles of wilderness barefoot to find her way back home, founding the settlement that became the city of Radford, Va. Women like Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, who in the 1900s organized women for the labor movement. Women like Judy Bonds, who fought the coal industry’s destruction of mountain communities in the 21st century.

Women have played a major role in the labor and activist movements in the coal-bearing regions of Appalachia. In 1965, Ollie “Widow” Combs laid down in front of the bulldozer that was preparing to strip-mine her Kentucky farm. She spent Thanksgiving in jail, but her protests led to strip mining legislation in 1967 in the Kentucky General Assembly. Ten years later, Widow Combs was invited to the White House for the signing of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977.... MORE at link above