Desperate for jobs, men from all over the South rushed to Fayette County when they heard about construction of the Hawks Nest Tunnel. It was built between 1930 and 1932 to create hydroelectric power for Union Carbide’s plant in Alloy. Drilled through three miles of solid rock, it was a major engineering project, but also the site of one of America’s worst industrial disasters.

Nearly 3,000 men worked underground, many of them Black migrant workers. With poor ventilation and no protective gear, workers breathed in deadly silica dust while drilling through sandstone. Hundreds died from silicosis, a lung disease caused by inhaling the dust.

Although workers and their families filed hundreds of lawsuits, most received very little money in settlements. Later studies estimate that as many as 1,000 men may have died. The disaster brought national attention and inspired books, poems, and songs about the tragedy.