U.S. Department of the Interior
Office of Surface Mining                                 		Contact:  Michael Gauldin 
For Immediate Release:  January 16, 2003   	 	(202) 208-2565

           Department of the Interior, Office of Surface Mining (OSM) 
          Presents an Exhibit featuring African American Coal Miners


The Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining will sponsor an exhibit 
entitled  "African American's Working in the Seams," as part of its observance of 
African American History Month.

Hard work and determination helped tens of thousands of African Americans overcome 
discrimination to find work as coal miners in the Southern Illinois coalfields.  Participants 
will be able to see the faces and glimpse into the lives of dozens of individuals across 
southern Illinois who either worked in the coal industry, or whose brothers, husbands, 
fathers, or uncles did. 

The exhibit, created by graduate students and a professor at Southern Illinois University 
in Carbondale, will feature 25 photographs paying homage to African Americans who 
toiled in these mines.

An opening ceremony will be held in Interior's Sidney Yates Auditorium on February 13, 
2003, starting at 9:00 a.m. and will feature appearances by two Southern Illinois graduate 
students and two African American coal miners.  The exhibit will be available for 
viewing February 3-28 at the Department of the Interior's Main Building in the first floor 
hallway, 18th & C streets NW, Washington, DC.  

Local schools and the general public are invited to view this historical exhibit. 
Large groups and schools planning to view the exhibit should contact Patricia Lowery 
(202) 208-5897 or Cynthia Johnson (202) 208-2730.  Also, if large groups and schools 
want to attend the opening ceremony, please call no later than January 27th for logistical 
and planning purposes.

				        	  -DOI-