“Song Back”: Music/al Performance as Activism and Archive in Harlan County USA (1976)

Abstract

Barbara Kopple’s debut documentary film Harlan County USA (1976) captures and continues an oral history tradition specific to a geography expressed particularly in song in covering the 1973-1974 Brookside strike among coal miners and their families in rural eastern Kentucky. This article examines the aesthetics of the film’s sound design, and how the film is positioned to capture audiovisually not only the strike as it happened but also the historical role of song/songwriting as present-tense expressions of protest and solidarity and as an archive of collective identity/experience, by using a more sound- and song-based interpretation of Jane Gaines’ concept of “political mimesis.” Rather than serving merely as background music overwhelmed by and secondary to the images and situations that unfold on camera, songs performed on screen and played on the soundtrack express the collective spirit and solidarity of the striking miners and their families that span generations and therefore play an important testimonial role within the documentary. Kopple’s decision to use songs specific to this community and region not only remembers as well as continues the significant role of song among miners, their families, and their personal/professional associates, particularly among women, but also reveals the multifaceted use of music in relation to remembering, fostering a sense of belonging, and expressing dissent. I thus also examine the history of protest songwriting/performance by women in the Appalachian region in connection to the key role that they played in the strike.