CAN COMPETITION AMONG EMPLOYERS REDUCE GOVERNMENTAL DISCRIMINATION? COAL COMPANIES AND SEGREGATED SCHOOLS IN WEST VIRGINIA IN THE EARLY 1900s.

The interaction of governments and employers in discriminating against blacks is an important, but often unexamined, subject in the study of black workers in the U.S. The interaction of coal companies and segregated schools in West Virginia during the coal boom of the early 1900s provides an excellent testing ground. This study empirically examines claims that West Virginia coal companies ushered in a 'Golden Age of Negro Education.' It also examines the hypothesis that coal employers reduced school inequality in West Virginia in the early 1900s.