Coal industry historian to speak at King’s College Labor Day Lecture

Robert P. Wolensky, native of Northeastern Pennsylvania and writer of “Anthracite Labor Wars” and “Sewn in Coal Country,” will present the “The Proud Labor History of Northeastern Pennsylvania” as the King’s College Labor Day Lecture on Sept. 5, 2024, at 7 p.m. in the Burke Auditorium located on the first floor of the McGowan School of Business.

Wolensky currently serves as emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and adjunct professor of sociology and history at King’s College. He has authored and co-authored eight books on Pennsylvania’s anthracite region.

“Anthracite Labor Wars” focuses on the role of organized crime in the region’s coal industry. “Sewn in Coal Country” examines the ladies’ garment industry in Northeastern Pennsylvania between 1945 and 1995.

Wolensky is currently completing a co-authored manuscript on a group of militant miners referred to as the “anthracite insurgents.”

Wolensky has held visiting professorships at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the London School of Economics, Wilkes University, and the University of Exeter in the U.K., where, as a Fulbright Research Scholar, he conducted a comparative study of the coal mining industries in the U.S. and the U.K. Wolensky is a graduate of Villanova University and Penn State University.

The event is sponsored by the King’s College McGowan Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility.