Tarleton State University is bringing Tim Pinnick, a former public school teacher, to come and talk about the African American coal miners Sunday, Feb. 26 at 2:30 p.m at the WK Gordon Center.

Pinnick left his teaching career to pursue his research of African American coal miners across the United States. He is an independent scholar, lecturer and author. In 2008, he published “Finding and Using African American Newspapers” as a guide to help others.

“That material includes information on African-American miners who worked for the Texas Paci c Coal Company between 1888 and 1921, when Thurber was one of the biggest producers of bituminous coal in Texas and largest company town in the state,” Pinnick stated in a press release.

Pinnick began his work by researching his own family tree. Through that research, he discovered generations of coal miners on both sides of his family. This led him to expanding his research to include other African American coal miners across the country whose stories had not been told in other coal mining histories. He has spent the past 30 years researching the lives of African American coal miners.

“I believe the stories of African American coal miners in our area are vital to telling the full history of Thurber,” Shae Adams, Assistant Curator at the W.K. Gordon Center said. “The town had a large African American population but their stories have been passed over in favor of focusing on company history and the history of the Italians who settled here. By making space for the stories of African American coal miners, we are helping tell a richer, fuller history of that area.

“Pinnick actually came to the museum a few months ago with descendants of Bob Smith, a miner in Thurber who was prominent in the community. They were kind enough to share some of their family history with us and we asked Pinnick if he would be willing to give a presentation on his research, which he accepted,” Adams said.

The event will take place at the W.K. Gordon Center for Industrial History of Texas in Thurber in the changing exhibits room. This program is open to the public and admission is free for all attendees.

“This should be a wonderful program and one I am really looking forward to hosting. We hope to see a good crowd for this event,” Adams said.