The Museum Team
Our Staff
Mackenzie New-Walker has worked as the Museum’s Executive Director since 2018, where she’s led several community-based projects dedicated to uplifting the people and preserving the places of central Appalachia. Kenzie was the Project Coordinator for the Battle of Blair Mountain Centennial in 2021 and was recognized as a WV Wonder Woman in that same year. She shepherds the Museum’s fundraising efforts to secure resources and regional support to fuel the Museum’s ongoing work. She is a graduate of Marshall University (Go Herd!), serves as Board Chair of Coalfield Development, and is proud to be the daughter, granddaughter, and great-granduaghter of union coal miners. She’s a wife to Jordan and fur-mom to Ralphy Dale and Tate.
Candace Bennett is a native of Logan county. Currently working on her bachelors degree in Elementary Education, she hopes to one day teach students and help them develop a love for the state of WV. Candace currently serves as an Americorps member with the West Virginia Association of Museums and the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum. She has served with Americorps previously as a mentor with Energy Express, as well as worked at Logan Regional Medical Center for five years in various departments.
Shaun Slifer works as our Creative Director, designing and building all of our exhibitions, grounded in the collective vision of our museum team. Shaun is the lead designer on our community-based Courage in the Hollers public monument project. He also manages our website and museum branding + merchandise, and currently serves as our ad hoc Collections Manager, cataloging our artifacts and developing our online exhibits. An artist, nonfiction author, and museum professional based in Pittsburgh, Shaun is a founding member of the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative, and an original member of the now-disbanded Howling Mob Society. His investigative people’s history book, So Much To Be Angry About: Appalachian Movement Press and DIY Radical Publishing 1969-79 is out now on West Virginia University Press.
Mckahla West works as our Museum Associate, being the front-of-house personnel greeting guests and ensuring they have a great time while in the Museum and in town! She is a proud West Virginia native and a local resident of Matewan. When she’s not at the museum, she is a full time mother who stays active within the community, participating in our local library’s events and homeschool co-operatives. She enjoys an array of hobbies from candle making and reading to yoga and cooking, and is a self-taught astrologist with a passion for health and wellness.
Thomas Jude currently serves as the Museum and Communications Manager, handling the daily operations of the Museum and coordinating public communications. Thomas is a native of Delbarton, WV. After earning degrees in Music and Education from Glenville State University, Thomas returned to his beloved Mingo County and dedicated nine years as a music educator and member of the American Federation of Teachers. Now a valued member of the West Virginia Mine Wars Team, he continues to contribute his expertise and passion to the organization.
Visiting researcher Ethan Karnes is a proud West Virginia native and a graduate of Marshall University. Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the Anthropology Program at George Washington University, he brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the team. Ethan’s work as an Anthropologist/Archaeologist his has taken him all over the globe. He previously worked at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and has excavated at UNESCO World Heritage Sites, but his current work has brought him much closer to home: Matewan, West Virginia. Find out more about Ethan’s work and how you can participate here.
Lloyd Tomlinson serves as the Education Coordinator for the Museum. As a PhD candidate at West Virginia University, he focuses on the history of labor in central Appalachia. He draws from his deep historical knowledge to develop engaging educational programs and materials that help the Museum tell its story throughout the region. He currently resides in Norton, Virginia.
Peyton Levi was raised in Barboursville, West Virginia and is currently a senior studying philosophy and English. After being awarded the Yeager scholarship from Marshall University, the opportunity to go to school close to home led to Peyton exploring and becoming involved in life in West Virginia. Peyton has won awards at Charleston’s Vandalia Gathering culture festival for his music and storytelling. He has also been one of the youngest people to thru-hike the 330-mile route of the Allegheny Trail through West Virginia. Peyton has been studying the cello for 10 years and keeps busy performing and teaching varieties of music. For three years he has been a part of the production of the Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbor Show. Peyton is working with us as our Oral Historian.
Our Board of Directors
Barbara Ellen Smith comes from a long line of preachers and farmers in Virginia and West Virginia. She is the author or editor of four books and numerous articles about labor, gender, race and social movements in Appalachia and the South, including Digging Our Own Graves: Coal Miners and the Struggle over Black Lung Disease (Haymarket, 2020). She is the mother of two sons and lives in Charleston, WV, where she is working on a novel set in southern WV. Barbara Ellen is the President of the Museum Board.
Kandi Workman (she/her) is a queer creative from southern West Virginia. She works with the Tamarack Foundation for the Arts as a Programming Manager and Grant Writer to increase access to economic opportunities for artists throughout WV. She serves as an AppalCore Member for the Waymakers Collective. As a daughter of a retired UMWA coal miner, she proudly serves as a board member of the WV Mine Wars Museum, bringing visibility to unions, labor history, and workers’ rights. Workman graduated from WVSU in 2016 (BAs in Professional Writing, Creative Writing, and English Literature) and in 2023 she received an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from West Virginia Wesleyan College. She uses her talents and experiences to bring awareness to Appalachian history, cultures, and diversity through essays, poetry, and hybrid works.
Grace Williams is the director of Big Laurel Learning Center, an environmental and educational non-profit in Mingo County, WV. She hikes and gardens with kids, digging up worms, wandering along trails, and cultivating curiosity and appreciation for one of the continent’s most biodiverse regions. Grace also hosts visiting student groups who journey to Big Laurel in order to expand their understanding of history, environment, education, culture, and economy. Grace regularly brings her students to Matewan to visit the Mine Wars Museum and learn about the region’s labor history. Grace is earning her Master’s Degree in Community Development from Future Generations University. When she’s not working or studying, Grace is usually skating with the Chemical Valley Roller Derby team, exploring on her road bike, hiking on the 400-acre JASMER land reserve, supporting local live music, or maybe cruising the highways on her next road trip.
Francine Jones is a community activist, former member of the Matewan Town Council, and tireless advocate for the town of Matewan. Francine leads the all-volunteer effort to restore the 1908 Matewan Lock Up and City Hall, sits on the steering committee for the 2020 Battle of Matewan Centennial, and has overseen several projects in the community. She is the great grand-daughter of John and Mary Brown, the first minority business owners in Matewan, holds strong relationships with many of Matewan’s leaders, and frequently represents the museum in town discussions.
Dave Coker was raised in a working-class family in the mountains of western North Carolina. For over 20 years he has been an active member of the labor movement with extensive experience in organizing and member engagement in right-to-work and non-collective bargaining environments. He currently serves as president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Greensboro, IAFF Local 947- the largest IAFF Local of active firefighters in North Carolina. Dave is passionate about teaching union-building skills and has presented classes all over the US and in two Canadian provinces. He has also presented classes at Andy Fredericks Training Days and the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute. Dave still rides the fire truck and is Captain of Engine Co #7 in the Greensboro, NC. He resides in Engine 7’s first-due with his wife of 16 years, Meredith.
Kenny King is an avocational archaeologist and photographer whose lifelong devotion to finding and preserving the physical artifacts of the Mine Wars has been instrumental in the struggle to save Blair Mountain from strip mining. Kenny’s work on battlefield archaeology and artifact collection has built the foundation of our museum’s collection. He is a retired coal industry lab technician and a founding member of the museum’s board.
Lindsay Shade resides in Lexington, KY, where they are Lecturer in Community and Leadership Development at the University of Kentucky. Originally from rural Arkansas, Lindsay is passionate about how inequalities in land ownership, access, and use impact rural people and their lives. Lindsay says “The museum is home to me because of all the people connected to it, who helped bring me back to my own rural roots; it is also a vital example of necessary truth telling that cuts through false narratives and uplifts working and landless people.”
Bobby Starnes was born into a mining family in Knott County, Kentucky on land her ancestors settled just after the Revolutionary War. Growing up with stories of unionizing, mine accidents, and her father crawling miles on hands and knees to get to his work site, she has always identified as a coal miner’s daughter. She earned her doctorate in Teaching, Curriculum, and Learning Environments at Harvard where her studies focused on the education of Appalachian and Urban Appalachian children. A long-time teacher, she is currently a professor of Appalachian and General Studies at Berea College.
Libby Lindsay worked as an underground coal miner from 1976 to 1996, working with both her dad (briefly) and her sister. She was involved in the Coal Employment Project (CEP), and has been a proud UMWA member for more than 40 years. Libby lives in Chapmanville, WV and remains active in her union and other social justice fights.
With a 40-year membership in the UMWA, Scott Erwin has a deep connection to the coal mining industry, including over 24 years working as a surface miner and 15 years with the office of West Virginia Miners' Health, Safety, and Training. Scott has served as the Pastor of Rockhouse Free Will Baptist Church since 2011, where he'd previously been a deacon since 1993. Scott is deeply dedicated to his family and the local community. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Anita, and their two daughters and four grandchildren.
We’re proud to have a longterm working relationship with United Mine Workers (UMWA) Local 1440 in Matewan, who have been with us since day one.
During our 2020 move and build-out in our new home, we couldn’t have done it without the help of these folks:
Museum Volunteers:
Jinny Turman, Marvin Jones, Jordan Walker, Don Slifer, Zach Rissman, Chad Cordell, David Baghdadi, Brandon Nida, Doug Estepp, Danny Lutz, and David Tabb.
Members of UMWA Local 1440:
Hawkeye Dixon, Dennis Dixon, Danny Whitt, and all the good folks there who have supported us from day one.
And these Specialists who Volunteered their time and skills:
Terry Steele (painting and construction), Ben Grubb (welding and replica fabrication), Ramon Camacho (exhibition lighting consultant), Rebecca Susman (fabrication of replica tent), Amalia Tonsor (aging work on tent), Jenn Gooch (fabrication of period clothing for exhibition), Christian Shaknaitis (hand-painted replica signage for exhibitions), Kristen Zamborsky + the team at AlphaGraphics in Pittsburgh (digital printing for exhibitions and building exterior), Gerty Tonjum (new exhibit casework) Randy Marcum & Aaron Parsons (archival image acquisition at the West Virginia State Archives), and Doug Estepp + Danny Lutz + David Tabb (acquired and delivered an old jail cell for our exhibitions).
Lastly, we can never thank UMWA member Danny Collins enough, for his tireless and dedicated volunteer labor on every aspect of our build-out that we needed an expert craftsman for.
Most of our team in front of the museum during the building dedication, June 2021. | photo by Rafael Barker
