A documentary about a Kentucky miner's strike endures 50 years later. Harlan County USA's message still resonates today.

When documentarian Barbara Kopple directs a film about the labor movement, she tends to go big. With 1976's Harlan County, USA, she documented the dramatic 13-month strike waged by Kentucky coal ...

Half a century after its release, Harlan County USA (1976) still lands with the force of something happening in the present tense. The documentary is full of scenes that have become part of the ...

This month marks 50 years since the premiere of “Harlan County USA.” The Academy Award-winning documentary film shined a light on an eastern Kentucky coal mining community and its fight for a union ...

The disturbing conditions endured by the Kentucky coal miners at the heart of Barbara Kopple’s 1976 documentary Harlan County USA are made clear in the film’s first several minutes. The miners’ ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Barbara Kopple the documentarian (Photo Credit: Sharon Waxman) It's been 50 years since Barbara Kopple won the Academy Award for ...

As her Oscar-winning labor documentaries return to theaters, Kopple reflects on union-busting, gig work, and her latest film on unions. Barbara Kopple on January 23, 2026 in Park City, Utah This May ...