Blessings from the Dust: Raising Seven Children for Success in the Poverty-Stricken Mining Camps of Southwest Virginia

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Thomas and Betty Jones grew up in the coal mining camps of southwest Virginia, a dusty, barren place where people had to work hard just to survive. Both their fathers were coal miners, as were many of the early African-American men who came to Wise County from the deep south beginning in the early 1920s. After their marriage they left the area, but fate soon brought them back. A series of difficult, but well thought out decisions led Betty to work underground in the mines for nearly 20 years and Thomas to give up a promising broadcasting career to be a full-time father. They also decided to raise their seven children in the same place they were raised, but in a very specific way. The result was all seven going off to college and their two boys, Thomas Quinn and Julius, becoming running backs in the National Football League. Blessings From the Dust is the story of two determined parents and their struggle to raise their children successfully in the barren and deprived coal mining region of southwest Virginia. It is a saga of family, place, hard work, sacrifice, determination, education and ultimately love. When Thomas and Betty Jones made a conscious decision to raise their growing family in the coal-mining towns of Big Stone Gap and Appalachia they knew they'd have their work cut out for them. That's because their goal was to have all seven children go to college and then make their marks away from Wise County. How they did it and the sacrifices they made - such as Betty working underground in the coal mines for nearly 20 years - is detailed with honesty and candor. Although this is a memoir of one African-American family, it is really an American success story, as well.