Anita Cherry was an American practical nurse and coal miner. She and Diana Baldwin, hired as miners in 1973, are believed to have been the first women to work in an underground coal mine in the United States. They were the first female members of United Mine Workers of America to work inside a mine.
Cherry and Baldwin were hired by the Beth-Elkhorn Coal Company in Jenkins, Kentucky.
References
- Armstrong, Holly (22 March 2022). "A Brief History of Women in Mining". DOL Blog. U.S. Department of Labor.
- Klemesrud, Judy (18 May 1974). "In Coal Mine No. 29, Two Women Work Alongside the Men". The New York Times.
- "Two Women Make History as Kentucky Miners". Toledo Blade. 26 December 1973. p. 21.
- Baisden, Harry I. (6 September 1974). "Two Women Break Sex Bar in Modern Coal Mine". The Evening News. p. 48.
- Gearhart, Dona G. (1995). 'Surely, a wench can choose her own work!' Women coal miners in Paonia, Colorado, 1976-1987 (Thesis). University of Nevada, Las Vegas. doi:10.25669/83uw-c7cr.