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The Proud Valley

A black and white photo of the Cymmer Colliery in the coal-mining village of Porth, in the Rhonnda Valley of Wales, around 1905. Smoke surrounds the towered buildings of the colliery, which appear against a background of low mountains and a rain-laden sky.

The Proud Valley, which premiered in 1939, featured the beleaguered miners of South Wales’s Rhondda Valley as actors alongside Paul Robeson. Robeson’s relationship with the Rhondda Valley dated to the winter of 1929 when he provided relief funds and sang for the mining communities. This marked his turn to political activity in the realm of labor relations. This photo shows the Cymmer Colliery in Porth, Rhonnda Valley.

ca. 1905
Attribution/Credit

Martin Ridley Collection, National Library of Wales, via “Cymmer Colliery Explosion”, Wikipedia