Interview with Robert Lee Lootens, July 22, 1986
Project: Appalachia: Immigrants in the Coal Fields Oral History Project
Interview Summary
Robert Lootens talks extensively about the experiences of his father, a Belgian immigrant, in eastern Kentucky. The elder Lootens first immigrated to Canada where he worked on various farms and ranches before buying a moderately large farm in the State of Washington. Later, he sold his farm and moved to Perry County, Kentucky, where he worked in various coal mines from the 1910s to the 1930s. During the Great Depression he made homebrew that he sold to support his family until he was arrested. The elder Lootens was given probation by the judge and Lootens never made homebrew again.Although he did not feel discriminated against, the elder Lootens was embarrassed by his inability to speak English well.
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Appalachian Immigrant Community Appalachian Region Canada coal camps Coal Mining dancing gardening Great Depression hand loading homebrew Immigrant Coal Miners Immigrants Leatherwood Kentucky naturalization Perry County Kentucky Religion United Mine Workers of America Viper Kentucky wine-makingInterview Rights
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Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.Restriction
Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.
All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.
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Lootens, Robert Lee Interview by Doug Cantrell. 22 Jul. 1986. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
Lootens, R.L. (1986, July 22). Interview by D. Cantrell. Appalachia: Immigrants in the Coal Fields Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.
Lootens, Robert Lee, interview by Doug Cantrell. July 22, 1986, Appalachia: Immigrants in the Coal Fields Oral History Project, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
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Persistent Link for this Record: https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt7hdr2p7b3s