Gerald McKerns was born in a company owned house in a coal mining patch named St. Nicholas located in the heart of Pennsylvania’s hard “coal region” This small village sat in the shadow of the largest coal breaker in the world. While attending school Gerald’s focus was geared more towards the day he could get a job in the coal industry rather than on his schoolbooks. School didn’t seem important.

During this time, the nation was making a transition from coal to gas and oil for home heating which resulted in the demand for hard coal to dwindle. The anthracite coal industry was depressed. Hard times hit the area. The jobs were gone.

Like so many before and so many to follow, Gerald had to leave the area to find a brighter future. His exodus took him to a steel mill in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Over the years, in the mill, Gerald found himself often bending the ears of his co-workers talking about the coal region. On many occasions, he would hear the remark, “You should write a book”, to which he’d reply, “I can’t even talk right and you want me to write a book?”

When Gerald left the mill in 2002 he found himself with some idle time on his hands. The echo kept ringing in his ears, “You should write a book.” Listening to that echo, the project began. Gerald hoped that writing on the subject that was close to his heart would make up for his lack of literary skills. It was quite a challenge. But one word at a time, one page at a time, one chapter at a time, and with many set backs the project was completed. The title of his book is The Black Rock that Built America . By Gerald McKerns CC.

Gerald explains the “CC.” following his name this way. “I graduated from high school near the bottom of my class. After nearly thirty years of sweat and blood in a steel mill, I now realize the importance of an education. But the education I got out of the class room, growing up in the coal region, could not be obtained from any books.

I watched men get old before their time, their lungs blackened with coal dust from the years of working down below. The only bright spot in their day was a plug of chewing tobacco and a mug of beer.

I watched wives and children waiting out side a caved in mine, clinging to one another for support, hoping the rescue workers would bring their loved ones out alive. Sometimes they did and sometimes they didn’t. I listened to the tales the old timers told, some with laughter and some with tears.

There isn’t any book that could teach you to appreciate life the way you learned it in the hard coal region of Pennsylvania.” Gerald McKerns CC (Coal Cracker).

Roots grow deep in the hard coal region.

You can take a coal cracker out of the coal region but you can’t take the coal region out of a coal cracker.