Maurice Ruddick

Maurice A Ruddick (1912-1988) was an Afro-Canadian miner and a survivor of the 1958 Springhill Mining Disaster, an underground earthquake, or "bump" as the miners call it, in the Springhill mine in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. He was chosen as Canada's "Citizen of the Year". Ruddick and six others were trapped 4000 feet underground, and were there for nine days. Ruddick cheered his comrades with his singing, and the mother of one of the miners later declared "If it wasn't for Maurice, they'd all have been dead."

The Governor of the State of Georgia invited nineteen of the survivors to vacation at one of his State's luxurious resorts, Jekyll Island, usually reserved for millionaires. When he discovered that one of the miners was black, he said that Ruddick would have to be segregated from the others. When the miners heard this, they were reluctant to accept the offer, but Ruddick agreed to go on the Governor's terms, knowing how much the others really wanted the vacation.

Maurice Ruddick died in 1988. He is buried in Hillside Cemetery.^[1]

His daughter, folk singer Val MacDonald, later recorded a song that he composed in the mine, "The Springhill Mine Disaster Song."^[2]

He was featured in a Canadian Heritage Minute.^[3]

References

1. ^ "Maurice A "The Singing Miner" Ruddick (1912 - 1988)". Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=53213981. Retrieved 8 September 2011. 
2. ^ Swanson, Diane (2003). "Survival at Springhill". Tunnels!. True Stories from the Edge. Annick Press. p. 35. ISBN 1550377809. 
3. ^ "Maurice Ruddick". Historica. http://www.histori.ca/minutes/minute.do?id=10224. Retrieved 8 September 2011. 

External links

• Maurice Ruddick at Find a Grave
• obituary appeared in the July 11, 1988 issue of Maclean's

Persondata
Name	Ruddick, Maurice
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1912
Place of birth
Date of death	1988
Place of death