Two years ago, The Washington Post ran a long piece about West Virginia called, “How the birthplace of the American labor movement just turned on its unions.” It described how, following the Republican takeover of the Legislature in 2014, the state passed a so-called right-to-work law prohibiting mandatory union dues. Such laws have badly undermined unions in other states, and for people who care about organized labor, it was a bitter irony to see one enacted in a place once famed for its militant labor movement. The state also repealed a law mandating that workers on public construction projects are paid prevailing industry rates. Labor in West Virginia seemed beaten down.

That’s one reason the statewide teachers’ strike in West Virginia, which on Monday entered its eighth day, is so thrilling. Strikes by teachers are unlawful in the state, and their unions lack collective bargaining rights. Nevertheless, in a revival of West Virginia’s long-dormant tradition of bold labor activism, teachers and some other school employees in all of the state’s 55 counties are refusing to return to work until lawmakers give them a 5 percent raise, and commit to addressing their rapidly rising health insurance premiums.

Observers of the local labor scene didn’t see this coming. “It’s hard to characterize the surprise that many of us felt who have studied the labor movement in this state,” said Ken Fones-Wolf, a labor historian at West Virginia University.

Statewide teacher strikes are extremely rare, and to some in West Virginia, this one feels like a new dawn. “People are starting to get angrier and remember our history, remember our roots,” said Jenny Craig, a middle school special education teacher in Triadelphia. Since the strike began, she’s been spending nearly all her time either picketing at her home school or demonstrating at the state capitol, a three-hour drive away.