Affrilachia (eBook)

Testimonies

Chris Aluka Berry (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024
252 Seiten
The University Press of Kentucky (Verlag)
978-1-9859-0093-6 (ISBN)

Infos

"e;Affrilachia,"e; a term first coined in 1991 by Kentucky poet Frank X Walker, refers to the cultural contributions of African Americans who live in Appalachia, a largely mountainous region stretching over thirteen states from Mississippi to New York. Although Black Americans have greatly influenced the popular culture landscape in this region, their stories, trials, and triumphs are often undocumented because Appalachia is perceived as wholly white.In this stunning visual history, photographer and curator Chris Aluka Berry gives voice to the broad spectrum of African Americans who have lived in the Appalachian region over the centuries. Berry, who spent six years in western North Carolina, northeast Georgia, and eastern Tennessee, immersed himself in the communities and lives of Black Appalachians to present the diversity and commonalities of the proud people in the region. His intimate and revealing photographs capture African Americans in various settingschurches, homes, revival services, family gatherings, and homegoing celebrations. Completing this comprehensive collection are powerful narratives from the people who inhabit these places, and contributions from Appalachian writers Kelly Elaine Navies and Maia A. Surdam, whose poignant and powerful poems and essays offer historical perspective and broaden the book's archival importance. The first book of its kind, Affrilachia: Testimonies is an inspired historical artifact that honors, represents, and celebrates the proud people of color whose history and existence has greatly contributed to the broad tapestry of Appalachia.

Autor

Chris Aluka Berry has worked in the South as an award-winning documentary photographer for more than twenty years, and his images have appeared in major American and international publications. He currently lives in the Appalachian Mountains in western North Carolina with the love of his life and two beautiful dogs. Kelly Elaine Navies is a poet, writer, and oral historian. Her oral history projects and interviews are located at the Southern Oral History Program, the Reginald F. Lewis Maryland Museum of African American History and Culture, the Washington DC Public Library Peoples' Archive, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, where she currently coordinates the oral history program. Maia A. Surdam is an historian, educator, and author who lives in western North Carolina. She holds a doctorate in US history and her work centers on rural communities. She is currently the programs director of the Partnership for Appalachian Girls' Education (PAGE), where she empowers adolescent girls in rural Appalachia.

Inhalt

Where is Affrilachia?
Testimony: Walking with Aunt Lu, by Kelly Elaine Navies
Introduction, by Kelly Elaine Navies
Easter Sunday in Cullowhee: Cullowhee, Western North Carolina, by Chris Aluka Berry
Betty Lou Dorsey Jenkins: Voices from Affrilachia
"It Was Just a Sharing Thing": Texana, Western North Carolina, by Maia A. Surdam
Miss Bessie & Mark: Texana, Western North Carolina, by Chris Aluka Berry
Minnie Casey: Voices from Affrilachia
Testimony: Praise Song for Lilies, by Kelly Elaine Navies
William "Tank" Coward: Voices from Affrilachia
Leroy Jackson: Voices from Affrilachia
Bessie Carter: Voices from Affrilachia
Leroy Jackson: Voices from Affrilachia
"This is Holy Ground": Rock Springs Camp Meeting, Northern Georgia, by Maia A. Surdam
Jenkins Family: White County, Georgia, by Chris Aluka Berry
Testimony: Tools of the Trade, A Eulogy, by Kelly Elaine Navies
Testimony: Our Colored Schoolhouse, by Kelly Elaine Navies
"He Taught Them to Work": Bays Mountain, Eastern Tennessee, by Maia A. Surdam
Christmas in Tennessee: Kingsport, Tennessee, by Chris Aluka Berry
Cecil Dorsey: Voices from Affrilachia
Father & Son: Texana, Western North Carolina, by Chris Aluka Berry
Acknowledgments
Cecil Dorsey: Voices from Affrilachia
List of Illustrations
Donors
Permissions & Acknowledgments
About the Authors

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 5.11.2024
• Reihe/Serie: Appalachian Futures: Black, Native, and Queer Voices
• Zusatzinfo: 1 map, 11 b&w illustrations, 112 color illustrations
• Verlagsort: Lexington
• Sprache: englisch
• Maße: 280 x 280 mm
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Spezielle Soziologien
• Schlagworte: Affrilachian • African American • Appalachia • Appalachian • Black • Diversity • Essays • History • Mountains • Oral History • photography • Poems • southern • Tradition
• ISBN-10: 1-9859-0093-9 / 1985900939
• ISBN-13: 978-1-9859-0093-6 / 9781985900936