Richard C Hutchens at the Upper Big Branch MineEiler, L. S. (1996) Richard C Hutchens at the Upper Big Branch Mine. Montcoal Raleigh County West Virginia, 1996. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/cmns000570/. Coal River Folklife Project collection (AFC 1999/008), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
[audio] at the Library of CongressAugust, J., Hufford, M. & Flynn, J. (1994) Images of Appalachian poverty in the national media. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/cmns001404/.
[audio] at the Library of CongressAugust, J., Bone, J. & Hufford, M. (1994) "You can't tear our environment up just because we have a depressed economy.". [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/cmns001407/.
John Flynn and John August outside the August Service Station.Flynn, J., August, J. & Hufford, M. (1994) John Flynn and John August outside the August Service Station. Stickney Raleigh County West Virginia, 1994. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/cmns000418/. Coal River Folklife Project collection (AFC 1999/008), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
Optics, race, class, gender in mining and portrayals of Appalachia
Optics
Aluka Storytelling PhotographyChris Aluka Berry is a documentary photographer based in Atlanta, Georgia whose long form essays challenge cultural norms and racial stereotypes by exploring race, class, and faith within underrepresented communities.
Looking without Fear by Roger MayIn looking at Appalachia—not just from the outside, but from within as well—we reveal more about ourselves as observers than the region objectively. The subjects show us shades of our own individuality. That’s not easy to unpack, or even admit to, but I think it is why some depictions of Appalachia make us uncomfortable. Part of Portraying Appalachia.
Portraying AppalachiaShort essays from several artists who have worked in the region
African American Coal Miners: Helen, WVA brief history with photos and sources from the National Park Service's African American Auto/Driving Tour and the New River Gorge site.
The forgotten history of the US' African American coal townsFleeing white-led violence and racial segregation laws (known as Jim Crow laws) in Southern states after the end of the US Civil War and the abolition of slavery in 1865, African Americans streamed north into the coal fields of West Virginia in search of jobs and a modicum of security.
In the decades that followed, entire communities emerged in coal camps – and thrived, thanks to demand for the much sought-after fuel source. By 1930, around 80,000 African Americans were living in southern West Virginia, a figure that had doubled in just 20 years.
Tending the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia718 excerpts of sound recordings, 1,256 photographs, and 10 manuscripts from the documenting traditional uses of the mountains in the Big Coal River Valley of southern West Virginia, and exploring cultural dimensions of the ecological crisis from 1992 to 1999. Extensive interviews with local residents on the seasonal harvesting of natural resources--ginseng, ramps (wild leeks), berries, nuts, fish, and game--on occupations, including coal mining and lumbering; and on the impact of large scale industries such as logging and mountaintop removal mining on local communities. Cultural and religious community events were a focus of the project, including storytelling, community dinners and foodways, baptisms, and cemetery customs.
