Appalshop and African Americans in Appalachia

Appalshop and African Americans in Appalachia Herb E. Smith Appalshop is an art and education center founded in Whitesburg, in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, in 1969. Its purpose has been to document and present the history, culture, and social issues of Appalachia and rural America through media and the arts. The divisions of Appalshop are Appalshop Films, Headwaters Television, Roadside Theatre, June Appal Recordings, WMMT-FM, and Mountain Photography Workshop. The following films/documentaries focus directly on black people. Mabel Parker Hardison Smith. 1985. Directed by Anne Johnson. Transplanted to Harlan County, Kentucky, in the early 1900s, Mabel recollects the life of a black Appalachian miner s family while archival and personal photos illustrate her colorful narration. Filmed at Mabel's home in Big Gap, Virginia. Clinchco: Story of a Mining Town. 1982. Directed by Susie Baker. A series of photographs, many from family albums, that chronicles the boom and bust of a biracial coal camp in the hills of Virginia. In interviews, retired miners and their families recall the joys and the hardships of life in what was once a company-controlled community. The program depicts the history of black and white settlement, the governor's suppression of union organizing with machine guns and hired thugs, and Clinchco today—a shrinking community of retired people. Earl Gilmore: Portrait of a gospel and blues musician from Clinchco, Va. A biography in progress. Chemical Valley. Directed by Mimi Pickering and Anne Johnson. "Chemical Valley" moves from events in Bhopal, India, in 1984 (site of the worst industrial accident when MIC leaked from a Union Carbide plant) to Institute, West Virginia, where a sister plant sits in the epicenter of a once-thriving black community and its cornerstone institution, West Virginia State College. The film documents the events in the valley concerning community health and employment. Ultimately, the program raises a number of questions about the international circle of production, distribution, and disposal of toxic chemicals into which all our lives are integrated. Long Journey Home. 1984. Directed by Elizabeth Barrett. Studs Terkel describes Long Journey Home as "a damned good film!" The "history tellers" include storyteller Anndrena Belcher, now of Scott County, Virginia, who has returned to the mountains from a childhood in Chicago; Dr. William H. Turner, now a college professor, who came from a black coal-mining family in Harlan County, Kentucky, and James and Denise Hardin, returning to the mountains with their children after seventeen years in Baltimore. For further information about products reviewed here and in regard to Appalshop's general work, please contact us at 306 Madison Street, Whitesburg, Kentucky 41858; 606/633-0108. 75 "Lending a Hand to Youth As They Climb Life's Mountain" THE BLACK MOUNTAIN YOUTH LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM THE BLACK MOUNTAIN IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION BEREA COLLEGE In 1988 the Black Mountain Improvement Association was formed as a not-for-profit organization in Barbourville, Kentucky. Recently its work to " stimulate the potential of young people of African descent in Appalachian communities" was awarded a four-year grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation to Berea College. BMIA organizes educational and community development activities based primarily in local churches in the tri-state area in Kentucky (Barbourville, Middlesboro, Pineville, Harlan, Benham, Cumberland, Lynch, Jenkins, Wheelwright, Fleming-Neon and Hazard), in Virginia (Appalachia, Big Stone Gap, Norton, and Coeburn), and in West Virginia (Gary, Welch, Keystone, and other parts of McDowell County). Program activities of the Black Mountain Improvement Association are in the hands of local community persons and are coordinated from the Barbourville regional office and the Berea College headquarters. Dr. Joyce Bickerstaff (Harlan native) is Project Director and Mary Lou Pursiful, a BMIA funding officer in Barbourville, serves as Director of Community Services and Sites Coordinator . This community/campus-based project was founded and the proposal to the Kellogg Foundation developed through the efforts of Dr. William H. Turner, a Lynch, Kentucky, native. BMYLP/BMIA programs focus on community development through educational mentoring and tutoring and by linking youth with elderly persons in the communities. The activities will support the work of students in school to broaden their career and life choices through supervised and structured social and cultural programs. At the...