Resources for Black History Month, relaunch!

We at AFNHA wanted to share with you some resources that speak more to the history of black Americans, not only in the AFNHA but in the Appalachian region as a whole. These resources in no way speak to any political leanings, and they do not advocate for any political organization. They are simply listed to promote learning and growth about our heritage, history, and culture in the Appalachian region, of which AFNHA is a part of. We have updated a few resources for 2024, and hope you find them most helpful.

If you have any information we may be missing, please let us know and email Ben at ben@afnha.org ! Or consider submitting a story for America250. We want to hear from you!

The Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area region:

• Learn about Black culture in the region in our previous exhibit “Creating Culture”

• Allegany County:

  • Emmanuel Parish and the Underground Railroad

  • Allegany County African American History (Western Maryland’s Historical Library)

• Hardy County Heritage Trails: Historic African-American Schoolhouses

• The J.R. Clifford Project

• Greenbrier County:

  • More Than a School: Collective Memories from Bolling School Alumni

  • Katherine Johnson, NASA mathematician

  • Exhibits by Greenbrier Historical Society

    • Know Your School: Education and Opportunity at Bolling School

    • Echoes of Slavery in Greenbrier County

    • The Life and Work of Anthony and Fanny Carter

• Randolph County

  • See this brochure or visit the exhibit at the Beverly Heritage Center

  • Riverside: the heart of Elkins’ Black community for 50 years

• Pocahontas County

  • Pleasant Green Church & School

• Green Book Sites in WV

• A Civil Rights Tour of WV

  • Online or PDF

Katherine Johnson, WVU

Riverside School, Elkins, WV

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Appalachian region:

Image: Oxford African American Studies Center

Coal Black Voices
A documentary designed to engage viewers in the history of African American culture, the roots of Black literary traditions and their contemporary relationship with the Appalachian literary movement among other regional literary traditions. Explores Affrilachian poetry.

Appalachian African American Cultural Center
A community of people dedicated to collecting, preserving, and sharing the history, heritage, and culture of Black Appalachians, with particular focus on Central Appalachia. They collect, preserve, and share the life stories, history, contributions, culture, and heritage of Black people in far Southwest Virginia, West Virginia, and the broader Appalachian region.

Affrilachian Poets
Affrilachia is an ever-evolving cultural landscape poised to render the invisible visible. Affrilachia embraces a multicultural influence, a spectrum of people who consider Appalachia home and/or identify strongly with the trials and triumphs of being of this region. Through their writing and the very existence of their enclave, the Affrilachian Poets continue to reveal relationships that link identity to familial roots, socio-economic stratification and cultural influence, and an inherent connection to the land.

Black in Appalachia
Black in Appalachia is working to highlight the history of African Americans in the development of our region and its culture. Through research, local narratives, public engagement and exhibition, this project aims to raise the visibility and contributions of the Black communities of the Mountain South.

Image: The Washington Post

100 Days, 100 Voices in Appalachia
In 100 Days, 100 Voices, photographer Nancy Andrews presents photographs depicting the diversity of voices across Appalachia. These portraits strive to show the varied faces, passions, issues and opinions from around the region.

NPS and WV Tourism History
A trip through African American History in Appalachia through the NPS and WV Tourism.