 African Americans have always had a profound impact on the economy, culture and social landscape of southern Appalachia. Only after a surge of study in the past two decades have their contributions been recognized.
Edited by UGA professor of history John Inscoe, Appalachians and Race brings together 18 essays on the black experience in the mountain South in the 19th century. From slave labor in iron works, coal fields and salt mines to postwar racial violence and Jim Crow oppression, these essays represent a broad and diverse sampling of the best work on race relations in this American region. Together, they demonstrate the extent to which African Americans were, in multiple and sometimes even contradictory ways, integral parts of Appalachian life and labor during the region’s formative years.
The contributors consider a variety of topics: black migration into and out of the region, educational and religious missions directed at African Americans, the musical influences of interracial contacts, the political activism of blacks during reconstruction and beyond, the racial attitudes of white highlanders and much more.
Drawing from the particulars of Southern mountain experiences, this collection brings together important studies of the dynamics of race not only within the region, but throughout the South and the nation over the course of the turbulent 19th century.
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