Meet me in Kentucky?
I'll be there December 15-17, 2023
Hello Friends,
I’m excited to speak at the first annual Winter Burrow Literary and Arts Conference. Conference organizer and host, the Hindman Settlement School, describes it as “a great opportunity for many of our Hindman families to come together, such as our creative writers, our artists, our musicians, our community organizers, our teachers, and our scholars. We can share expertise and ideas across discipline and genre and see how all our interests weave together and overlap.”
My topic is related to the book I’m writing on the racial history of the Ohio River Valley, which includes the Appalachian parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. My session is titled “Appalachia So White?” because the racial history and makeup of the region is often taken for granted and misunderstood. I’d love for you to join us at Hindman and grab a cuppa after my session. Here’s the skinny:
The Ohio River divided slave- from free-states in 1787. How has that border shaped race relations in the present day? The session begins with a quiz on people, places, and events from the Appalachian Region of the Ohio River (Pittsburgh to Cincinnati). The quiz will help participants learn about the region’s racial history and how it affects current issues.
Winter Burrow’s keynote address will be given by Amy Clark, who also knows a thing or two about the culture. She is founding director of the Center for Appalachian Studies and the Appalachian Writing Project at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise and sits on the editorial board for University of Virginia Press, where she is editorial consultant for their new imprint, Rivanna, which features books about Appalachia.
Appalachian Ohio River Valley Books
My other newsletter, The 981 Project, is about the 981 miles of the Ohio River. Earlier this month I wrote about a number of the Ohio River Valley books I’ve been reading, some of which pertain specifically to the Appalachia-Ohio River nexus, which I’ve shared here. I hope you’ll find your next read among these recommendations.
Books from Clermont County, Ohio
First up are these books based in Clermont County, Ohio. I photographed them with a brochure from Clermont County’s Freedom Trail, because they are all linked to the Underground Railroad.
Clermont County was home to several abolitionist communities, where many southerners moved and freed their enslaved workers. Fun fact: President Grant was born in Clermont County.
Beyond the River brings to life the stories of men and women, both Black and white, who fought against slavery along the Ohio River through the Ripley line of the Underground Railroad. I’ve heard the Underground Railroad movement called “the war before the war.”
His Promised Land is a slave narrative from John P. Parker, who may be the most interesting American ever born. Born to an enslaved mother and a white Virginian “aristocrat,” he was sold at the age of eight and eventually bought his freedom after many harrowing runaway attempts detailed in the book. When he made it to Ohio, he literally worked day and night; by day as an inventor and business owner, and by night as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. He was issued US patents for an improved tobacco press, a portable tobacco press, and soil pulverizer, and he used his earnings to send his sons to university. Someone should make a biopic of him.
Books on Race History in the Upper Ohio Valley
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia are in Northern Appalachia, and did not see as much enslaved labor as Virginia and Kentucky—although remember that West Virginia was part of Virginia until it joined the Confederacy. Wheeling, West Virginia was considered “The Northernmost Southern City” and had an active slave market for those who would be sold "down the river.”
Pittsburgh is an interesting city, sitting at the mouth of the Ohio River and considered by some to be “The Paris of Appalachia.” When the Pennsylvania General Assembly was petitioned in 1788 to form Allegheny County, four signatories were free Black men. Slavery never gained a strong foothold in the region—particularly after the state passed a plan for gradual abolition in 1780—though it certainly did exist.
The Negro in Pittsburgh is published by the Federal Writers’ Project under FDR’s first term. Untold numbers of projects in progress were lost when the program was abruptly shut down by a hostile Congress in 1939, including this one, which lay dormant in the Pennsylvania State Library until it was microfilmed in 1970. This unique historical study of the city’s black population features articles on civil rights, social class, lifestyle, culture, folklore, and institutions from colonial times through the 1930s.
The Strange Careers of the Jim Crow North: Segregation and Struggle outside of the South dispels the myth that the South was the birthplace of American racism, and presents a compelling argument that American racism actually originated in the North. One thing that struck me, growing up north of the Ohio River in a non-slave state, was this observation by Alexis de Tocqueville in 1831: “(t)he prejudice of race appears to be stronger in the states that have abolished slavery than in those where it still exists; and nowhere is it so intolerant as in those states where servitude has never been known.”
City Anthologies and Guide Books
Belt Publishing offers a wide range of city anthologies and neighborhood guidebooks for Rust Belt cities (which includes the Ohio Valley region). They include essays, poetry, and sometimes graphic stories from writers with unique perspectives on what it’s like to live, work, and love in each city.
I’ve seen some of the anthologies in indie bookstores (including Carmichael’s in Louisville) but you can buy them directly from the publisher or from any online retailer.
How about your library? Any recommendations on Appalachia? Race history? The Ohio River? Please let me know in the comments.