Black Appalachia: Race, Place, and Identity

Edited by Cicero M. Fain III, Sheena Harris Hayes Jr., Hayden Wilburn and William H. Turner

“Black Appalachia: Race, Place, and Identity” is the long-awaited successor to “Blacks in Appalachia” (1985), the first modern anthology to examine the socioeconomic, cultural and political experiences of Black Appalachians.

Edited by Fain III, Hayes, Hayden Jr. and Turner, “Black Appalachia” features more than 25 emerging and established scholars and creatives who challenge how we think about the region by finding new answers to persistent questions.

Covering topics such as migration, discrimination, the arts, and the links between memory and place, this book demonstrates that Appalachia's Black residents maintain a significant role in shaping the region.

It documents a renaissance of ideas, music, poetry, photography and food, and uses innovative scholarship, perspectives, and fields of inquiry to acknowledge the challenges and complexities of the Black experience in Appalachia.

“Black Appalachia” expands on the still largely untold story of Black America, reframing legacy and history, highlighting marginalized communities and celebrating their contributions.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Fain III is the author of “Black Huntington: An Appalachian Story,” which was a Weatherford Award finalist and winner of the West Virginia Library Association's Literary Merit Award. 

Hayes is the author of “Margaret Murray Washington: The Life and Times of a Career Clubwoman.”

Hayden Jr. is the author of “Appalachian Black People: Identity, Location and Racial Barriers” and served as the first African American president of the Appalachian Studies Association. 

Turner is co-editor of “Blacks in Appalachia” and author of “The Harlan Renaissance: Stories of Black Life in Appalachian Coal Towns,” which won a Weatherford Award and Kentucky Historical Society Governor's Award.

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