Participation Type
Panel
Session Title
Session 5.11 (Education) The Legacy of Don West: the Past, Present and Future of the Appalachian South Folklife Center
Session Abstract or Summary
Founded in 1965 by Appalachian organizer, poet and educator Don West, the Appalachian South Folklife Center has been dedicated to empowering young people and community members through celebrating a mountain heritage of freedom and self-reliance for 50 years. The panel will examine the impact the Center and Don West have had on Appalachian literary culture, traditional music revival, regional social movements and the local community in Summers County, West Virginia and look toward the future of its work.
Throughout its history, the Center has been a key gathering place for musicians, social movements such as the anti-strip mining movement, Miners for Democracy and the Black Lung Association, volunteer “outsiders” including VISTA and Appalachian Volunteers, and Appalachian poets and radicals. Gabe Schwartzman will talk about a recently completed oral history of the Center. The presentation will include some clips of a few of the many voices that had transformative experiences at the Folklife Center. Jeff Biggers will talk about the legacy of Don West. In particular, he will discuss how West's experiences as a tenant farmer, educator, labor organizer and poet informed his vision of an radical Appalachian identity rooted traditional culture, self-reliance and respect for the indepedence of all people that has guided the Center. Shelli Osbourne and Wendy Johnston will discuss the wide range of programming the Center has engaged in including youth camps, community service learning, agricultural programs, a printing press, and multicultural Appalachian culture festivals and plans for future growth.
Presentation #1 Title
Don West, Appalachian Identity and the Folklife Center
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
One of the most charismatic Southern leaders of the middle twentieth century, Don West was influential educator, a poet, a pioneer advocate for civil rights, a preacher, a historian, a labor organizer, a folk-music revivalist, an essayist, and an organic farmer. Biggers will examine West's background as a tenant farmer in Appalchian Georgia and his experiences as an organizer across the South led to his vision that motivated the founding of the Folklife Center. Driven by a passion for justice and a love of working class and poor Southerners, West worked as a civil rights organizer and educator in Georgia and a labor organizer in east Kentucky and North Carolina while helping establish Appalachian literature by writing “people's poetry” in regional dialect. Deeply proud of southern Appalachia, West was dedicated to re-telling the story of Appalachia as a region often at the forefront of social change and a strong and self-reliant people. The Center was founded with a goal of instilling this pride in Appalachia and vision of its history in young people in southern West Virginia. Biggers will also examine West's role as a mentor and inspiration to a younger generation of organizers and poets in his time at the Center.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Jeff Biggers is an award-winning author, journalist and educator. He served as co-editor of No Lonesome Road: Selected Prose and Poems of Don West. Biggers serves as the Writer-in-Residence at the University of Iowa's Office of Sustainability. He also leads workshops for students and writers on creative writing, narrative nonfiction, environmental writing, clean energy and sustainable development, multicultural education, and art and activism.
Presentation #2 Title
An Oral Histry of the Appalachian South Folklife Center
Presentation #2 Abstract or Summary
This presentation gives voices to the many peoples who cannot be on this panel, yet whose lives have been fundamentally shaped by the work of Don West and the Appalachian South Folklife Center.
Don West’s project to build a folklife center in southern West Virginia, started in 1965, touched not only his friends, pupils, and opponents, but generations of students, activists, and musicians to come through his center after he no longer could. Discussing and displaying some of stories collected during 2014’s Don West and Appalachia South Folklife Center Oral History Project, this presentation gives voice to the many diverse people Don and this Folklife Center touched. From those who help build this dream, to those who never knew Don, yet formed an Appalachian identity at his center, the stories of the Appalachian South Folklife Center are key pieces of Appalachian history.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Gabe Schwartzman conducted research on Appalachian politics and culture through his undergraduate at UC Berkeley. After undergraduate he worked with the Appalachian South Folklife Center to conduct an extensive oral history about their center and its founder, now housed at the University of Kentucky Appalachian Oral History Library.
Presentation #3 Title
Social Justice and Social Service: the Work of the Folklife Center
Presentation #3 Abstract or Summary
Shelli Osbourne will talk about the Center's historical and current programs. The Center has host a wide range of programming throughout its history including; the Mountain Music Festival, a traditional music festival that attracted numerous local musicians, nationally known artists such as Pete Seeger and Merle Travis and thousands of attendees, the Appalachian Movement Press, which published writing on labor history and social issues, a range of educational camps for local youth, the John Henry festival, a celebration of Black Appalachian culture, Heifer International and other agricultural programs, and a service-learning program for groups from around the country to learn about Appalachian culture and issues facing the Appalachian poor and provide direct assistance to community members and local nonprofits. The Center has also provided a safe and beautiful space for many regional and local groups to hold retreats, trainings, and fundraisers.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
Shelli Osborne has lived in Southern West Virginia all of her life. After graduating Concord College with a degree in Business and Appalachian Studies she began working for Appalachian South Folklife Center as the Director. For 17 years, she has continued the mission of Don West to create a place for all people to share community work and creativity. She has dedicated her life to helping people overcome obstacles that have plagued the region.
Presentation #4 Title
Growing the Center
Presentation #4 Abstract or Summary
Wendy Johnston will present on our newest program. In 2014, the Center became a Grow Appalachia partner site providing education, direct assistance, and growing space to community members trying to grow their own food.
She will discuss early successes and plans for growth and how the program fits into the Center's legacy of encouraging self-reliance and community development. Next year, the program plans to expand into engaging farmer's markets, a local seed library, local restaurants and providing produce to low-income community members. Wendy will discuss the potential and importance of strengthening local food systems in southern West Virginia.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #4
Wendy D. Johnston, MLS - 1990 Graduate of Berea College and 2011 Graduate of University of North Texas School of Library and Information Science. Along with her husband Steven , Wendy owns and operates Oakwyn Farms in Athens, WV. She comes from a long line of West Virginia Farmers and Homesteaders. Growing food and teaching others to do the same is not only a job but a passion.
Mathew Louis-Rosenberg came to West Virginia as a community organizer with Coal River Mountain Watch and the Sludge Safety Project. He is now a volunteer at the Appalachian South Folklife Center working on program development and an oral history of the Center.
Don West, Appalachian Identity and the Folklife Center
One of the most charismatic Southern leaders of the middle twentieth century, Don West was influential educator, a poet, a pioneer advocate for civil rights, a preacher, a historian, a labor organizer, a folk-music revivalist, an essayist, and an organic farmer. Biggers will examine West's background as a tenant farmer in Appalchian Georgia and his experiences as an organizer across the South led to his vision that motivated the founding of the Folklife Center. Driven by a passion for justice and a love of working class and poor Southerners, West worked as a civil rights organizer and educator in Georgia and a labor organizer in east Kentucky and North Carolina while helping establish Appalachian literature by writing “people's poetry” in regional dialect. Deeply proud of southern Appalachia, West was dedicated to re-telling the story of Appalachia as a region often at the forefront of social change and a strong and self-reliant people. The Center was founded with a goal of instilling this pride in Appalachia and vision of its history in young people in southern West Virginia. Biggers will also examine West's role as a mentor and inspiration to a younger generation of organizers and poets in his time at the Center.
