Mode of Program Participation
Academic Scholarship
Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
Editor Mitchell in the Mountains: The Early 20th Century Travels of John Mitchell, Jr. In Appalachia
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
During the era’s of Jim Crow and segregation, institutional and economic limits prevented many African American Virginians from experiencing first-hand the natural beauty and richness of the Commonwealth’s Appalachian region and the achievements of the region’s African-American citizens. In the first three decades of the twentieth century, John Mitchell, Jr., Editor of the Richmond Planet, frequently published accounts of his travels throughout the Appalachian region of Western Virginia. His travel accounts provide a unique window into the African-American experience in Appalachia and its early 20th Century landscape of segregation. Building upon earlier scholarship that presented John Mitchell’s career and biographical achievements, this paper focuses upon the travel accounts of Editor Mitchell published in the The Richmond Planet to reveal Mitchell’s keen eye for the region’s natural beauty and his support for the region’s African American residents through his role as a newspaper publisher and as the Grand Chancellor, Knights of Pythias for Virginia. Editor Mitchell’s travel descriptions also reveal the efforts of African American Virginians to provide through entrepreneurial efforts recreational experiences of nature denied to them in the everyday landscapes of segregation. Importantly Mitchell’s automobile travel and his travel accounts will also be situated in the context of the period’s rediscovery of the Commonwealth’ western regions by automobile “tours” and “excursions” sponsored and supported by the the establishment press.” What emerges from the collective efforts of African American Virginians visited and encountered by Mitchell, are the hidden dimensions of African American cultural landscapes in Appalachian Virginia.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Brian Katen, ASLA is a licensed landscape architect and Associate Professor in the Landscape Architecture Program in the School of Architecture + Design, College of Architecture and Urban Studies at Virginia Tech. Professor Katen’s research explores the archival and liminal dimensions of landscape and the persistence and materiality of memory in everyday, vernacular, and ephemeral landscapes. His current research is focused on documenting and studying Virginia’s segregation-era African American landscapes and their archival record. Professor Katen has a Master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Virginia and sixteen years of professional practice experience.
Editor Mitchell in the Mountains: The Early 20th Century Travels of John Mitchell, Jr. In Appalachia
During the era’s of Jim Crow and segregation, institutional and economic limits prevented many African American Virginians from experiencing first-hand the natural beauty and richness of the Commonwealth’s Appalachian region and the achievements of the region’s African-American citizens. In the first three decades of the twentieth century, John Mitchell, Jr., Editor of the Richmond Planet, frequently published accounts of his travels throughout the Appalachian region of Western Virginia. His travel accounts provide a unique window into the African-American experience in Appalachia and its early 20th Century landscape of segregation. Building upon earlier scholarship that presented John Mitchell’s career and biographical achievements, this paper focuses upon the travel accounts of Editor Mitchell published in the The Richmond Planet to reveal Mitchell’s keen eye for the region’s natural beauty and his support for the region’s African American residents through his role as a newspaper publisher and as the Grand Chancellor, Knights of Pythias for Virginia. Editor Mitchell’s travel descriptions also reveal the efforts of African American Virginians to provide through entrepreneurial efforts recreational experiences of nature denied to them in the everyday landscapes of segregation. Importantly Mitchell’s automobile travel and his travel accounts will also be situated in the context of the period’s rediscovery of the Commonwealth’ western regions by automobile “tours” and “excursions” sponsored and supported by the the establishment press.” What emerges from the collective efforts of African American Virginians visited and encountered by Mitchell, are the hidden dimensions of African American cultural landscapes in Appalachian Virginia.
