Participation Type
Panel
Session Title
Documenting Black Cemeteries in SWVA
Session Abstract or Summary
As with the rest of the United States, African Americans - both as slaves and as post-war workers and community-builders - were integral to building the Appalachian region as we know it today, and they remain a present and important part of the region's cultural and social makeup. However, as with the rest of the United States, this population's legacy and current contributions in Appalachia are routinely ignored, downplayed, and even actively erased.
In Southwest Virginia, several untended/ abandoned slave and post-war black cemeteries have recently become known to a small group of scholars, media-makers, and community organizers. This small group is now working together to document these cemeteries in order to protect them from potential industrial/ infrastructural development such as surface-mining and road-building, and as a step towards acknowledging, honoring, and celebrating the black people who lived under brutally exploitative and oppressive conditions, and whose work in no small part built the region and the nation.
Presentation #1 Title
The Ike Shade Cemetery in Haysi, Va. and the beginning of the SWVA Black Cemetery Collective
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Willie Dodson will tell his firsthand account of the events that lead to the registration of the Ike Shade Cemetery, and the organization of the SWVA Black Cemetery Project.
In the course of exploring a potential abandoned mine land/ brownfields remediation project in 2016, a community member in the small town of Haysi, Va. showed community organizer Willie Dodson an abandoned African American cemetery in the woods adjacent to a 20,000+ ton pile of coal mining waste along the banks of the Russell Fork River, a few miles upstream from the Breaks Interstate Park.
This prompted Dodson to reach out to scholars and others in search of someone who could document this cemetery and the now scattered community whose ancestors it holds. The initial results of this outreach was the disclosure of four more abandoned or nearly abandoned black cemeteries spread out across Lee, Wise, Dickenson, and Russell Counties in far SWVA.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Willie Dodson is the Central Appalachian Field Coordinator for Appalachian Voices. He grew up in the Virginia towns of Altavista and Blacksburg and now resides in Wise County in the state's far Southwest corner. He graduated from Berea College with a degree in Appalachian Studies and volunteers with the SWVA Black Cemetery Collective.
Presentation #2 Title
The Collier Slave Cemetery in Jonesville, Va.
Presentation #2 Abstract or Summary
Amy Clark's family land in Jonesville, Virginia is home to an old slave cemetery on a beautiful wooded east facing slope overlooking fields of corn and other crops. Clark is working with the SWVA Black Cemetery Collective to document this cemetery and the oral history about it that she received from her grandmother, who received it from her grandmother.
Amy Clark will tell her firsthand account of the family history handed down about this cemetery, and how she is now working to document this cemetery with the SWVA Black Cemetery Project.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Amy Clark is from Jonesville, Va. Dr. Clark is chair of the Department of Language and Literature, and a professor of Appalachian Studies and Communications Studies at the University of Virignia's College at Wise.
Presentation #3 Title
Documenting Black History in Appalachia
Presentation #3 Abstract or Summary
East Tennessee PBS is currently developing a documentary series about black communities in Appalachia. As part of this process, film-maker William Isom is accompanying individuals associated with the SWVA Black Cemetery Project as they visit cemeteries, discuss their goals and methods, and take action to document these cemeteries.
Isom will speak to the value of documenting the process of cemetery documentation, as well more broadly address his work to document black history in the region.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
William Isom is a documentary film-maker and Community Outreach Coordinator for East Tennessee PBS. He is also a long-time community organizer, activist, and grassroots media-maker in many different capacities. Isom grew up in Morristown, Tn, frequently visiting his mother's side of the family in Wise County, Va. He currently lives in Knoxville.
Presentation #4 Title
Searching for Grandma in Chestnut Grove Cemetery, Norton, Va.
Presentation #4 Abstract or Summary
Tarence Young's mother, like most of the black residents of her generation in Norton, Va., was laid to rest in the Chestnut Grove Cemetery along the toe of High Knob on the south side of the state's smallest city. When a four-lane bypass of route 23 was built in the area decades ago, the placement of the road divided the neighborhood from the cemetery and some of the graves were moved. Mr. Young was told that his mother's remains were relocated to a cemetery in nearby Big Stone Gap, but no such documentation of this ever happening is available and no marker for his mother can be found in this location.
Mr. Young's daughter Terran is now working with the SWVA Black Cemetery Project to document the Chestnut Grove Cemetery and hopefully find some information clarifying the final resting place of her grandmother. Ms. Young will tell her family history as pertains to this cemetery and describe her role in the formation and efforts of the SWVA Black Cemetery Project.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #4
Terran Sparkle Young grew up in Big Stone Gap, Va. and Cincinatti, Oh. She is currently serving as a Highlander Center Transition Fellow focused on the study and reform of land ownership in Wise County, Va. specifically and Appalachia more broadly in partnership with Appalachian Voices, the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, and Liken.
Conference Subthemes
Diversity and Inclusion
The Ike Shade Cemetery in Haysi, Va. and the beginning of the SWVA Black Cemetery Collective
Willie Dodson will tell his firsthand account of the events that lead to the registration of the Ike Shade Cemetery, and the organization of the SWVA Black Cemetery Project.
In the course of exploring a potential abandoned mine land/ brownfields remediation project in 2016, a community member in the small town of Haysi, Va. showed community organizer Willie Dodson an abandoned African American cemetery in the woods adjacent to a 20,000+ ton pile of coal mining waste along the banks of the Russell Fork River, a few miles upstream from the Breaks Interstate Park.
This prompted Dodson to reach out to scholars and others in search of someone who could document this cemetery and the now scattered community whose ancestors it holds. The initial results of this outreach was the disclosure of four more abandoned or nearly abandoned black cemeteries spread out across Lee, Wise, Dickenson, and Russell Counties in far SWVA.
