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Paper
Presentation #1 Title
Black Geographies of Appalachia: Black Invisibility, John Henry and Ed Cabbell
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
This paper investigates the current relevance of the central thesis of Edward Cabbell’s contribution to Blacks in Appalachia (Turner and Cabbell 1985); that the invisibility of black Appalachians in both academic study and popular accounts supports myths that black experiences are not consequential for Appalachia, and that Appalachian issues are strictly ‘white problems.’ Black invisibility, then, enables particular structures of racism in the mountains. To investigate black invisibility this paper examines the black geographies (McKittrick 2006) of Appalachia at several sites of African-American labor: particularly, black prison labor in industrial development in the mountains and the memorialization of John Henry. The paper argues that although often rendered invisible, these black geographies – as past and present - in part constitute Appalachia today. Investigating Cabbell’s thesis, this paper responds to recent calls in Appalachian Studies to ask “…questions about how to define and theorize the past in order to overcome its legacies and organize toward brighter futures…”(Fisher and Smith 2016: 49).
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Black Geographies of Appalachia: Black Invisibility, John Henry and Ed Cabbell
This paper investigates the current relevance of the central thesis of Edward Cabbell’s contribution to Blacks in Appalachia (Turner and Cabbell 1985); that the invisibility of black Appalachians in both academic study and popular accounts supports myths that black experiences are not consequential for Appalachia, and that Appalachian issues are strictly ‘white problems.’ Black invisibility, then, enables particular structures of racism in the mountains. To investigate black invisibility this paper examines the black geographies (McKittrick 2006) of Appalachia at several sites of African-American labor: particularly, black prison labor in industrial development in the mountains and the memorialization of John Henry. The paper argues that although often rendered invisible, these black geographies – as past and present - in part constitute Appalachia today. Investigating Cabbell’s thesis, this paper responds to recent calls in Appalachian Studies to ask “…questions about how to define and theorize the past in order to overcome its legacies and organize toward brighter futures…”(Fisher and Smith 2016: 49).
