Introduction
Welcome to the Southern Appalachian History and Culture LibGuide! This site is dedicated to Buncombe County’s Appalachian roots in connection with the county and the region’s culture, history, and people. At the same time, this LibGuide helps to highlight the presence of minority groups that help shape Buncombe’s identity. Explore the various resources on this page, including books, academic journals, videos, websites, and more. This website accompanies the Pack Memorial Library’s North Carolina Room, which strives to fulfill the following mission:
“The North Carolina Room at Pack Memorial Library is dedicated to actively collecting, preserving, promoting and providing equal access to the history of every person and community in Asheville, Buncombe County and the surrounding area. We are proud of our historic resources and are committed to preserving them for the future through correct archival preservation, digitization, and making them easily accessible to the public.”
We hope that the resources we provide meet your curiosity with knowledge. Read the sections below to ascertain the kind of information you’ll discover while exploring this site. Please reach out to any of the librarians if you have any questions!
This page focuses on Native American history and culture in western North Carolina and Southern Appalachia, with a focus on the Cherokee Nation. It also includes broader resources about historical and current Native American tribes across North Carolina. Resources include indigenous studies journals, newspaper databases, oral histories, artisan databases, histories, and more.
This page focuses more broadly on the topics of gender and sexuality in Appalachia. These topics intertwine with source material that highlight everyday LGBTQIA+ life. Through a better understanding of gender and sexuality in this region, readers will also understand the complexities of being queer in Appalachia. Find a wide array of resources that include interviews, organizations, oral histories, dissertations, and many more. The conversation on LGBTQIA+ life in Appalachia is ongoing and new ideas are disseminated more and more frequently. Become a part of that conversation by diving into the rich resources on this section.
This page focuses on the history of the civil rights movement of the 1950s-1970s in the Southern Appalachian area, with a particular focus on Buncombe County and the surrounding areas of Western North Carolina. Here you'll find stories and analysis of school desegregation fights and other civil rights initiatives in the mountains, the Black Appalachian experience during the civil rights era, and ways that the Appalachian civil rights movement connected and interacted with the larger national movement. This page helps to bring awareness of the scope and importance of the civil rights movement in Western North Carolina and Appalachia. Often, the work of Black Appalachians is overlooked, and this page brings important and local context to the story of the civil rights movement.
This page focuses on the oral history of the region. Read, listen, and watch as Western North Carolinians and other southern Appalachian storytellers share tales originating from the area. Storytelling not only centers on mountain folktales, but the personal stories of the southern Appalachian people. Find audio recordings and videos of interviews that feature the everyday lives of mountain folk. Plus, resources like journals and another LibGuide are available to help place the culture and history of the stories into context.
Map of North Carolina Native American tribes at the time of European contact. From the North Carolina Digital Collections.
This is a research guide for anyone interested in learning about the history of Native Americans in western North Carolina and Southern Appalachia.
Native Carolinians: The Indians of North Carolina by 
Native North Carolina: The What, Why and Where of Native American Places by 
The Cherokee Nation: A History by 
A Cherokee Encyclopedia by 
Cherokee Women: Gender and Cultural Change, 1700-1853 by 
Keeping the Circle: American Indian Identity in Eastern North Carolina, 1885-2004 by A live call-in radio program that hosts discussions related to Native American communities.
Review: College of the Redwoods Library
Native American and Indigenous Studies Association Journal
A journal focusing on interdisciplinary scholarship in international Native American and Indigenous Studies.
Review: Washington State University Library
An index of more than 1,800 journals related to American history and culture from prehistoric times through the present.
Review: University of Tennessee Knoxville Library
Formerly Southern Indian Studies. An annual publication by the North Carolina Archaeological Society focusing on prehistoric and historic Native American cultures. Volumes from 1949 through 2018 are available online.
Review: UNC Chapel Hill Library
Cherokee Traditions
A database of information about Cherokee artisans and crafts spanning the twentieth century.
Review: Western Carolina Hunter Library
Includes blog posts, an artist directory, and digital archives with a focus on the Cherokee language.
Review: University of Tennessee Knoxville Library
A reference website with numerous links to resources related to Tsalagi, the Cherokee language, including dictionaries, language books, fonts, text editors, and more.
Review: University of Tennessee Knoxville Library
A group dedicated to the memorialization and interpretation of the Trail of Tears historic trail, including an annual conference and symposium.
Review: University of Tennessee Knoxville Library
Indians of North Carolina newspaper database
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (1903). Indians of North Carolina.
A database of news articles about Native Americans, primarily published in North Carolina, and generally dating from 1920 through 1975.
Review: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library
Digital Collections at Western Carolina University Hunter Library
A collection of digital archives related to Appalachian history, including a collection of the Cherokee Nation's newspaper from 1828 to 1834, the Cherokee Phoenix.
Review: Appalachian State University Library
A collection of both audio files and digital transcripts of interviews recorded as part of Documenting the American South's project Oral Histories of the American South.
Review: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library
A collection of both audio files and digital transcripts of interviews recorded as part of Documenting the American South's project Oral Histories of the American South.
Review: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library
Native American History and Culture: Finding Pictures
A libguide from the Library of Congress to finding visual resources related to Native American communities.
Review: Library of Congress
Indigenous Peoples of North Carolina: General Resources
A libguide created by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill library that serves as an introduction to indigenous peoples across the state of North Carolina, and offers resources divided by group.
Review: UNC Chapel Hill
America: History and Life. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://www.ebsco.com/products/research-databases/america-history-and-life
Appalachian State University Appalachian History Digital Collections (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://guides.library.appstate.edu/c.php?g=65555&p=422958
Carrier, S. Indigenous Peoples of North Carolina. Retrieved September 28, 2020 from https://guides.lib.unc.edu/nc-indigenous/home
"Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change, 1700-1835, by Theda Perdue." Canadian Journal of History, 36(3), pp. 595–596
Cherokee Language Resources (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from http://www.native-languages.org/cherokee.htm#language
Cherokee Traditions (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://www.wcu.edu/library/DigitalCollections/CherokeeTraditions/ArtsAndCrafts/
Conley, R. J. (2007). A Cherokee encyclopedia Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
Conley, R. J. (2007). The Cherokee Nation: A history. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
DigitalNC (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://www.digitalnc.org/about/
Destine, S. Cherokee LibGuide. Retrieved September 29, 2020 from https://libguides.utk.edu/c.php?g=188628
Hvizdak, E. Native American Studies Libguide. Retrieved September 27, 2020 from https://libguides.libraries.wsu.edu/c.php?g=294108
Museum of Cherokee Indian (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://www.cherokeemuseum.org/
North Carolina Archaeology. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from http://rla.unc.edu/Publications/NCArch.html
Native American and Indigenous Studies Association Journal. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://www.naisa.org/journal/
Native America Calling (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://www.nativeamericacalling.com/about/
Native American History and Culture: Finding Pictures: Introduction. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://guides.loc.gov/native-american-pictures?loclr=blogpic
Oakley, C. A. (2005). Keeping the circle: American Indian identity in eastern North Carolina, 1885-2004. Lincoln, Neb: University of Nebraska Press.
Perdue, T. (1998). Cherokee Women: Gender and culture change, 1700-1835. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.
Perdue, T., Oakley, C. A., & North Carolina. (2010). Native Carolinians: The Indians of North Carolina. Raleigh, N.C: North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Office of Archives and History.
Reynolds, K. (2010). Native North Carolina: The what, why and where of Native American place names. Boone, N.C.: Parkway Publishers.
Trail of Tears Association (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://www.nationaltota.com/
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (1903). Indians of North Carolina.
Western Carolina University Hunter Library Digital Collections (n.d). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://www.wcu.edu/hunter-library/find/digital-collections.aspx
This page can be used as a tool to explore the topic of gender and sexuality in Appalachia. If you have any questions, please email Chadwick Dunefsky at csdunefsky@uncg.edu.
Mann and Watts' poetry collection features a rich collection of LGTBQIA+ authors. Its genre, stepping outside of the academic world, allows for a different way of viewing everyday life in Appalachia. It can be used as an important educational resource that teaches diverse voices exist within Appalachia. As Helton, the reviewer puts it, "the collection states the goal is to show that "queer" and "Appalachian" don't have to be mutually exclusive"
Gray writes about LGBT identities in rural Kentucky, using an ethnographical study. Gray explores the importance of being "local" to these communities and how that identity can sometimes supercede homophobic tendencies. However, regardless of local familiarity, there is still hostility and fear to be had for an LGBT individual. This book is important in understanding how identities can intersect within rural Kentucky and how that intersection influences the development of LGBT identity. LGBT individuals use spaces like the local Walmart or church to explore their gender fluidity. This books' personal glance at LGBT life is important in understanding the nuances of being queer in Appalachia.
Billings, D., Norman, G., & Ledford, K. (2000). Back Talk from Appalachia: Confronting Stereotypes. University Press of Kentucky.
Annotation
Billings, Norman, and Ledford's book covers a wide range of identities in Appalachia including LBTQIA+. This book is important in reframing conceptions and provide greater insight into everyday life. Though not all chapters focus on LBGTQIA+, its contents are still useful in understanding how minority groups in Appalachia take shape and form. These ideas can assist in creating a better idea of how LGBTQIA+ life functions and looks in Appalachia.
Billings, D., & Kingsolver, A. (2018). Appalachia in Regional Context: Place Matters. University Press of Kentucky.Billings, D., & Kingsolver, A. (2018). Appalachia in Regional Context: Place Matters. University Press of Kentucky.
Annotation
Billings and Kingsolver's book examines gender norms in Appalachia. They explore how Appalachia itself creates and forms gender identities with chapters diving into masculinity and queer youth. These chapters provide readers with a better understanding of how gender norms might contort or influence the concepts of LGBTQIA+ within Appalachia.
Country Queers is a blog documenting queer lives in rural communities. Although this blog is broad in its scope, its contents provides an intimate view of everyday life in rural areas. These topics can be used to gain a better understand of what it means to be queer in Appalachia and isolated areas in the south. At the moment, the blog only links to an oral history collection but it continues to expand in its contents. This blog is an important part of queer culture and something to watch as it gains content in the near-future.
Queer Mountaineers is a recently created podcast by Kayla Gagnon. Each episode features a different individual with a queer individual in the state of West Virginia. This podcast is a valuable resource in understanding the intersectionality of LGTBQIA+ identity and West Virginia identity. Its digestible format means it is widely accessible and can be used as a launching pad to better understand the everyday lives of LGTBQIA+ youth in Appalachia.
Annotation
Queer Appalachia is an organization that publishes Electric Dirt, a journal highlighting art by Queer individuals in Appalachia and the south. This journal illustrates how flexible identity is within Appalachia. Pejoratives in one area might be symbols of pride in others (the word Hillbilly being one example). By focusing on art, this journal demonstrates a thriving Queer scene educating individuals on life in Appalachia.
Annotation
The Appalachian Studies Journal encourages and promotes inclusivity in talking about everyday life within Appalachia. Two important conferences on LGBTQIA+ life include: "The Other in an Othered Culture: LGBTQ Writers in Appalachia" and "Living in Queer Country: An Analysis of Appalachian Queer Individuals." These conferences show the journal's involvement in investigating and developing the story of LGBTQIA+ lives in Appalachia.
Links
The Other in an Othered Culture: LGBTQ Writers in Appalachia
Living in Queer Country: An Analysis of Appalachian Queer Individuals
Women of These Hills is a 40 minute documentary with three interviews from Cherokee, Scots-Irish and African-American women living in Appalachia. This interview provides a rich insight into everyday life of women in this area. It assists in providing a better understanding of gender roles and gender expectations in Appalachia. These topics are important in understanding the nature of sexuality and gender as they relate to different nationalities within Appalachia.
The chair of women and gender studies at Berea college conducts an interview with Savannah Sipple, a queer individual who grew up in Appalachia. Sipple grapples with the intersection of gender and religion. This insight provides valuable information in understanding the role of religion in gender expression within Appalachia.
This interview with two gay men from Roanoke VA explores the role of having a tailored diversity center in Appalachia. This interview is important in both understanding everyday life and the importance of creating resources for queer individuals. The two individuals in this video comment on the specific resources the center provides and why they are important to the local LGTBQIA+ community.
This video is an interview with two married men, living in West Virginia Hills. The video focuses specifically on gay life pre-internet and on their everyday life today. The interview is an intimate look into these two men's lives and how they view their local community.
The Stay Project is an organization based in Central Appalachia, designed to bring LGBTQIA+ communities together. Its three mainstay programs: "STAY Summer Institute," "Black Appalachian Young & Rising," and "Appalchian Love Story" create spaces for LGBTQIA+ youth to come together and celebrate their culture and identities. The existence of these organizations is fundamental in ensuring that these individuals are getting the support they need. By studying the Stay Project's website, users can get a better understanding of the resources Appalachia needs for its local LGBTQIA+ population.
Tranzmission is an organization based in Western North Carolina. It is geared specifically towards transgender and nonbinary individuals. The organization focuses on creating advocacy and resources to educate local communities. The types of resources here are valuable in ensuring these individuals are getting the support they need. One page links to different types of doctors (dentists, therapists, general practitioners) that are welcoming nonbinary and transgender patients. This organization ensures that these individuals are visible and that the people around them are learning how to best support them.
Queer Appalachia: Towards Geographies of Possibility:
Detamore's dissertation 'Queer Appalachia: Towards Geographies of Possibility" discusses the stereotype of the "hillbilly" and its relation to creating a generalized image of sex and gender in Appalachia. This dissertation is important in understanding how stereotypes can disrupt certain communities. Specifically, it is helpful in understanding how deconstructing the hillbilly stereotype provides better understanding of the local LGBTQIA+ community in Appalachia.
Political Deliberation, Brokerage, Diffusion, and Connective Action on @QueerAppalachia:
Barton's dissertation "Political Deliberation, Brokerage, Diffusion, and Connective Action on @QueerAppalachia" can be used in conjunction with the Queer Appalachia website posted on this libguide. This dissertation provides further insight into the influence of "QueerAppalachia" on local LGBTQIA+ life. By using data maps, Barton provides a better understanding of how queer resources have an influence on Appalachia and the local community.
The Mothman and Other Strange Tales: Shaping Queer Appalachia Through Folkloric Discourse in Online Social Media Appalachia Through Folkloric Discourse in Online Social Media Communities Communities:
Watts' dissertation "The Mothman and Other Strange Tales: Shaping Queer Appalachia Through Folkloric Discourse in Online Social Media Appalachia Through Folkloric Discourse in Online Social Media Communities Communities." This dissertation, like Barton's, also focuses on the efforts of "QueerAppalachia." However, this dissertation has more in common with Detamore's dissertation in investigating the relationship of stereotypes and queerness. Watts uses the imagery of the Mothman, a WV folklore creature, to dissect its homophobic nature. Watts' dissertation is an important aspect of understanding the intersectionality of seemingly traditional WV identity and queerness.
Those who choose to stay: Narrating the rural Appalachian Queer experience
Jordan's dissertation, "Those who choose to stay: Narrating the rural Appalachian Queer experience" focuses specifically on "LGBT youth from rural towns in East Tennessee." (8) This dissertation narrows in on the "coming out" process of LGBTQIA+ youth. Jordan's dissertation is important in understanding the specific networks needed to support LGBTQIA+ youth in rural areas. Its narrow focus provides better insight into this demographic when contextualized with the other sources on this libguide.
This libguide, although limited in its descriptions of its resources, provides some additional information and media about LBGTQIA+ youth in Appalachia. It can be used as a way of learning about the different kinds of LGBTQIA+ individuals that represent this area. Since this libguide is a little more general, it can be used as a exploratory tool before fully diving into the topic of LGBTQIA+ youth. Its links to local universities is also important in learning about the different institutions supporting research into LGBTQIA+ youth.
Annotation
LGBT Life is an all-encompassing database on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues. A search for "Appalachia" results in a variety of articles discussing LGBTQIA+ life in Appalachia, including "Transgender Individuals' Perceptions of Maternal Support in Central Appalachia," "It's Elementary in Appalachia: Helping Prospective Teachers and Their Students Understand Sexuality and Gender," "Explaining Comfort with Homosexuality in Rural America," and many others. This database is key to learning more about how Appalachia is addressing the societal shift in general acceptance of LGBTQIA+ lives.
Pence's oral history collection is similar to the podcast series mentioned here on this libguide. However, Pence's collection focuses more on the Central Appalachian region, in eastern Kentucky. By using his collection in addition to the podcast, users have a wide array of interviews to better understand everyday life in Appalachia. The interviews in this collection need to be requested first before they can be accessed. However, this collection is valuable in gaining insight to the vast Appalachia region and the LGBTQIA+ youth within it.
"The concept of Identity throughout Appalachia and the South is complex and nuanced. One person might identify as a hillbilly, while another person from the same community may be offended by that very label."
-Queer Appalachia
References
Welcome to the civil rights in Appalachia page! Here you'll find lots of information on the history of the civil rights movement in the southern Appalachian and Western North Carolina areas, with a particular focus on Asheville and the surrounding areas.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Sagan Thacker at swthacker@uncg.edu!
This free online archive of oral histories from a wide variety of people from the American South contains many interviews with notable civil rights organizers from Asheville, Western North Carolina, and Appalachia at large, including Floyd McKissick, Sr. and Mary Robertson, among many others. It is an incredibly rich resource that is essential for anyone interested in Appalachian civil rights history. Search to find the interviews.
This primary source database of newspapers focusing on the African American community includes numerous articles and publications that either discuss or originate in the Appalachian area, many of which address civil rights. Do a search to find them!
This Facebook page, operated by the community organization Beloved Asheville, frequently posts about the history of Black community members in Asheville, including many local activists from the 1960s civil rights era. It offers a great gateway to Black Asheville history in a readable format.
Carolina Public Press, a nonprofit online news site, published a relatively brief article about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s two visits to Western North Carolina, in 1964 and ’65. Notably, this article also includes documentary evidence (in the form of an attached PDF) of the FBI extensively spying on King during both of his visits, thus showing the ways that the national civil rights movement enmeshed with local civil rights efforts in WNC.
This fascinating post from a blog about Appalachia discusses the civil rights movement in Knoxville, Tennessee and notes both its uniqueness (Knoxville’s mayor was in favor of integration) and its mutual goals with the rest of the movement throughout Appalachia.
This master’s thesis discusses the various aspects of the civil rights movement in Asheville, NC, with a particular focus on several local groups including the Asheville Student Committee on Racial Equality (ASCORE) and their school desegregation and sit-in work. Parker’s research is incredibly important to gain an understanding of how Asheville’s civil right movement functioned.
This master’s thesis is an exhaustive examination of urban renewal, its discriminatory and often explicitly racist goals, and the resistance to it in Appalachia. Nickollof specifically utilizes Asheville as a case study. This thesis acts as an essential counterpoint to other work on urban renewal in the area as well as nationwide.
This article is a highly detailed exploration of a single event in Asheville civil rights history: The Black-led 1968 Rent Strike. Author Sarah Judson discusses how the strike destabilized the status quo of racism and showed Black residents’ power in the system, even as the system tried to weaken them.
This lengthy article is about Asheville native politician and civil rights activist Floyd McKissick, Sr., and his involvement in a utopian planned city project in Eastern North Carolina: Soul City. Fergus also addresses the ways that McKissick attempted to interest the national Republican party in his ideas, and how his activism tied back in to his Western North Carolina connections—thus giving the reader perspective on how WNC civil rights politics was linked to both the statewide and national political stage.
This paper publishes ground-breaking research on the Brevard High School in Transylvania County, Western North Carolina, which was one of the first high schools in North Carolina to be desegregated. It is a fascinating and important study of a rural and little-studied civil rights effort, and how it succeeded without support from national movements.
This brief conference paper provides additional context for the integration and desegregation of Brevard, North Carolina outside of the high school, which has been covered in “The Transylvania Eight.” It concentrates on the opposition to civil rights in the area, thus becoming a valuable way to show white backlash in Appalachia.
Like “The Transylvania Eight,” this thesis is a thorough study of the desegregation of a public school system, in this case the Yancey County school system—the first in North Carolina to desegregate. Importantly, author Ashley Cole Brewer outlines how the Yancey County civil rights activists enlisted help from both regional and national organizations and figures in order to help their cause.
This undergraduate thesis is an outline of the fight to desegregate Asheville City Schools in the 1960s, mainly utilizing contemporaneous newspaper sources. Because of its short length, its discussion is not comprehensive, but it is a worthy introduction to the subject that other sources expand upon.
This podcast, produced in Asheville by Darin Waters and Marcus Harvey—two Black professors at the University of North Carolina at Asheville—is far-ranging in subject matter but frequently focuses on the history of the Black experience and civil rights in Appalachia and the Western North Carolina area. It frequently provides insight into some of the most up-to-date commentary and research about civil rights in the area.
This short documentary film features lifetime Asheville resident Marvin Dean Chambers, Sr. walking around downtown Asheville and relating his recollections of his involvement in local civil rights and desegregation movements whilst in high school. Chambers, who is Black, was involved in numerous youth sit-ins and marches in 1960s Asheville.
Although there are no journals that focus specifically on civil rights in Appalachia, The Journal of Appalachian Studies does include numerous articles discussing Appalachian civil rights and provides a great deal of additional context for its study.
Appalachian Review (formerly called Appalachian Heritage) is a literary and nonfiction journal that focuses on the Appalachian region. It includes many articles and pieces on African Americans and civil rights in the Appalachian context.
This book is an extremely in-depth exploration of school segregation—and the fight against it—in Western North Carolina from after the Civil War to the 1970s. Reed gives invaluable context to the discussion of why and how civil rights in Western North Carolina often centered on school desegregation, and this book goes well with the specific studies also outlined on this LibGuide.
Review from The Journal of Southern History
This landmark edited collection, first published in 1986, was the first to outline a general history of Black people in Appalachia. It includes a great deal of information relevant to civil rights activists and efforts in the area, as well as their intersectionality with labor efforts. Currently (October 2020), there is a new, updated edition of this book in preparation, with all new essays.
Review from Contemporary Sociology
This book is an in-depth exploration of the lives of Black people in Appalachia throughout the 20th century, particularly the school desegregation fight. The book largely focuses on Black people in Harlan County, Kentucky and incorporates numerous oral histories from Harlan County’s residents, but brings in perspectives and context from across Appalachia.
Review from The Oral History Review
African American Newspapers, 1827-1998. Accessed October 25, 2020. Readex. https://infoweb-newsbank-com.libproxy.uncg.edu/apps/readex/welcome?p=EANX&val-database-0=EANAAA%7CEANAAA2
Asheville in BLACK. (n.d.). Home [Facebook page]. Facebook. Retrieved October 25, 2020, from https://www.facebook.com/AshevilleinBLACK
Brown, K.L. (2018). Gone home: Race and roots through Appalachia. The University of North Carolina Press.
Brewer, A.C. (2011). Get On Board, Children: The Story of Integration in Yancey County, North Carolina [Master's thesis, Appalachian State University]. https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/asu/f/Brewer,%20Ashley_2011_Thesis.pdf
Clare, R. (2013). [Review of the book School segregation in Western North Carolina: A history, 1860s–1970s, by B.J. Reed]. The Journal of Southern History 79(1), 198-199. https://www-proquest-com.libproxy.uncg.edu/docview/1290499797
Documenting the American South. Accessed October 25, 2020. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. https://docsouth.unc.edu/index.html
Elliston, J. (2020, January 20). Tracking MLK: FBI records reveal surveillance, threats during WNC visits. Carolina Public Press. https://carolinapublicpress.org/24014/tracking-king-fbi-records-reveal-surveillance-threats-during-wnc-visits
Fergus, D. (2010). Black power, soft power: Floyd McKissick, Soul City, and the death of moderate Black Republicanism. Journal of Policy History 22(2), 148-192. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0898030610000023
Fryar, J. (2003). Asheville City School Board: Efforts to successfully desegregate the school system [Undergraduate thesis, University of North Carolina at Asheville]. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.555.2321&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Gabriel, D. (2019). The Transylvania Eight: School desegregation and grassroots activism in the face of Black Appalachian invisibility, 1954-1965. Davidson History Journal (3). https://www.dhj.davidsonlocal.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Danielle-Gabriel.pdf
Hennen, A. (2019, February 19). Civil rights in urban Appalachia: The Knoxville sit-ins and ‘urban renewal.’ Expatalachians. http://expatalachians.com/civil-rights-in-urban-appalachia-the-knoxville-sit-ins-and-urban-renewal
Judson, S. (2020). “We’re walking proud and talking loud because we’re the New Black Joes!”: Community leadership and tenants rights in Asheville’s 1968 rent strike. Journal of Urban History, 46(4), 816–835. https://doi.org/10.1177/0096144219834256
Moore, E. (2016). Affrilachian agency and the myth of Western North Carolina's racial innocence: the integration of Brevard High School [paper presentation]. Appalachian Studies Association Conference. https://mds.marshall.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1801&context=asa_conference
Nash, K. (2020). [Review of the book Gone Home: Race and Roots through Appalachia, by K.L. Brown]. The Oral History Review 47(1), 160-162. https://doi.org/10.1080/00940798.2019.1704158
Nickollof, S.M. (2015). Urban renewal in Asheville: A history of racial segregation and Black activism. [Master's thesis, Western Carolina University]. https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/wcu/f/Nickollof2015.pdf
Parker, P. (2016). Appalachian activists: The civil rights movement in Asheville, NC [Master's thesis, Appalachian State University]. https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/asu/f/Parker,%20Patrick_2016_Thesis.pdf
Reed, B.J. (2011). School segregation in Western North Carolina: A history, 1860s-1970s. McFarland & Company.
Turner, W.H., & Cabbell, E.J. (Eds.). (1985). Blacks in Appalachia. The University Press of Kentucky.
Upton, J.N. (1986). [Review of the book Blacks in Appalachia, by W.H. Turner & E.J. Cabbell, Eds.]. Contemporary Sociology 15(2), 294-295. https://doi.org/10.2307/2071745
Walk in My Shoes. (2017, February 8). Walk in My Shoes [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmsnVcN_Kl8
Waters, D., & Harvey, M. (Hosts). (2017—present). The Waters and Harvey Show [Audio podcast]. Blue Ridge Public Radio. https://www.bpr.org/post/waters-and-harvey-show#stream/0
A good way to begin understanding a culture is to listen to the voices of its people. Storytelling presents an insightful and entertaining opportunity to do so. Western North Carolina's storytelling roots are influenced by neighboring Appalachian areas Tennessee and northern Georgia. Appalachian storytelling in our region also consists of Cherokee Indian and Black culture. Use this page to explore all kinds of media that will lead you to discover the folk presence in Southern Appalachia.
Lloyd Arneach - Cherokee Storyteller
Storyteller and Eastern Band Cherokee member, Lloyd Arneach, created this blog to show his work. The website includes his biography, which details his roots as a lecturer of Cherokee history and culture as well as a storyteller of the Great Smoky Mountains, the western part of the Appalachian Mountains. Three parts of a Smoky Mountains slideshow featured on the blog is an example of Arneach’s storytelling.
Duncan, B. R. & Arch, D. (1998). Living Stories of the Cherokee. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN: 9780807847190
Six storytellers of the Eastern Band Cherokee Indians in North Carolina carry on the oratory tradition taught to them by their family and community. They weave tales of their family as well as historical events pertinent to their tribe, like the Trail of Tears. They also tell legends, ghost stories, creation myths, and other stories significant to their culture. Duncan provides an introductory essay describing the poetic style central to Cherokee storytelling tradition.
Davenport, D. (2005). Madness like Morning Glories. Louisiana State University Press. ISBN: 0807129925
Doris Davenport grew up in the foothills of Appalachia in Gainesville and Cornelia, GA. In this book, davenport produces narrative poetry that tells the story of a Black, Appalachian community, reminiscent of her hometown, known as Soque Street. The poems are voiced by a myriad of the mountain town’s people who all “claim a certain authority that others do not have” (p. 77). The intersecting monologues express the characters’ experiences with passion, jealousy, madness, and more.
Chase, R. (2003). The Jack Tales: Folk tales from the southern Appalachians (illustrated edition). HMHBooks for Young Readers. ISBN: 0618346937
Read about a prominent figure in southern Appalachian folklore, a rambunctious boy named Jack. The tales have English origins, seeing as Jack is a similar figure to the Jack who climbed the beanstalk. Richard Chase compiled and edited this collection of adventures, originally published in 1943. Chase is known as the American Folklorist “most responsible for the renaissance of Appalachian storytelling” (Scholastic).
Carden, G. (2000). Mason jars in the flood and other stories. Parkway Publishers. ISBN: 1887905227
Here is a collection of Appalachian stories written by noted storyteller, Gary Carden. He talks about stories his Granny told him while stringing beans and spins tales of weird neighbors, weird uncles, his imaginary friend, and various others. The Appalachian Writers Association awarded this work the Book of the Year title in 2001.
Adams, S. K. (1995). Come go home with me. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN: 0807822434
Adams, a storyteller and Appalachian ballad singer from Madison County, NC introduces readers to a colorful, mountain community called Sodom in this book. The novel is a collection of 32 tales featuring humorous, fantastical, and coming-of-age elements.
Carden, G. & Anderson, N. (1994). Belled buzzards, hucksters, and grieving specters: Strange and true tales of the Appalachian Mountains. Down Home Press. ISBN: 1878086286
Gary Carden and Nina Anderson present a trove of Appalachian mountain legends in this collection. The book offers readers murderous, humorous, and strange tales told by mountain people of generations past.
Referral: Part of Buncombe County Public Library's collection. Check here.
Barnett, J. & Russel, R. (1988). Mountain ghost stories and curious tales of western North Carolina. J.F. Blair. ISBN: 9780895870643
Folklorists Janet Barnett and Randy Russell give readers 18 stories illustrating the wondrous and mysterious atmosphere of the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains. A lonesome white owl, cavalry ghosts, and an enchanted lake feature in these western North Carolina tales. Read legends about the area that attempt to explain the real with the magical.
Referral: Part of UNC-Asheville Ramsey Library's collection. Check here.
Kelley, S. G. (Ed.) (2011). Southern Appalachian Storytellers: Interviews with sixteen keepers of the oral tradition. McFarland. ISBN: 9780786447510
A book containing interviews of 16 storytellers of the Appalachian region, including Sheila Kay Adams, a western North Carolinian. The book illustrates the power of family and the mountain region influence over these preservers of the southern Appalachian storytelling tradition.
Referral: Part of Buncombe County Public Library's collection. Check here.
Isbell, R. (1996). Ray Hicks: Master Storyteller of the Blue Ridge. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN: 978-0807849620
This biography details the life of a popular storyteller native to North Carolina's mountain region: Ray Hicks. Robert Isbell, a friend of Hicks, unveils Hicks' family history of preserving the storytelling tradition, which includes folk tales and the family's experiences of hardship and humor.
Smith, T. J. (Ed.). (2020). Foxfire: Oral Tradition in Southern Appalachia. Anchor Books. ISBN: 9780525436317
T.J. Smith, folklorist and Foxfire Director, compiles stories from Foxfires archives that exemplify the mountain regions oral traditions and, thus, the region's very identity. The book includes songs, legends, mountain speech, and much more.
This video is one of many featured on the Center for Cultural Preservation website, saveculture.org. The Oral Histories tab leads to the Mountain Elder Wisdom page, which features this video highlighting one of the center’s programs to preserve southern mountain culture. The video shows performances of storytellers including one telling a Brer Rabbit tale. The webpage also has videos of elders discussing their life stories, like Effie Mae Russel of Henderson County.
View this short biopic to learn about Jackson County storyteller, Gary Carden. An award-winning playwright and former literature and drama teacher, Carden was raised by his grandparents and on stories he gleaned from weddings, funerals, and other family gatherings. A multitude of chickens served as one of his first audiences as a young storyteller.
Here is a TED Talk featuring Donald Davis, a retired Methodist minister who hails from a family of western North Carolina storytellers. In this video, Davis describes the influence mountain folktales has over every aspect of his life. Davis says storytelling "...is not what I do for a living...it is how I do all that I do while I am living.”
Catch the Spirit of Appalachia (CSA), a western North Carolina non-profit organization, began producing a radio program known as “Stories of Mountain Folk” in 2008 for WRGC radio station. When WRGC closed in 2011, CSA partnered with Hunter Library to preserve the recorded material. This project became Hunter Library's first all-sound oral history collection. It features 276 storytelling segments and 1156 interviews that showcase the lives and traditions of the mountain community. Search by topic, county, and interviewees. A few of the collection’s sub-collections include Storytelling, Cherokee Stories, and African-American Experience in WNC.
JSTOR serves as a digital library of back issues of journals, current issues of journals, books, and other primary sources. Use this extensive database to find journal articles, reports, and other scholarly sources on southern Appalachian storytelling. You may find journals like those listed on this LibGuide.
Click here to start exploring.
Visit this LibGuide for the Appalachian Cultural Special Library. The site offers resources on Appalachian folklore, including documentaries, books, journals, and a link to the Digital Library of Appalachia (DLA). These sources give historical and cultural context to the tales told by southern Appalachian storytellers.
Appalachian Journal offers researchers a scholarly and interdisciplinary look of the Appalachian mountain region. This peer-reviewed quarterly journal covers subjects that pertain to storytelling in western North Carolina, like Appalachian folklore, literature, and book reviews. Plus, many of the other topics addressed in this source provide information that influence storytelling and its tellers, such as history, culture, music, politics, economics, geography, and more.
NCFJ, a journal published twice a year by the North Carolina Folklore Society since 1948, provides studies on NC folklore, folklore in Southern literature, and local folklife.
Be a guest at a storytelling meeting held by this non-profit organization. Listen to stories told by members who come from all walks of life, and tell one of your own. The group meets every 3rd Monday of the month, except January and August. The group currently meets via Zoom. The ASC sponsors a storytelling program known as Tellabration at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway in May and November. The Circle (ASC) is affiliated with the North Carolina Storytelling Guild (NCSG) and the National Storytelling Network (NSN). Access their Newsletter & Resources page for issues of their newsletters that include stories by ASC members.
Blog
Arneach, L. Lloyd Arneach . Home. InfoAvailable.com. http://www.arneach.com/?p=1
Books
Adams, S. K. (1995). Come go home with me. University of North Carolina Press.
Barnett, J. & Russel, R. (1988). Mountain ghost stories and curious tales of western North Carolina. J.F. Blair.
Carden, G. & Anderson, N. (1994). Belled buzzards, hucksters, and grieving specters: Strange and true tales of the Appalachian Mountains. Down Home Press.
Carden, G. (2000). Mason jars in the flood and other stories. Parkway Publishers.
Chase, R. (2003). The Jack Tales: Folk tales from the southern Appalachians (illustrated edition). HMHBooks for Young Readers.
Davenport, D. (2005). Madness like Morning Glories. Louisiana State University Press.
Duncan, B. R. & Arch, D. (1998). Living Stories of the Cherokee. University of North Carolina Press.
Isbell, R. (1996). Ray Hicks: Master Storyteller of the Blue Ridge. University of North Carolina Press.
Kelley, S. G. (Ed.) (2011). Southern Appalachian Storytellers: Interviews with sixteen keepers of the oral tradition. McFarland.
Smith, T. J. (Ed.). (2020). Foxfire: Oral Tradition in Southern Appalachia. Anchor Books.
Databases
Cain, D. A., Casey, M. S., Crowe, S., Garza, A. A., Hearn, N., Rhinehart, J., Rhodes, J. (2015). Stories of Mountain Folk - Radio Program. Western Carolina University Hunter Library Digital Collections. https://wcudigitalcollection.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16232coll2
ITHAKA. (2020). JSTOR. jstor.org. https://www.jstor.org/
Journals
Appalachian State University. (1972- ). Appalachian Journal. https://appjournal.appstate.edu/
North Carolina Folklore Society. (1948- ). The North Carolina Folklore Journal. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/custom/nc-folklore-journal
LibGuide
Milner, T. (2018). Folk Culture. LIS 610 Special Libraries Group: Appalachian Cultural Special Collection. https://uncg-lis.libguides.com/c.php?g=870100&p=6269929
Videos
Greentch. (2018, March 31). Appalachian Storytelling- Voices From the Past [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGkkujACL4M
N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. (2012, November 12). 2012 N.C. Award for Literature: Gary Neil Carden [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19N9Pm9pHuA
TEDx Talks. (2014, December 23). How the story transforms the teller: Donald Davis, TEDxCharlottesville [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgeh4xhSA2Q
Websites
Asheville Storytelling Circle. (2020). Asheville Storytelling Circle. Asheville Storytelling Circle website. http://ashevillestorytellingcircle.org/
Asheville Storytelling Circle. (2020). Newsletters & Resources. Asheville Storytelling Circle website. http://ashevillestorytellingcircle.org/newsletter-resources/
Center for Cultural Preservation. (2020). Mountain Elder Wisdom Oral Histories. Save Culture. https://saveculture.org/oral-histories-mountain-elder-wisdom/
Reviews
Adams, S. (2001). Reviewed Work: Mason Jars in the Flood & Other Stories by Gary Carden. Appalachian Journal, 29(1/2), p. 245-246. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40934159
Carson, W. J. (2005). Madness like Morning Glories by Doris Davenport (review). Appalachian Heritage, 33(2), p. 77-78. https://doi.org/10.1353/aph.2005.0102
Hail, R. (1999). Reviewed Work: Living Stories of the Cherokee by Barabara R. Duncan, Joyce Conseen Dugan. The North Carolina Historical Review, 76(4), p. 450. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23522316
Kirkus. (2010, May 20). Come go home with me review. Kirkus. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/sheila-kay-adams/come-go-home-with-me/
McDonald, J.H. (2020). A Book Review by James H. McDonald: Foxfire Story: Oral Tradition in Southern Appalachia. New York Journal of Books. https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/foxfire-story-oral
The University of North Carolina Press. Ray Hicks Master Storyteller of the Blue Ridge. University of North Carolina Press. https://uncpress.org/book/9780807849620/ray-hicks/
