A Look Back in History

Color Photographs from before World War II

None of these are specifically Appalachian, but there are a number of rural photographs which will certainly ring a bell. And along the way you learn something of the history of Kodachrome film. As the site points out, the past appears very different when seen in color rather than black and white.

To view the pictures: Click Here.

The African-American Migration Experience

New societies, new peoples, and new communities usually originate in acts of migration. Someone or ones decide to move from one place to another. They choose a new destination and sever their ties with their traditional community or society as they set out in search of new opportunities, new challenges, new lives, and new life worlds. Most societies in human history have a migration narrative in their stories of origin. All communities in American society trace their origins in the United States to one or more migration experiences. America, after all, is "a nation of immigrants."

But until recently, people of African descent have not been counted as part of America's migratory tradition. The transatlantic slave trade has created an enduring image of black men and women as transported commodities, and is usually considered the most defining element in the construction of the African Diaspora, but it is centuries of additional movements that have given shape to the nation we know today. This is the story that has not been told.

In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience presents a new interpretation of African-American history, one that focuses on the self-motivated activities of peoples of African descent to remake themselves and their worlds. Of the thirteen defining migrations that formed and transformed African America, only the transatlantic slave trade and the domestic slave trades were coerced, the eleven others were voluntary movements of resourceful and creative men and women, risk-takers in an exploitative and hostile environment. Their survival skills, efficient networks, and dynamic culture enabled them to thrive and spread, and to be at the very core of the settlement and development of the Americas. Their hopeful journeys changed not only their world and the fabric of the African Diaspora but also the Western Hemisphere.

These journeys did not originate in the east with the 1619 arrival of Africans in Jamestown, Virginia, as is commonly believed, but almost a century earlier, further south. Indeed, African-American history starts in the 1500s with the first Africans coming from Mexico and the Caribbean to the Spanish territories of Florida, Texas, and other parts of the South. And as early as 1526, Africans rebelled and ran away in South Carolina.

To continue this fascinating story and visit the In Motion web site: Click Here.

Bell County History and Genealogy

This past Monday's MHS Blog entry featured a free genealogy workshop to be held in Bell County, Kentucky.

Bell County was formed just after the Civil War, on February 5, 1867, from portions of Harlan and Knox Counties. Originally named Josh Bell County at its formation, the name was changed to Bell County by the legislature on January 31, 1873. The county includes the Cumberland Gap, one of the major migration routes into the state.

To visit Bell County's GenWeb site: Click Here.

To locate GenWeb sites for other counties of interest:: Click Here.

Lewis & Clark: The Maps of Exploration 1507 - 1814

A Production of the University of Virginia Library

While central to it, there is much more to this online exhibition than just the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

To visit: Click Here.

Institute for Rual Journalism

And Community Issues

The Institute is based at the University of Kentucky but is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional effort, with academic partners at Appalachian State University, East Tennessee State University, Eastern Kentucky University, Georgia College and State University, Indiana University, Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania, Iowa State University, Marshall University, Middle Tennessee State University, Ohio University, Penn State, Southeast Missouri State University, Virginia Tech, the University of Alaska-Anchorage, the University of Illinois, the University of Maine at Presque Isle, the University of North Carolina, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Washington and Lee University, West Virginia University, Wheeling Jesuit University and the Knight Community Journalism Fellows program of the University of Alabama.

Because 21 percent of Americans, some 63 million people, are rural. The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues helps non-metropolitan journalists define the public agenda for their communities, and grasp the local impact of broader issues. It interprets rural issues for metro news media, conducts seminars and publishes research and good examples of rural journalism. It helps journalists all over America learn about rural issues, trends and events in areas they’ve never seen but have much in common with their own, and it helps rural journalists learn how to exercise editorial leadership in small markets.

To visit the Institute's web site: Click Here.

To visit the Institute's blog: Click Here.

To read the Institute's commentary on “A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains”: Click Here.

Free Genealogy Workshop

The Bell County Genealogical Society, Middlesboro Library, and the local Kentucky path of the Daughters of the American Revolution are sponsoring a workshop at the Middlesboro Library on Mar 14th, 2009.

Workshop Agenda:

9 am-1pm
Book Fair

Genealogical Material by Mark Treadway
Paul Johnson "Claiborne Cemetery Book"
Bell County Historical Society

10:00am-11:15Basic Genealogy Workshop

Guest Speaker: Michele Lawson, Bell County Library

12:30 pm-1:00 pm Lunch

1:00pm-2:00pm

Melungeon Speaker: MHS member Johnnie Rhea

"Life on Newman's Ridge"

Melungeon is a term traditionally applied to a group of people that lived on Newman's Ridge. Newman's Ridge stretches a great distance over east Tennessee, southwest Virginia, and east Kentucky.

2:00pm-4pm

One on One Workshop

Members of the Bell County Genealogy group and the local DAR will be on hand to offer one on one help with your genealogy needs.

Pre-registration is required by March 12th, 2009

Call 606-242-0005

The Legend of John Henry

John Henry - The Steel Drivin' Man

Man or Myth?

The C & O Railroad built Great Bend Tunnel in the early 1870's. Over one mile of hard red shale that resists drilling but readily crumbles when exposed to air, was cleared through the Big Bend Mountain in Talcott, West Virginia. The tunneling by driving steel by hand into the hard rock was dangerous and reportedly one in five men were killed as tons of rock crushed down upon them. Was there a man among these steel drivers named John Henry? Did this John Henry race against a steam drill and die with his hammer in his hand as ballads portray? Research indicates more than likely . . . he did.

For the legend according to the local tourist bureau: Click Here.

For the legend according to National Public Radio: Click Here.

Happy Note: The NPR site includes musical recordings.