Tens of thousands of African-Americans called Appalachia home in the early20th century, yet most popular representations of the region rarely include details about the black experience.
One young researcher sought to change that through an archival project that examines the history and culture of coal mining communities in eastern Kentucky. Karida Brown grew up in New York, but both of her parents are from Lynch, Ky.Host Frank Stasio talks with Karida Brown and her father, Richard Brown, about the ongoing project and current exhibit of the work: “Gone Home: Race and Roots through Appalachia” on view at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Wilson Library through August 20.
Her family’s story is one of hundreds captured in the new Eastern Kentucky African American Migration Project (EKAAPMP), a partnership between Brown and the Southern Historical Collection.
Host Frank Stasio talks with Karida Brown and her father, Richard Brown, about the ongoing project and current exhibit of the work: “Gone Home: Race and Roots through Appalachia” on view at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Wilson Library through August 20.
![Men getting pre-screened by U.S. Steel medical examiner for a miner assignment in Lynch, Ky. in the 1920s.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/e3f71cb/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5080x3927+0+0/resize/880x680!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmediad.publicbroadcasting.net%2Fp%2Fwunc%2Ffiles%2F201508%2F1984.001.0578.jpg)
![Graduating class from one of the segregated 'colored schools' in eastern Kentucky.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/b714b55/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1024x792+0+0/resize/880x681!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmediad.publicbroadcasting.net%2Fp%2Fwunc%2Ffiles%2F201508%2Fgrad_bad_ass.jpg)
![SHC archivist Biff Hollingsworth and EKAAMP founder Karida Brown in the home of Rev. Edgar James Moss. Moss was born and reared in Benham, Ky. in 1940 and currently resides in Newington, Conn.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/3a63efe/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6016x4000+0+0/resize/880x585!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmediad.publicbroadcasting.net%2Fp%2Fwunc%2Ffiles%2F201508%2Fcopy_of_dsc_0202.jpg)
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