Black in Appalachia

On this episode of the podcast Enkeshi and Pumpkin talk about Black people’s relationship with swimming and pools in America. We discuss the stats,  dispel the myths, explore the racist histories and share the stories from Black experiences in Appalachia. Guests on this episode include swim advocate Beverly McCloud Iseghohi, University of Montana Professor, Dr. Jeff Wiltse, Black Appalachian author Malaika Adero and Knoxville based cultural worker Aishia Brown.

Enkeshi El-Amin talks in-depth with Pittsburgh-based Brian Broome, the author of Punch Me Up to the Gods: A Memoir. His book recounts his experiences—in all their cringe-worthy, hilarious, and heartbreaking glory—revealing a perpetual outsider awkwardly squirming to find his way in.

On the next episode of the Black in Appalachia Podcast, Dr. Enkeshi El-Amin & Pumpkin Starr dig into the story of John Henry. There are dozens of tales of this Black laborer covered in myth & metaphors on race & class, but very little discussion on health & the sacrifice of Black bodies for capital.

On this episode of the Black in Appalachia Podcast Enkeshi and Pumpkin discuss the importance of the giving season to Black organizations in the region. They also talk about inequity in funding and the need for shifts in philanthropy. The episode closes with a charge to our listeners to #Giveblack. Tell us which Black orgs, projects, initiatives, artists, groups you are giving to this season and why?

Black in Appalachia Initiative Director William Isom shares Sepia Tones: Exploring Black Appalachian Music. This series chronicles the experience of freed and escaped African slaves and their descendants in the development of what we know today as Appalachian music. 

It's the Halloween episode of the Black in Appalachia podcast. Enkeshi & Pumpkin dig into truly macabre tales of Black labor in the coalfields of West Virginia and specifically the digging of Hawk's Nest Tunnel in Nicholas County. Featuring photojournalist Raymond Thompson Jr. and his work to uncover this protracted tragedy.

Dr. Enkeshi El-Amin talks with the Godfather of Blacks in Appalachia, Dr. William H. Turner about his new book, "The Harlan Renaissance: Stories of Black Life in Appalachian Coal Towns." The Harlan Renaissance invites readers into what might be an unfamiliar Appalachia: one studded by large and vibrant Black communities. Difficult choices for the future were made as parents considered the unpredictable nature of Appalachia’s economic realities alongside the unpredictable nature of a national movement toward civil rights.

In this episode we're talking about the history of confederate monuments, their removal and impact on our educational landscape with C.J. Hunt the director of Neutral Ground. Neutral Ground documents New Orleans’ fight over monuments and America’s troubled romance with the Lost Cause.

Black in Appalachia was invited to speak at ArtsBuild Chattanooga’s Equity in the Arts Conference held on September 10, 2021. This episode is a live recording where Enkeshi and Alona discuss shifting the power in equity conversation from funders to cultural workers and artists. We center the communities as those with the power and highlight how their creative and cultural practices transform the world. To help us, we talk with Chattanooga native Roland Carter whose arrangement of The Black National Anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing, is the most widely known.

Black in Appalachia is talking Black life in West Virginia coal camps, the Mine Wars and the struggles for Black political power and workers’ rights, with excerpts from our visit to The West Virginia Mine Wars Museum, retired coal miners and the one and only Dr. Joe Trotter, Jr.