there you go. bob marley said it best. stolen from africa, gentrified in harlem. american black folks keep losing our connection to the places we come from. so i m headed to central appalachia, a place many folks don t realize black folks still live, to hunt, eat, farm, and harmonize on the harmonica with the folks that fight to keep this place known as one of the homes of black folks. this is black appalachia. again! yes! nice! when i say appalachia, you probably picture something like this, or this. harmful stereotypes of poor white folks. we ll have to take those on another day, because what you probably don t picture is this. but the history of black folks here runs as deep as any other nonindigenous people. they are a critical part of appalachia, and i m here to help tell their stories because it is in danger of disappearing forever. so i m actually walking the appalachian trail right now? you are. you are. those mountains there, those are some of the old
keep losing our connection to the places we come from. i am headed to central appalachia, a place many folks don t realize black folk still live, to hunt, eat, farm, and harmonize on the harmonica with the folks that fight to keep this place known as one of the homes of black folks. this is black appalachia. yeah. nice. when i say appalachia, you probably picture something like this, or this. harmful stereotypes of poor white folks. we will have to take those on another day. what you probably do not picture is this. a history of black folks here runs as deep as any other nonindigenous people. they are a critical part of appalachia. i am here to help tell their story, because it is in danger of disappearing forever. i m watching the appalachian trail. there are mountains, there. those are some of the oldest mountains in the world. you see the swiss alps, they are so big. these are the grandmothers. crystal good is a sixth generation west virginia native, foun
life is funny. sometimes, you end up in places you would not expect and then go back. tucked into the mountains of eastern kentucky, this is one of those places. you may recognize it from shows. back in 2016, young, gifted, and black. what brought me back is this. i love to rattle off the fact that you take appalachia as a geopolitical space, some of the most well-known black people in american history have their roots in appalachia. the most famous black men, booker t. washington. he was a coal miner. you have heard of the legend of john
geopolitical space, some of the most well-known black people in american history have their roots in appalachia. the most famous black man ever live is booker t. washington. booker er tv t. had been a coal minor. bessie smith. and these parts, dr. bill turner is the truth. he wrote the book well, the books on black appalachia. his latest book harlem renaissance details his life growing up in lynch. why the harlan renaissance? i know the harlem renaissance. but if this were back in the day, the street would be filled with history. so we used to say our little town back here was the blackest town for mountains around. when i was a child, count bassie came here. the negro league baseball teams used to come here. hank aaron played here, otis