One day, I’d just hung up the phone after talking with my mother, and my oldest son asked, “Mom, how come you talk different when you’re on the phone with Mammaw?” “Do I?” I asked, puzzled. My youngest son chimed in, “Yeah. You do. You talk more country. It’s weird.”Continue Reading
I Appalachian women are, arguably, the most unacknowledged and undervalued segment of our region. But . . . that fact wasn’t always so, particularly in the matriarchal Cherokee tribe, where lineage was matrilineal (meaning the descent was determined through the female line), and where women were completely independent. They couldContinue Reading
A few years ago, I visited the Coal Creek Miners Museum in Rocky Top (formerly Lake City, formerly Coal Creek), Anderson County, Tennessee. The facility provides a historical glimpse into the lives of coal miners in the Fraterville and Briceville mines, particularly from the late 1800s to the 1930s. TheContinue Reading
When someone reflects on Women’s suffrage in the United States, that person might recognize women like Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, or Alice Paul. Here in Appalachia, however, we had our own heroine who worked tirelessly for women’s rights and issues. This Women’s History Month, Appalachia BareContinue Reading
We’ve come to the third and final post in a series about the Extraordinary Tanner family (See posts one and two.). Today, we’ll meet the trailblazing, tenacious Tanner women, who were exceptionally intelligent and highly successful in a time when women, especially African American women, weren’t afforded serious education orContinue Reading
Two kinds of hollows exist in the mountains. The first kind is the nice, pleasant, winding road that leads to a lake or park out in the boonies. The second kind is an offshoot from that nice road and it snakes down into a deep, dark holler. I grew upContinue Reading
Welcome to Part 2 of our three-part series about the Extraordinary Tanners. Today’s post centers on Henry and Carlton Tanner, sons of Benjamin and Sarah Tanner. We’ll meet younger son, Carlton, first. Though he wasn’t technically born in Appalachia, his parents were, and his story is significant to present theContinue Reading
I’ve seen the painting above, The Thankful Poor, for most of my life in various places and circles. Lately, I was curious to find the artist of such a stirring, spiritual piece, so, I googled it. The artist is Appalachia’s own Henry Ossawa Tanner, born in Allegheny County, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,Continue Reading
Etta Langdon sat cradling her baby at a table on the back porch. In the distance, truck tires crunched atop gravel to a slow halt, and, after a few minutes, the driver’s side door groaned open and slammed shut. Reed had come home from his construction job. Etta grinned, wideContinue Reading
As we discovered in the previous post, “Dead Without a Word: The Mysterious Assassination of John Kincaid,” John Kincaid II was a fierce advocate for the Confederacy during the Civil War. After his death, he was considered a martyr to some and a malefactor to others. His sons also foughtContinue Reading