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“A rich blend of narrative history, personal recollections, and heart-wrenching oral testimonials . . . powerful.” —Imali J. Abala, author of The Dreamer With an introduction that provides a historical and theoretical overview of African immigration, the heart of this book is built around oral history interviews with forty-seven of the more than twenty-two thousand Africa-born immigrants in Kentucky. A former ambassador from Gambia, a pharmacist from South Africa, a restaurant owner from Guinea, a certified nursing assistant from the Democratic Republic of Congo—every immigrant has a unique and complex story of their life experiences and the decisions that led them to emigrate to the United States. The compelling narratives in this book reveal why and how these immigrants came to the Bluegrass state—whether it was coming voluntarily as a student or forced because of war—and how they connect with and contribute to their home countries as well as to the US. The immigrants describe their challenges—language, loneliness, cultural differences, credentials for employment, ignorance toward Africa, and racism—and positive experiences such as education, job opportunities, and helpful people. One chapter focuses on family—including interviews with the second generations—and how the immigrants identify themselves. “Compelling . . . a must read for anyone seeking the substance behind the newspaper headlines and statistics.” —Frank X Walker, author of Affrilachia
“A rich blend of narrative history, personal recollections, and heart-wrenching oral testimonials . . . powerful.” —Imali J. Abala, author of The Dreamer With an introduction that provides a historical and theoretical overview of African immigration, the heart of this book is built around oral history interviews with forty-seven of the more than twenty-two thousand Africa-born immigrants in Kentucky. A former ambassador from Gambia, a pharmacist from South Africa, a restaurant owner from Guinea, a certified nursing assistant from the Democratic Republic of Congo—every immigrant has a unique and complex story of their life experiences and the decisions that led them to emigrate to the United States. The compelling narratives in this book reveal why and how these immigrants came to the Bluegrass state—whether it was coming voluntarily as a student or forced because of war—and how they connect with and contribute to their home countries as well as to the US. The immigrants describe their challenges—language, loneliness, cultural differences, credentials for employment, ignorance toward Africa, and racism—and positive experiences such as education, job opportunities, and helpful people. One chapter focuses on family—including interviews with the second generations—and how the immigrants identify themselves. “Compelling . . . a must read for anyone seeking the substance behind the newspaper headlines and statistics.” —Frank X Walker, author of Affrilachia
Following historical and theoretical overview of African immigration, the heart of this book is based on oral history interviews with forty-seven of the more than twenty-two thousand Africa-born immigrants in Kentucky. From a former ambassador from Gambia, a pharmacist from South Africa, a restaurant owner from Guinea, to a certified nursing assistant from the Democratic Republic of Congo—every immigrant has a unique and complex story of their life experiences and the decisions that led them to emigrate to the United States. The compelling narratives reveal why and how the immigrants came to the Bluegrass state—whether it was coming voluntarily as a student or forced because of war—and how they connect with and contribute to their home countries as well as to the US. The immigrants describe their challenges—language, loneliness, cultural differences, credentials for employment, ignorance towards Africa, and racism—and positive experiences such as education, job opportunities, and helpful people. One chapter focuses on family—including interviews with the second generations—and how the immigrants identify themselves.
Based on more than one hundred oral history interviews, [this title] follows the the experiences of Kentuckians who chose to live and work in other countries around the world, fostering close, lasting relationships with the people they served. -- jacket.
The westward migration of nearly half a million Americans in the mid-nineteenth century looms large in U.S. history. Classic images of rugged Euro-Americans traversing the plains in their prairie schooners still stir the popular imagination. But this traditional narrative, no matter how alluring, falls short of the actual—and far more complex—reality of the overland trails. Among the diverse peoples who converged on the western frontier were African American pioneers—men, women, and children. Whether enslaved or free, they too were involved in this transformative movement. Sweet Freedom’s Plains is a powerful retelling of the migration story from their perspective. Tracing the journeys of black overlanders who traveled the Mormon, California, Oregon, and other trails, Shirley Ann Wilson Moore describes in vivid detail what they left behind, what they encountered along the way, and what they expected to find in their new, western homes. She argues that African Americans understood advancement and prosperity in ways unique to their situation as an enslaved and racially persecuted people, even as they shared many of the same hopes and dreams held by their white contemporaries. For African Americans, the journey westward marked the beginning of liberation and transformation. At the same time, black emigrants’ aspirations often came into sharp conflict with real-world conditions in the West. Although many scholars have focused on African Americans who settled in the urban West, their early trailblazing voyages into the Oregon Country, Utah Territory, New Mexico Territory, and California deserve greater attention. Having combed censuses, maps, government documents, and white overlanders’ diaries, along with the few accounts written by black overlanders or passed down orally to their living descendants, Moore gives voice to the countless, mostly anonymous black men and women who trekked the plains and mountains. Sweet Freedom’s Plains places African American overlanders where they belong—at the center of the western migration narrative. Their experiences and perspectives enhance our understanding of this formative period in American history.
Praised by both Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison, this classic of Black literature is a brutal depiction of the Great Migration from the Jim Crow South This brutally gripping novel about the African-American Great Migration follows the three Moss brothers, who flee the rural South to work in industries up North. Delivered by day into the searing inferno of the steel mills, by night they encounter a world of surreal devastation, crowded with dogfighters, whores, cripples, strikers, and scabs. Keenly sensitive to character, prophetic in its depiction of environmental degradation and globalized labor, Attaway's novel is an unprecedented confrontation with the realities of American life, offering an apocalyptic vision of the melting pot not as an icon of hope but as an instrument of destruction. Blood on the Forge was first published in 1941, when it attracted the admiring attention of Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison. It is an indispensable account of a major turning point in black history, as well as a triumph of individual style, charged with the concentrated power and poignance of the blues.
When traditionally white public schools in the South became sites of massive resistance in the wake of the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision, numerous white students exited the public system altogether, with parents choosing homeschooling or private segregationist academies. But some historically white elite private schools opted to desegregate. The black students that attended these schools courageously navigated institutional and interpersonal racism but ultimately emerged as upwardly mobile leaders. Transforming the Elite tells this story. Focusing on the experiences of the first black students to desegregate Atlanta's well-known The Westminster Schools and national efforts to diversify private schools, Michelle A. Purdy combines social history with policy analysis in a dynamic narrative that expertly re-creates this overlooked history. Through gripping oral histories and rich archival research, this book showcases educational changes for black southerners during the civil rights movement including the political tensions confronted, struggles faced, and school cultures transformed during private school desegregation. This history foreshadows contemporary complexities at the heart of the black community's mixed feelings about charter schools, school choice, and education reform.
When Louis Gatewood Galbraith passed away in 2012, the flood of tributes honoring him merely scratched the surface of the life of this colorful and controversial figure. Throughout his political career, regional and national media outlets focused on the policy ideas and public acts that made Galbraith a cultural fixture: public demonstrations, an affinity for recreational drug use, unfiltered language, and recurring political campaigns. Best known as an advocate for the legalization of cannabis, Second Amendment rights, and smaller government, Galbraith was a perennial candidate whose once-quixotic platform might have found traction in contemporary Kentucky politics. In Gatewood: Kentucky's Uncommon Man, Matthew Strandmark weaves together personal stories, public records, and oral history interviews to provide a comprehensive overview of the life and career of an eccentric and fascinating figure. From his ailment-plagued childhood in Carlisle, Kentucky, to his young adulthood spent at the fringes of Lexington society, the opening chapters of Galbraith's life were vital in developing the values that later came to define his political career—his passion for rural communities and low tolerance for bullies. As a college dropout in the 1960s, Galbraith explored both conventional and unconventional avenues of self-discovery before returning to the University of Kentucky, where he graduated from law school and found his calling as an evangelist for cannabis legalization. His appetite for the spotlight and his penchant for standing up for the underdog launched Galbraith into a thirty-year career of campaigning, groundbreaking legal cases, public activism throughout the commonwealth—and friendships with celebrities, including Woody Harrelson, Jack Herer, and Willie Nelson. As an attorney, activist, author, father, friend, and opponent, Galbraith wore many hats—and not just his beloved fedora. This revealing biography features insightful conversations with Galbraith's family and colleagues, as well as commentary from Paul E. Patton, Ernie Fletcher, Andy Barr, Ben Chandler, and other well-known Kentuckians. Gatewood provides a richer and nuanced understanding of a generous, complicated, and flawed public figure who devoted his life to helping others and whose legacy will continue to resonate with Kentuckians for generations to come.
Born in a tenant house in Fallsburg, Kentucky, Paul Patton had a humble upbringing that held few clues about his future as one of the most prominent politicians in the history of the state. From the coal mines to the governor's office, Patton's life exemplifies hard work, determination, and perseverance, as well as the consequences of personal mistakes. In The Coal Miner Who Became Governor, Patton, with Jeffrey S. Suchanek, details his personal, professional, and political life in Kentucky, starting with his career in the coal industry. After working for his father-in-law, J. C. Cooley, in the 1950s, he partnered with his brother-in-law to establish their own coal company, which they sold for millions in 1978. Patton leveraged his business connections into a political career, raising money for Democratic candidates before becoming the chair of the Kentucky Democratic Party. He first took elected office in 1981 as Pike County judge/executive; he then served a term as lieutenant governor (1991–1995), followed by an unprecedented two consecutive terms as governor. His overhaul of higher education in Kentucky led to his role as the University of Pikeville's president and chancellor, even after his political career. In this compelling account, Patton reveals the decision-making process for campaign strategies, selection of running mates, postsecondary education and workers' compensation reforms, early childhood development initiatives, and attempts at tax reform. He gives his unfiltered opinion about Mitch McConnell's "scorched-earth political philosophy" and how it has failed Kentucky, and he draws connections between public policy and party machinations during his time in office and the present day. He also addresses his fall from grace—his extramarital affair with Tina Conner and its effects on his personal and professional life.
Thomas E. Wagner and Phillip J. Obermiller's African American Miners and Migrants documents the lives of Eastern Kentucky Social Club (EKSC) members, a group of black Appalachians who left the eastern Kentucky coalfields and their coal company hometowns in Harlan County. Bound together by segregation, the inherent dangers of mining, and coal company paternalism, it might seem that black miners and mountaineers would be eager to forget their past. Instead, members of the EKSC have chosen to celebrate their Harlan County roots. African American Miners and Migrants uses historical and archival research and extensive personal interviews to explore their reasons and the ties that still bind them to eastern Kentucky. The book also examines life in the model coal towns of Benham and Lynch in the context of Progressive Era policies, the practice of welfare capitalism, and the contemporary national trend of building corporate towns and planned communities.