In the early 20th century, the coal industry was booming in Appalachia. That made the region a destination for Black migrants from the Deep South, who were moving northward in search of new jobs. Black communities thrived in Appalachia during the boom. But as coal employment declined, Black coal camps began to dwindle. Now, a West Virginia man is reviving one of those coal camps — through farming. Tiara Brown reports with support from Black By God, the West Virginian.
Listen: Chuck Prophet Has the Mountain Stage Song of the Week
San Francisco rock and roller Chuck Prophet performing on Mountain Stage in 2010. Brian Blauser/ Mountain Stage
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This week we’re looking back to a 2010 episode we recorded at the Clay Center as voted on by our listeners.
Mountain Stage this week looks back to a 2010 episode that we recorded at The Clay Center in Charleston, W.Va. with Ani DiFranco, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Andy McKee, Erin McKeown and Chuck Prophet.
San Francisco band leader and journeyman rocker Chuck Prophet performed songs from his album ¡Let Freedom Ring!, recorded, coincidentally, during the early onset of the H1N1 virus, in Mexico City, Mexico in 2009. Prophet and his band wore their masks to the studio, all the while enduring the regular power-outages common in the area resulting in multiple lost takes.
Our Song of the Week, “Hot Talk.” is a breezy and cryptic jaunt that captures the immediacy and the chaos of the album.
Credit Brian Blauser/ Mountain Stage
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Trombone Shorty, Erin McKeown and Ani DiFranco join for the finale song in February, 2010.
On this week’s encore broadcast of Mountain Stage, host Kathy Mattea welcomes Joe Pug, Jobi Riccio, Carrie Newcomer, Curtis McMurtry, and The Local Honeys. This episode was recorded live at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, WV.
Set up across the street from the federally funded Cabin Creek Health Care Center, advocates, clients and healthcare providers spoke out against the federal budget bill that – if passed in its current form – would cut $700 billion in Medicaid funding.
The national movement, which helped organize more than 2000 demonstrations nationwide, was named in response to what organizers call authoritarian overreach by President Donal Trump’s administration.
This week, Inside Appalachia, a West Virginia man is reviving a Black coal camp through farming. Also, the legacy of Affrilachian poet Norman Jordan includes a summer camp for teens to study their heritage. And, the Reverend George Mills Dickerson of Tazewell, Virginia, was born in the years after slavery ended. He’s remembered during Juneteenth through his poetry.
