One of America’s pioneering filmmakers had nothing to do with Hollywood but nevertheless left his mark on the emerging industry. Oscar Micheaux was a homesteader, who then turned his attention to making movies in the early 1900s. He was a Black man who made movies for Black audiences at a time when they weren’t allowed into mainstream, white-only theaters. And for several pivotal years in the 1920s, he operated out of Roanoke, Virginia.
Interview Highlights with West Virginia Music Hall of Famer Melvin Goins
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The 2013 West Virginia Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony took place November 16 at Charleston’s Culture Center Theater. This 5th class of inductees included The Goins Brothers, Melvin and his late brother Ray. Melvin Goins sat down at the recent Hall of Fame induction ceremony and shared some thoughts…
Melvin Goins has been involved in the music since the mid-1950s when he joined the legendary Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, an outfit that helped launch the careers of other bluegrass notables like Paul Williams, Bobby Osborne, Charlie Cline and Curly Ray Cline. He worked for a time afterwards with The Stanley Brothers, but made his largest mark with his younger brother Ray as The Goins Brothers over 35 years. When a heart attack took Ray off the road in ’94, Melvin continued on as Melvin Goins & Windy Mountain, a show he fronts to this day.
Goins was born in 1933 on Sinai Mountain, close to the coal mining town of Goodwill in Mercer County. The WV Music Hall of Fame makes the third he’s been inducted into. He was recognized by the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2011 for his contributions as a resident of the Commonwealth, and the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2000.
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WVPB will be screening excerpts of Ken Burns’ recent PBS documentary series "The American Revolution" this week at Marshall. Us & Them host Trey Kay will moderate the event, and he spoke recently with WVPB News Director Eric Douglas about why revisiting the nation’s founding story matters today. Also, a bill to temporarily delay moving a child to homeschooling during an active case of abuse or neglect hit a snag in the Senate on Monday.
One of America’s pioneering filmmakers had nothing to do with Hollywood but nevertheless left his mark on the emerging industry. Oscar Micheaux was a homesteader, who then turned his attention to making movies in the early 1900s. He was a Black man who made movies for Black audiences at a time when they weren’t allowed into mainstream, white-only theaters. And for several pivotal years in the 1920s, he operated out of Roanoke, Virginia.
This week, in the 1920s, Oscar Micheaux was an entrepreneur filmmaker in western Virginia. He became a world-renowned director and producer. Also, Kentucky’s poet laureate lives down the road from what has been called the country’s most lethal cryptid. Attempts to spot it have led to deaths. And, we talk soul food with Xavier Oglesby, who’s passing on generations of kitchen wisdom to his niece.
We listen to an excerpt from the latest Inside Appalachia and learn about the influence and contributions of Oscar Micheaux, an African American filmmaker who lived in Virginia in the 1920s and shattered stereotypes.
