On this West Virginia Morning, presidential elections tend to garner the most attention, and that added excitement provides a unique opportunity to engage students in the classroom with real-world events.
And from this week’s premiere broadcast of Mountain Stage, our Song of the Week comes from Kyshona, a songwriter and powerful vocalist who lends her voice to those who have been silenced and feel forgotten and alone. In this live performance of “Carolina” from her 2024 album LEGACY.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University and Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Marshall Health.
West Virginia Morning is produced with help from Bill Lynch, Briana Heaney, Caelan Bailey, Chris Schulz, Curtis Tate, Emily Rice, Eric Douglas, Jack Walker, Liz McCormick, Maria Young and Randy Yohe.
Eric Douglas is our news director. Teresa Wills is our host. Maria Young produced this episode.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
Today, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia is a hotspot for American history buffs. But 165 years before any tourists came to town, fighters here clashed in a prelude to the United States Civil War.
Today, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia is a hotspot for American history buffs. But 165 years before any tourists came to town, fighters here clashed in a prelude to the United States Civil War.
Wednesday, Oct. 16 marked the 165th anniversary of abolitionist John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, then a part of Virginia. In 1859, Brown — and at least 21 other men including Shields Green and John Henry Kagi — spent months planning an armed rebellion, with the goal of initiating a revolt that would free people enslaved across the South.
Brown and his colleagues descended upon a federal armory and arsenal in Harpers Ferry with the goal of distributing weapons to people who were enslaved in Virginia. That night, they overtook bridges to town, occupied weapons facilities and took hostage local slaveholders.
Brown and his colleagues had hoped their raid would serve as a catalyst for a wider rebellion, with more people joining their ranks.
But his plan never came to fruition, as two days later dozens of U.S. marines quashed the revolt. Brown was executed just months later, and the majority of his colleagues were killed in action or also executed.
United States Marines storm an armory fire engine house taken over by John Brown and his team in this illustration from the 1800s.
Illustration from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper/United States Library of Congress via National Park Service
The abolitionist raid received national press coverage as contentions over slavery and wider conflict mounted. Today, it is remembered as a precursor to a national war, and one of the first acts of coordinated armed resistance against chattel slavery in the United States.
From this, Harpers Ferry has long held a place in the public consciousness as a site of revolutionary potential, especially for Black Americans.
In 1906, African American civil rights leaders visited the town for the second meeting of the Niagara Movement, an early civil rights group described as a precursor to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Harpers Ferry’s abolitionist history, combined with its presence of a higher education institution serving Black Americans, Storer College, led leaders to select the town as the site for their conference.
An illustration from the 1800s depicts John Brown’s execution in present-day Charles Town, West Virginia.
Illustration from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper/United States Library of Congress via National Park Service
Today, the legacy of Brown’s raid and the abolitionist movement in Harpers Ferry is remembered through historical events hosted by the National Park Service (NPS) at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.
In the afternoon of Saturday, Oct. 19 and Sunday, Oct. 20, the United States Marine Corps Historical Company will partner with NPS to host “living-history” exhibits, talks and demonstrations regarding Marine involvement in the conflict.
The park will also host a tour called “Clearing the Sky” on Oct. 18, Oct. 25 and Dec. 2.
The program will visit sites of importance to Brown’s raid and trial, including the Jefferson County Courthouse in Charles Town and the Jefferson County Museum, where artifacts from Brown’s life are held. The tour lasts roughly two-and-a-half hours.
For more details on NPS programming to commemorate the 165th anniversary of John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, visit the organization’s website.
The archivist is the head and chief administrator of the National Archives and Records Administration. Although Shogan is the 11th person to hold the position, she is the first woman to do so.
On the 6th floor of the Downtown Library on West Virginia University’s Morgantown campus, the West Virginia and Regional History Center preserves and provides access to the records that document history and culture in the Mountain State.
There are books, of course, but also photographs, newspapers and genealogies.
“The records that we have hold the stories of the people of West Virginia, and they reflect the people that live here,” said Lori Hostuttler, director of the West Virginia and Regional History Center at WVU Libraries. “Through access and preserving those they really help us to examine the past so that we can be proactive in the present and plan for the future.”
Hostuttler said the records cover all aspects of history and culture in the state, and that for every national event that is taught in history classes, West Virginians participated.
“Something that I say to folks a lot of the times is that there’s really no national history without local history,” she said.
Which is why Hostuttler said it was an honor to have Colleen Shogan, the archivist of the United States, visit WVU’s campus last week.
Shogan has many personal connections to the state, including several family members who are WVU alumni, but she came to view the university’s extensive regional and national record collections, as well as to meet with students and give a public talk.
She said WVU is an example of the National Archives’ more than 13 billion physical records not being restricted to a few buildings in Washington, D.C.
“The records are really the property of the American people, so my job is to figure out ways in which we can provide as much access as possible of those records to as many Americans as want to see them and want to interact with them,” Shogan said.
The archivist is the head and chief administrator of the National Archives and Records Administration. Although Shogan is the 11th person to hold the position, she is the first woman to do so.
“In some ways I kind of wonder what took so long,” she said to laughter. “I’m happy I’m here, for sure, and I’m very honored by it. But it’s almost kind of crazy to me that it took so long.”
Analysis from the AFL-CIO and the Society of American Archivists shows that women represent more than 80 percent of librarians and more than 70 percent of archivists in the United States. Shogan said women – and women of color – are increasingly in leadership roles across the country.
“When I travel around, I see that that demographic of leadership is changing,” she said. “That’s really heartening to me, because that matters when you have people that are working in this field, and they can see that there’s a pathway for advancement.”
U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Dr. Colleen Shogan, Archivist of the United States, visit West Virginia University (WVU) in Morgantown, W.Va. on Wednesday, October 2, 2024.
Courtesy of Sen. Shelley Moore Capito
Shogan plans to display the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – recognizing womens’ right to vote – in the National Archives’ rotunda, as well as the Emancipation Proclamation alongside other founding documents such as the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
A big focus of her talk at WVU was on the importance of archives and records to the nation’s democracy. Shogan said the National Archives exist so that all Americans have access to understanding something about our past.
“But we also like to say at the National Archives, we do it to preserve democracy, because records provide accountability and they provide transparency about decisions that have been made by federal agencies, by your government, by presidents, by members of Congress, by Supreme Court justices or judges,” she said. “Those are all records and without accountability, without transparency, you cannot have a strong democracy that is a fundamental component, a key component, of any democracy. So we like to say at the National Archives, we are not just a nice thing to have to appreciate history. We are a necessity.”
After the talk, Shogan told WVPB that in an increasingly polarized country, access not only to archives and records but also public servants is crucial to combat misinformation and distrust.
“If you’re going to be a public servant, you can’t just be in the corner and not be willing to interact with the public, answer questions from the media. You need to be out there explaining some of these challenging decisions that we have to make when you’re in a position like I am running a federal agency like the National Archives,” she said. “So I welcome that dialog. I welcome that exchange. And we also take a lot of pride at the National Archives, doing our work in a nonpartisan fashion. Our goal is to share the records with as many Americans as possible, and then allow Americans to make their own judgments and their own choices and decisions based upon those records.”
Political science graduate student Chloe Hernandez said it’s personally motivating to see a woman in such a prominent position.
“Most of my professors are men. Most of the people I work with in D.C. are men,” she said. “Seeing another woman is just so inspiring, because it kind of puts a different perspective in that we are all capable of doing this, and the sky’s the limit. Just work hard and you’ll achieve your goals.”
Hernandez said the message of access for all also resonated with her, and she is now motivated to look up her father’s military records.
“More students should take time to look at the National Archives,” she said. “Not in the sense of like, ‘Oh, it’s the school field trip,’ but more so just learning about our history and specific history for each person.”
The National Archives are gearing up for the country’s 250th anniversary in 2026. That includes more travel around the country by Shogan and more importantly, more access to the nation’s founding documents for all Americans.
On this West Virginia Morning, record-keeping might sound dull, but it’s an important part of maintaining a sense of culture and place. As Chris Schulz reports, a recent visit from a federal record-keeper to West Virginia emphasized the importance of records in maintaining our democracy.
On this West Virginia Morning, record-keeping might sound dull, but it’s an important part of maintaining a sense of culture and place. As Chris Schulz reports, a recent visit from a federal record-keeper to West Virginia emphasized the importance of records in maintaining our democracy.
Plus, West Virginia Music Hall of Famer Billy Edd Wheeler died last month at the age of 91. The Boone County native was a singer, author and a playwright, but was best known for writing songs like “Jackson,” which won a Grammy for Johnny and June Carter Cash, “Coward of the County,” a hit for Kenny Rogers, and “It’s Midnight,” which was recorded by Elvis Presley. There were many others.
Mountain Stage co-creator Larry Groce was a friend and fan of Wheeler’s. Bill Lynch talked to Groce about Wheeler’s legacy and getting to know him.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University and Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Maria Young produced this episode.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
Across the river from Morgantown, West Virginia is a small community called Osage. At one point, it was a bustling town full of people, industry, and nightlife. There have been a lot of changes here over the decades, but one thing’s remained: music. Aristotle Jones is one Osage resident committed to carrying on that legacy.
Jones is a professional musician and storyteller who plays what he calls “Appalachian Soul” – a mix of soul, R&B, doo-wop, gospel, funk, and folk. It’s an eclectic blend that reflects his identity as a Black Appalachian and specifically, his roots here in Osage.
Roots that he can trace back to his grandfather, Robert Jones or “Brother Jones”, who was a coal miner, farmer and traveling gospel singer.
“He would travel with his band throughout northern West Virginia to the coal camps, the Black, to the segregated parts of the coal camps,” Jones says.
Jones lived with his grandfather for three years before he died.
“He would teach me all these amazing, gospel songs that he used to sing,” Jones says. “He basically just started teaching me his catalog.”
Aristotle Jones (left) and his grandfather Robert Jones (right) recorded several videos singing together before Robert Jones died in 2019.
Courtesy Aristotle Jones
Jones was raised in Huntington, West Virginia but would spend summers visiting his grandparents in Osage. He remembers playing in the creek, porch picking, and listening to stories about this little town.
“I had heard these stories growing up, but once I lived here and experienced it, it became much more real,” he says. “We get to hang out in the middle of history here.”
Living In ‘The Middle Of History’
In the early 1900s, dozens of coal mines sprung up along a tributary to the Monongahela River called Scotts Run. First came the jobs, then came the workers. Soon there were thirteen communities along Scotts Run. One of these towns was Osage. It was the hub.
Al Anderson was born in Osage in 1939. He’s a singer, shoe-repairman and somewhat of a local legend, known as the “unofficial mayor” of Osage.
Aristotle Jones’ grandfather, Robert Jones, with his performing group “The Gospellaires” circa 1950. (From left, back row: Louis Snow, Robert Jones, Bob Williams. Front row: Luther Gibson, Lloyd Winfrey).
Courtesy Aristotle Jones.
“Up until the ‘50s, the only way to get to Morgantown was through Osage,” Anderson says.
“The train come down all day long. Buses every 15 minutes, five or six restaurants, two theaters. The Bunny Hop was the dance hall. Everybody came to the Bunny Hop.”
In its heyday before the Great Depression, there were around 5,000 people living along Scotts Run. And they came from all over. There were Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Mexicans, and African Americans. Jones’ great-grandfather moved here from Alabama as part of the Great Migration.
In popular memory, there was a distinct culture of integration among the different ethnic groups in Scotts Run. It’s part of the history that many residents take pride in, including Al Anderson.
“Everybody looked out for each other in this little town, Black and white,” Anderson says. “We had two schools up there, but we didn’t need two schools. The bell rings and we’re all back together. But when you get out of Osage, then everything was different, everything was segregated.”
Jones says music played an important role in building community that transcended cultural differences.
“What you get out of that particular time frame was the traditions of sharing music and making music,” he says. “Your blending of raw ethnic music coming from the different populations.”
A mural in downtown Osage features the legacy of musician Al Anderson (left).
Clara Haizlett/West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
Although there was a strong sense of community among the towns of Scotts Run, life here wasn’t easy. Since the economy was directly tied to the coal industry, it was boom and bust, up and down, pretty much from the get-go. There were strikes and mine closures, and then the Great Depression.
Then in the 1930s, Scotts Run attracted national attention–it became a poster child of poverty in the Appalachian coalfields. In response, a New Deal program relocated some Scotts Run families to Arthurdale, a planned community where families would get new homes, plots of land and government sponsored job opportunities. But only white, American-born families were eligible for relocation.
“See, they didn’t take Blacks or foreigners,” Anderson says. “And I think that’s part of where the stigma started.”
Anderson says folks from the surrounding area looked down on the communities of Scotts Run, and Osage in particular.
“It was like literally the other side of the tracks,” Jones says. “So a lot of folks from Morgantown would come over here to have fun in the bars and have fun with the music, but it wasn’t viewed as something that was highbrow across the river.”
Jones heard these stories growing up, but when he moved to Osage as an adult, he began to question that stereotype.
“I was like, ‘Why is my history the place you don’t go?’ And then I found the truth,” he says. “And the truth is, it’s a wonderful place that people didn’t want to acknowledge because they wanted to exploit.”
Aerial view of Scotts Run and Osage, West Virginia.
Clara Haizlett/West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
As the mining industry declined, people moved away to find work elsewhere. Then in the late 1960s, another federal initiative shook the community once again.
A major interstate, I-79, was built right through Scotts Run, forcibly displacing many of the remaining residents–including Anderson’s family and Jones’ grandparents. It was part of a nationwide phenomenon where highway planners would build routes right through Black communities. Since the construction of the interstate, Osage has been nearly swallowed up by development.
Watch This Special Inside Appalachia Folkways story below:
Finding Community and Building A Future
Today, the downtown of Osage has a familiar look to it — the look of a town marked by the boom and bust of industry-–boarded up windows, empty lots, a highway roaring not through it, but around it. The population of Osage has dwindled to about 80 residents. And while most folks have moved away, Jones has found his way back.
“I never thought I would live in Osage,” he says. “But living with my grandpa really touched me because he was older. So he was telling these stories and it made me kind of fall in love.”
After his grandfather passed away, Jones decided to stick around.
“What you see now in Osage, it’s not the same as what it was,” he says. “But this end of the town is sparking up a lot of energy for those who want to be part of it. And I think it’s those that are seeking out community that see a future for Osage.”
Just last year, Jones started the Osage Gospel ‘n Soul Community Choir alongside Anderson, with support from the Scotts Run Resonance Project.
Al Anderson says the Osage Gospel ‘n Soul Community Choir is “one of my favorite times of the month.
Clara Haizlett/West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
Members of the community choir come from all over. There’s a few who grew up in Osage, but many are transplants to West Virginia. At this particular choir meeting, there’s a group of about 15 people, young and old, Black and white. There are even two people wearing onesies–a shark and a duck. At the front of the group is Jones, in a tan bowler hat, playing guitar and leading the choir in song.
The group sings a variety of songs from different genres and eras, including many of the gospel songs Jones learned from his grandfather.
“Me, I get to pay a little bit of tribute to the lessons I learned from my granddad, passing that tradition that meant a lot to me, to other people,” Jones says.
Aristotle Jones (right) and choir member Shelley Riley (left) singing “Oh, Happy Day” at the monthly choir meeting.
“I do feel the sense of community blossoming,” Jones says.
Near the end of the choir meeting, Jones leads the group in one of his songs called “Salt Of The Earth.” He wrote it as an ‘anthem’ for West Virginia.
The choir sings it twice, belting out the chorus: “Our roots run deep and we stand tall / We are West Virginia.”
“I’d searched for a long time for a way to call West Virginia home,” Jones says. “So when I moved here, that gave me an opportunity to not only feel at home in my own skin, but to feel at home in my own state.”
Jones says Osage has historically been a place where folks came from all over to find a sense of community and belonging. Now, over a hundred years later, Osage is still that place.
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Production assistance for this story was provided by Ella Jennings and Jake Taylor.
This story is part of the Inside Appalachia Folkways Reporting Project, a partnership with West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Inside Appalachia and the Folklife Program of the West Virginia Humanities Council. The Folkways Reporting Project is made possible in part with support from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies to the West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation. Subscribe to the podcast to hear more stories of Appalachian folklife, arts, and culture.
Tags: Real Appalachia, Folkways, WVPB, Arts & Culture, Inside Appalachia, Folklife, Music, Scotts Run, Osage, West Virginia
Much of Appalachia has a deep-seeded history connected to the original inhabitants of the land. But often, West Virginia is presented not as a homeland for Native Americans, but simply a transient hunting ground and trading path.
On this West Virginia Morning, much of Appalachia has a deep-seeded history connected to the original inhabitants of the land. But often, West Virginia is presented not as a homeland for Native Americans, but simply a transient hunting ground and trading path.
As Chris Schulz reports, a series of events in Elkins is working to change that perception.
Plus, it’s been two years since devastating floods swept through eastern Kentucky. The state has a novel bet: It hopes hundreds of affected families will settle on seven new mountain-top communities. Kentucky Public Radio’s Justin Hicks reports researchers say it’s an example of climate migration.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University.
Chris Schulz produced this episode.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
