Roanoke

How Ballroom Culture Arrived In Roanoke, Virginia

For LGBTQ youth in Appalachia, estrangement from their families of origin can be a common and heartbreaking experience. So, some LGBTQ people rely on “chosen family." In Roanoke, Virginia, the culture of ballroom offers the safety and stability of family, along with traditions that are handed down — traditions like vogueing. Mason Adams reported this Folkways story, in collaboration with Brad Kutner and Kelley Libby.

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Encore: Oscar Micheaux, Kathleen Driskell And Soul Food, Inside Appalachia

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.

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How A Black Filmmaker Changed Movies From The Edge Of Appalachia

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.

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Oscar Micheaux, Kathleen Driskell And Soul Food, Inside Appalachia

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.

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