Segregation Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Remembering Woody Williams And Volunteers Save Segregated Cemetery, Inside Appalachia

This week, we visit a cemetery in Bluefield, Virginia and learn how racial segregation followed some people to the grave. We also hear from Neema Avashia, author of the celebrated memoir, “Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer And Indian In A Mountain Place.” And we remember Hershel “Woody” Williams. The West Virginia native was America’s last living World War II Medal of Honor winner. He died last summer at the age of 98.

This week, we visit a cemetery in Bluefield, Virginia and learn how racial segregation followed some people to the grave.

We also hear from Neema Avashia, author of the celebrated memoir, “Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer And Indian In A Mountain Place.”

And we remember Hershel “Woody” Williams. The West Virginia native was America’s last living World War II Medal of Honor winner. He died last summer at the age of 98.

You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.

In This Episode:

Repairing A Segregated Cemetery

For decades, the graves of Black residents in a Virginia community were neglected in the town’s old, segregated cemetery.

It might have stayed that way if not for the efforts of one woman who had family buried there.

Folkways Reporter Connie Bailey Kitts brought us this story.

World War I veteran Robert L. Dalton was a corporal in the 803rd Pioneer Infantry which included the band of African Americans who played for French and American troops. His grave is now decorated on Memorial Day.

*Credit: Connie Bailey Kitts/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

Coming Up Queer And Indian In Appalachia

Recently, Inside Appalachia put together a list of summer reading suggestions. We interviewed several prominent Appalachian authors, but we couldn’t fit them all into one show – including Neema Avashia.

Her collection of personal essays, “Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place,” about growing up in West Virginia, was a well-received memoir.

Mason Adams spoke with Avashia.

Remembering Woody Williams

Hershel “Woody” Williams was the nation’s last surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipient.

He was a West Virginia native and died June 29, 2022 at the age of 98.

Before he passed, though, he did an interview with WVPB’s Trey Kay for the podcast Us & Them.

Hershel “Woody” Williams

*Credit: e-wv, The West Virginia Encyclopedia*

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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Chris Knight, Chris Stapleton, Harvey & Copeland, June Carter Cash, and Little Sparrow.

Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens.

You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.

You can find us on Instagram, Threads (new!) and Twitter @InAppalachia. Or here on Facebook.

Sign-up for the Inside Appalachia Newsletter!

Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

A Model Train Club Faces Uncertainty

This week, we hop a tiny train to discover the miniature wonders of a West Virginia model railroad club that now faces an uncertain future. We also visit Madison, West Virginia — a former coal community that’s looking to reinvent itself. And we visit a cemetery in Bluefield, Virginia and learn how racial segregation extended from cradle to the grave. You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.

This week, we hop a tiny train to discover the miniature wonders of a West Virginia model railroad club that now faces an uncertain future.

We also visit Madison, West Virginia — a former coal community that’s looking to reinvent itself.

And we visit a cemetery in Bluefield, Virginia and learn how racial segregation extended from cradle to the grave.

You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.

In This Episode:

Model Train Club Coming To A Crossroads
Coal Towns Look To Reinvent
Appalachian Writers Workshop To Return
Segregated Cemetery Remembered And Restored

Model Train Club Coming To a Crossroads

Model trains are a symbol of American childhood. You can probably picture it. A circle of track, some plastic trees, a few diecast cars sitting at the railroad crossing.

Well, the model train setup in our next story takes things to a whole different scale. Folkways Reporter Zack Harold brings us the story.

Coal Towns Look To Reinvent

Appalachia’s coal industry has had a pretty good last couple of years, all things considered. But a growing number of places have lost coal altogether. And after decades of relying on it, they’re trying to figure out what’s next.

West Virginia lawmakers established a grants commission last year, to funnel federal dollars to coalfield communities. WVPB’s Randy Yohe visited Madison, West Virginia, to hear about its efforts to build a new economy, after coal.

Appalachian Writers Workshop To Return

Last summer, torrential rains brought flooding and destruction to parts of Eastern Kentucky, West Virginia and southwestern Virginia. Among the communities hit was the town of Hindman, Kentucky — home to the Appalachian Writer’s Workshop at the Hindman Settlement School. When the floods began, the writer’s workshop was midway through its weeklong session. Several campus buildings were damaged, but all of the students and faculty there eventually made it home safely.

The school announced plans for this year’s Appalachian Writers Workshop. Inside Appalachia Producer Bill Lynch spoke with workshop organizer Josh Mullins about the flood and the upcoming workshop.

Segregated Cemetery Remembered And Restored

Bluefield is a small town on the border of Virginia and West Virginia. For decades, on the Virginia side, graves of the Black residents who helped build the community were neglected in the town’s segregated cemetery. And it might have stayed that way if it hadn’t been for the efforts of one persistent woman whose family was buried there.

Folkways Reporter Connie Bailey Kitts reports.

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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Otis Gibbs, Del McCoury, Tyler Childers and Amythyst Kia.

Bill Lynch is our producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. Zander Aloi also helped produce this episode.

You can send us an email at InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.

You can find us on Instagram and Twitter @InAppalachia.

And you can sign-up for our Inside Appalachia Newsletter here!

Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

'Growing Up Black In Appalachia': How One Storyteller Is Changing The Narrative

W.I. “Bill” Hairston is a professional storyteller. He spins tales about a number of different topics — some made up and some real.

During a recent talk at the West Virginia State University Economic Development Center on Charleston’s West Side he devoted his entire presentation to the topic “Growing Up Black in Appalachia.”

Hairston was originally born in Phenix City, Alabama in 1949. He describes the area of the town where he lived as being predominantly black.

“My dentist was black. My teachers were black. The lawyers were black. The pharmacists were black — everybody was black,” he said. “White folks sort of showed up here and there, and they were in town, but they were in another part of town for one thing. And other than the mailman and the potato chip guy that came to the store and the store owner, we really didn’t see a lot of white folks on a regular basis.”

That all changed for Hairston when his father announced he was retiring from the military and they were moving to join Hairston’s grandfather in the predominantly white town of St. Albans, West Virginia. Hairston said his family was the only one of color in the area.

As kids do, Hairston and his younger sister spent that first summer in West Virginia playing with the neighborhood kids. As summer came to an end, it was time for Hairston and his sister to go to school, and unbeknownst to them West Virginia’s schools were desegregated.

“We noticed that the little white kids that we played with all summer long were walking with us and we sort of said to ourselves, “Well, maybe, maybe they use the same bus stop.” And we got on the bus and right behind us came these white kids. We said, “Well, maybe they use the same bus,”” Hairston said.

Sixty years later Hairston considers himself a West Virginian, and although he said he has faced racism, it is because of those difficult experiences that he became a storyteller. He added that growing up storytelling was a form of entertainment.

“It goes all the way back to St. Albans. People would just sort of sit on their porch and share all kinds of stories,” he said.

For his last two years of high school, Hairston moved to Charleston’s West Side.

“There was a place right over here. There was a VFW club with a big ol’ oak tree outside. On Saturday night, the men would gather there,” he said. “As a kid you couldn’t say anything, but they would pass the bottle and tell each other some of the biggest stories in the world.”

However, not all of his stories are as fond of memories. In his talk, Hairston told a story about lifeguards that did not want to desegregate a pool in 1960s Charleston. They sprayed Hairston and his friends with water hoses to forcibly remove them.

But he also told a story about encountering a more subtle form of discrimination at an event more recently. Some things were said that had implied racial bias. That evening, he used a story from the main stage to point out what had happened and why it needed to change.

Hairston said he uses stories, often laced with humor, to help people understand the issues, especially when it comes to race, that surround us.

“I realized that in West Virginia — as much as I love it, and I love it to death — there are issues that we don’t deal with. There’s some things that we need to work on always,” Hairston said. “I hope this message keeps conversation alive, keeps people talking, making people aware so that when they hear something among their friends or their fathers or their uncles or whatever, they at least challenge it a little bit. I think we all become better.”

Hairston travels the region telling stories about his childhood that, he hopes, give his listeners a better understanding about what it means to grow up ‘Black in Appalachia.’

Barbara Hicks Lacy Remembers Charleston During Segregation

In Charleston, those who grew up during segregation remember a tight knit community in the downtown neighborhood known as The Block. During the 30’s and 40’s Barbara Hicks Lacy grew up in this neighborhood, and she’s one of the remaining residents who vividly recalls The Block, which today has all but disappeared. The West Virginia Center for African-American Culture and Arts recently invited her to share her story at the West Virginia State Archives.

When she was a kid, Lacy’s best friend, named Baby Sue, was white, and so they weren’t allowed to attend the same school.

The Block was full of characters, and during segregation Lacy saw many well to do black tourists and musicians who came through her neighborhood. Lacy worked at her father’s restaurant The Block Cafe.

“Particularly when the rhythm and blues people were coming to town and there was going to be a dance.”

She explained that she got to meet a lot of these people because the restaurants in The Block was the only place where non-whites were allowed to eat. And they had to stay at the Ferguson or the Brown hotel.

Here, it was safe for children to roam around the neighborhood together.

She told one story about a bar, owned by Mr. Pin. She doesn’t think her mother ever found out that as a little kid she’d stop by Mr. Pin’s bar to perform a song or two. She had it in her mind that she was an undiscovered Shirley Temple.

“I’d go in, and he’d sit me on the bar, and I’d sing ‘Night Time is the Right Time’. Don’t laugh, it was for a quarter!”

That quarter was usually spent down the street, at the Ferguson Theater, where Lacy spent almost every afternoon after school watching movies.

“It didn’t cost but a dime. And popcorn was a dime. And you could get a drink for a nickel. So if you had a quarter, you were home free. That’s what we did, all the kids in the neighborhood. We went to the movie everyday.”

But these movies were basically the same films that were shown at the white theater. Separated by a few blocks, during segregation, downtown Charleston essentially was split into two sides, roughly along Washington Street. Charleston’s West Side was another neighborhood where black businesses thrived during segregation.

Although there were three white businesses within Lacy’s neighborhood, The Block was predominantly occupied by non-whites. Syrian, Greek, and Italian families lived here too. Garnet High School was the local black school, about a block away from Lacy’s father’s cafe.

As Lacy described the people she remembers, like Flat Tire the barber, Mable Cook the beautician, and Richard Sonders, the usher at the Ferguson Theater, they all seemed like vivid characters out of a great novel. Its pages were written on the side alleys and brick streets off Shrewsbury Street, where Barbara Hicks Lacy grew up. Though the buildings and people she remembers are mostly all gone, the story has not been erased.

Ms. Lacy’s talk was part of a series called African American Life in Charleston: A Personal Perspective. The series wraps up this Thursday as the fourth speaker, James Estes, recalls his own own memories. The event will be at 6:00 at the West Virginia State Archives and History Library.