The Appalachian region of the United States is one of the most unique in the country. The Scots-Irish immigrants that settled the region along with the geographic and economic isolation of the area have created distinctive dialects that sound more like Old English than the common dialects in the rest of the country.
My journey begins in Kentucky with “The Giver of Stars” by JoJo Moyes. Based on a true story, it is set in Depression-era America in a small Kentucky town and follows the lives of five incredible women who answer the call to take part in Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library. They become known as the Pack Horse Librarians. But not everyone is thrilled with this new service.
In Tennessee, “Memphis Mayhem: The Music That Shook up the World” by David Less tells the story of the phenomenal music of a city. Memphis was at the forefront of racially mixed music at a time when other cities were being heavily segregated. By the time that Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, the mixing was well established, even if heavily strained by his death. The music culture permeated Memphis all the way from school band programs, family bands and clubs to recording studios and retail outlets. Memphis gave us incredible performers like Otis Redding, Elvis Presley, B.B. King, Al Green, and Justin Timberlake. And the hits keep coming.
I head on down the road to North Carolina. By the 1890s, the bustling port city of Wilmington was North Carolina’s largest city and a shining example of a mixed-race community. It had a booming African American middle class and a government that included black aldermen, police officers and magistrates. There were successful black-owned businesses and an African American newspaper, The Record. But across the state — and the South — white supremacists were working to reverse the advances made by former slaves. This is the story told in the Pulitzer Prize winning book by David Zucchino in “Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy.”
And now we come to Virginia with a brand new historical fiction by Sadeqa Johnson called “Yellow Wife.” Pheby Brown was born on a plantation in Charles City, Virginia and was promised to be freed when she turned eighteen. Instead, she finds herself torn from those she loves and thrust deeper into slavery at the infamous Devil’s Half-Acre, a jail where slaves are broken, tortured, and sold every day. She is then forced to become the mistress of the brutal man who owns the jail and must find a way to protect her heart in her fight for freedom. Some of the reviews I have see for this book come with some heavy content warnings for graphic depictions of slavery, death of a child, rape, mental/emotional/physical abuse, torture, and graphic depictions of imprisonment. Wish me luck?
Heading into West Virginia I’m hoping for something a little lighter? “Storming Heaven” by Denise Giardina is another historical fiction set in the fictional Annadel, West Virginia, a small town rich in coal, farms, and close-knit families. When a coal company came to town, it stole everything it didn’t buy, ruining the community in the process. In 1921, an army of 10,000 unemployed pro-union coal miners took up arms and threatened to overthrow the governments of two West Virginia counties. They were greeted by U.S. Army airplanes, bombs, and poison gas. This book recounts the real story of what happened–and where it all went wrong.
In Pennsylvania, I plan on delving into the fracking debate with “Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America” by Eliza Griswold, prize winning poet and journalist. In fact, this book was another Pulitzer Prize winner among many other accolades it received. Stacey Haney, a lifelong resident of Amity, Pennsylvania, sees the energy companies’ payments as a windfall. But she soon becomes concerned and then afraid as domestic animals and pets begin dying and mysterious illnesses strike her family — despite the companies’ insistence that nothing is wrong.”
I got a little off track last month but next month I really do plan on continuing my odyssey through the “Megalopolis” region on the eastern seaboard including Washington DC. You can find more suggested titles for the Appalachian region here. You can also find past posts in this Travel Through Story series here.
The Appalachian region of the United States is one of the most unique in the country. The Scots-Irish immigrants that settled the region along with the geographic and economic isolation of the area have created distinctive dialects that sound more like Old English than the common dialects in the rest of the country. 
