The Environmental Journal of Southern Appalachia

Displaying items by tag: african american experience

Tuesday, 23 May 2023 17:26

Take a moment at a wayside to think of African Americans in the Great Smokies

GATLINBURG — Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials unveiled two new waysides at Mingus Mill on May 23 as part of the larger African American Experiences in the Smokies project.  

“The new signs and the African American Experiences in the Smokies project are so important to tell the untold stories of Black people in the region,” said Superintendent Cassius Cash.

Vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and poet Eric Mingus performed a new piece of music that speaks to and of Mingus Mill, its location, and the people who lived there, including his ancestors. A Santa Fe-based musician, Eric has recently re-connected with his family’s story that is rooted in the park through the African American Experiences in the Smokies project. Eric is descended from Daniel Mingus, a formerly enslaved carpenter, and Clarinda Mingus, the daughter of Daniel’s enslaver. 

Hellbender Press previously reported on the Smokies project.

One of the new waysides tells the story of the nearby Enloe Slave Cemetery, where several African Americans are interred. The other wayside tells the story of Eric’s father, legendary jazz bassist Charles Mingus Jr., and his family.  

The African American Experiences in the Smokies project is supported by the Friends of the Smokies and Great Smoky Mountains Association, which help fund research of the historic presence and influence of African Americans in the southern Appalachian Mountains from the 1540s through today.

— National Park Service

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Thursday, 21 October 2021 14:03

You are invited to Friday’s Great Smokies African American Experience Project Townhall meeting

The University of North Carolina Asheville will host a town hall at 2 p.m. Friday Oct. 22 for a robust discussion about the role of African-Americans in Southern Appalachian history, with a focus on the region that became Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
“The National Park Service’s Antoine Fletcher will be leading this event and has been compiling oral histories in order to document and share the untold stories of African Americans in and outside the Smoky Mountains. You are invited—and encouraged—to share information about this event, especially with elders, leaders, story-tellers, activists, and the bon vivants in your local African American community. The African American Experience project is seeking their knowledge, and yours!” according to a UNC Asheville description of the event.
Fletcher has researched the role of early African-Americans in the Great Smoky Mountains dating to the 1540s.
“Research topics in this framework include slavery, the American Civil War, social dynamics, laws and policies, careers, recreation, and oral histories. These, as yet, untold stories will be compiled to educate park visitors understand the vital, but not well known, history of African Americans throughout Appalachia,” according to UNCA.
Part of Friday’s program is geared toward exchanging contacts among those who have relevant historical knowledge of Blacks in Appalachia or might wish to record oral histories related to themselves or family members.
The town hall is the last such community information session planned for this phase of the the National Park Service’s “African-American Experience Project.” All the information gathered will be distilled into programming for visitors to Great Smoky Mountains and other national parks.
It is sponsored by UNCA’s Africana Studies Program, Community Engagement Office and Department of History.
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