Eastern Kentucky African American Migration Project Collection

Eastern Kentucky African American Migration Project Collection

1927-2015


Collection Excerpt

"The Eastern Kentucky African American Migration Project (EKAAMP) is a public humanities and archival collecting initiative directed by Karida Brown, an African American sociologist, in partnership with the Southern Historical Collection (SHC) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an historically white institution. In 2013, the SHC joined Brown in her efforts to document a multi-generational African American community with familial ties to coal mining towns in Harlan County, Ky. The community which Brown studies has its origins in the coalfields of the Appalachian South and specifically the surrounding area of Lynch, Ky. Appalachia was a destination for thousands of African Americans, who left the rural deep South in the early twentieth century during the Great Migration. A company town, Lynch was established in 1917 by U.S. Coal and Coke Company, a subsidiary of U.S. Steel. The collection contains oral history interviews, photographs, copies of documents and artifacts related to coal miners in the mid-twentieth century, and community histories of Lynch, Ky. Karida Brown conducted the oral history interviews with African Americans whose families migrated from the coal camps of the Appalachian South to cities and suburbs across the country. Photographs from circa 1948 depict street scenes, residential areas, and coal mining facilities in Lynch, Ky., and also African American residents of Lynch, both adults and children. Copied documents include floor plans for company housing and a discharge report for a fired coal miner. Artifacts include a hard hat, goggles, and other work tools and safety accessories. Community histories describe the founding of the coal camp, the buildings and businesses in the company town of Lynch, schools, entertainment venues, and leisure activities."

Project(s) That Use This Collection

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