How many of us in Appalachia have heard: “Appalachia didn’t have any slaves.” “Slavery wasn’t popular here in the mountains.” “They couldn’t have any slaves here because the land wasn’t conducive for farming.” “If we had slaves, there weren’t very many.” But Appalachia did indeed have slaves. Jacqueline Clark’s articleContinue Reading
In the year 2000, my sons Erik and Gabriel and I set out to create a video documentary of the people living in Free Hills, one of America’s last remaining Black settlements established before the Civil War. Located in hardscrabble Clay County, Tennessee, near the community of Celina, the FreeContinue Reading
I am from the muddy brown waters of the Muskingum River. It is a place I cannot hide from the truth of myself – where lies burn away like sins on an altar. I am both pulled to and pushed away from its borders. The small Appalachian town raised meContinue Reading
Sometimes things happen that just beggar belief – not the muddled-up head-scratching kind, but the holy-crap-get-me-outta-here kind. A person starts to think in terms of that old cliché: “This could only happen to me.” The following events occurred over eleven years ago and are as truthful as I can recollect,Continue Reading
When I was a little girl living in the holler, I took special note of plants my parents loved. They often pointed out wildflowers, trees, vines, shrubs, and grasses, etc. The wisdom they imparted was such a treat, because, in addition to a little botanical information, my brother and IContinue Reading
Appalachia Bare would like to thank all our military and service members. This Memorial Day, we remember and honor all those who served and fought for our country. Our warriors in valor, strength, and excellence . . . The following is the fourth excerpt of Benny F. Shown Sr.’s memoirsContinue Reading
“I have spent the best years of my life giving people the lighter pleasures, helping them have a good time, and all I get is abuse, the existence of a hunted man.” – Al Capone Introduction Perhaps the nation should have looked closer at a Tennessee precedent before Prohibition wasContinue Reading
Kin Takahashi was a five-feet-two-inch, 123-pound ball of joyous energy whose fire burned brightly for only thirty-six short years. But Mr. Takahashi shared his energy with all those around him willingly and without hesitation. It could be said that his life was so brief because he gave everything of himself,Continue Reading
The “back of beyond!” Writing from North Carolina, that’s what Horace Kephart called the Tennessee side of the Great Smokies. It was nearly impossible to get there in his day and a stingy place to scratch out a living. Kephart wrote about that dark side of the Smokies in hisContinue Reading
In early March, Appalachia Bare received an email announcing the upcoming album release of Earth Bow (available at Bandcamp.com) by Sarah Louise, a musician from the Asheville, North Carolina, area. I must admit that prior to this email, I was largely unfamiliar with her work. But the email and thisContinue Reading