Kanawha City Community Center to host “West Virginia History Makers: Black Women’s Activism in the Archives”
Posted by Monte Maxwell.September 14th, 2021
Learn about the women who worked hard to bring positive change to Appalachia in a presentation titled “West Virginia History Makers: Black Women’s Activism in the Archives” on Wednesday, Sept. 15, at 6:30 p.m. at the Kanawha City Community Center in Charleston.
Dr. Tamara Bailey, an assistant professor of history and coordinator of Wesleyan Abroad at West Virginia Wesleyan College, and Dr. Sheena Harris, an associate professor of history and coordinator of the Africana Studies Program at West Virginia University, will discuss the lives of Black women activists and educators from West Virginia and their use of women’s archives.
Bailey will present Memphis Tennessee Garrison’s work in Cabell and Logan County through the NAACP, and the integrators, two Marion County girls who navigated the middle and high school experience of integration.
Harris will focus on Fanny Smith Washington and Olivia Davidson Washington, the first and second wives of Booker T. Washington. Smith and Davidson were educators and institution builders in their own right.
Each historian will talk about their experiences using women’s archives in their research. The session will also include information about the West Virginia Feminist Activist Collection at the West Virginia and Regional History Center at WVU Libraries, an effort to document women’s lives through archives and oral histories.
“The West Virginia Feminist Activist Collection brings together the records of people and institutions that worked to advance women’s rights. The materials hold the stories of challenges and change for women in West Virginia. The archive will be useful for scholars, teachers, and anyone interested in women’s history,” WVRHC Assistant Director Lori Hostuttler said.
A question and answer session will follow the presentations. For more information, contact Hostuttler at 304-293-1116 or lori.hostuttler@mail.wvu.edu.
This project is being presented with financial assistance from the West Virginia Humanities Council, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations do not necessarily represent those of the West Virginia Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities. The City of Charleston is also providing additional support for this program.