Black Space
Appalachian Reunion, Celebration & Homecoming
Black Space is a vibrant collection of photography, oral histories, artifacts, and essays gathered by William Isom’s nonprofit Black in Appalachia over more than a decade of community-based research and collaboration. An exciting and original contribution to the documentation of Black Appalachian life, the volume centers on spaces of celebration, fellowship, and resilience, illuminating the people, places, and traditions that continue to shape the Mountain South.
Black Appalachia is often exclusively portrayed as a historical footnote or viewed primarily through narratives of struggle and exclusion. Black Space offers a jubilant and purposeful counternarrative, revealing communities that are not only enduring but thriving. Through reunions, church homecomings, social clubs, festivals, and family gatherings, Black Space invites readers into spaces of Black joy, resilience, and belonging. Featured are the bicentennial celebration of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Ohio, the oldest continuously operating Black church in the state; the fiftieth anniversary of the Eastern Kentucky Social Club; and Eighth of August Jubilee celebrations across East Tennessee commemorating the regional Emancipation Day holiday. Photographs by regional photographers Helly Rainey, Jabari Guthrie, and Jessica Tezak and accompanying oral histories are supplemented by contextual essays from William Isom II. This richly illustrated volume offers a powerful counternarrative to stories of exclusion and hardship, celebrating the enduring presence, creativity, and cultural vitality of Black Appalachian communities.
“Many of my Appalachian compatriots—including personal friends, family members, and cultural neighbors—have passed on since Mr. Isom, himself an intergenerational native of the region, started this work; but through these emotive narratives and striking photos, I can see their faces and hear their voices.”
— William H. Turner, sociologist, anthropologist, and author of The Harlan Renaissance: Stories of Black Life in Appalachian Coal Towns and Blacks in Appalachia
“Black Space shares stories that have long lived in kitchens, front porches and church halls, but rarely made it into books — the quiet, essential history of Black Appalachia. These oral histories are irreplaceable, capturing the traditions and celebrations that have held communities together for generations. The history of Emancipation Day, the Tennessee Picnic, Eastern Kentucky Social Club and Union Baptist Church need to be preserved for generations to come and this work helps accomplish that goal.”
— Chris Aluka Berry, Guggenheim Fellow and author of Affrilachia: Testimonies
