Main Events: Fall 2022
This event is co-sponsored by The Schaefer Center Presents series
According to McFarland, the book’s publisher, Junaluska is “one of the oldest African American communities in western North Carolina and one of the few surviving today.” This year’s Common Reading selection is not only a history of the “village within a village” but also a vibrant example of participatory research. It is a record of and testament to family and faith; heritage and community; and persistence and resilience.
Join us as we celebrate the history, music and community of Junaluska. Special musical guests: Junaluska Gospel Choir.
For disability or accessibility accomodations, please visit the Office of Disability Resources.
Wednesday, November 2, 2022 at 3:30 pm
Oral History How-To for Beginners
Mark Coltrain, Associate Professor, Belk Library
Join us in 137A Plemmons Student Union on Wednesday, November 2 at 3:30 pm.
Main Events: Spring 2023
Monday, January 30, 2023 at 6:00 pm in the Plemmons Student Union Parkway Ballroom
"Black in Appalachia" Common Reading Event
This year’s Common Reading selection, Junaluska: Oral Histories of a Black Appalachian Community, provides an intimate view into the historically African American community of Junaluska in Boone, North Carolina. On Monday, January 30, two leading researchers from Black in Appalachia will connect these local stories to a growing regional movement to document and celebrate black life throughout the Appalachian Mountains. The event will take place in the Parkway Ballroom of the Plemmons Student Union at 6pm.
Black in Appalachia is a non-profit that works in collaboration with public media, residents, university departments, libraries, archives and community organizations to highlight the history and contributions of African-Americans in the development of the Mountain South and its culture through research, local narratives, public engagement and exhibition. Black in Appalachia is a community service for Appalachian residents and families with roots in the region.
Black in Appalachia staff members Dr. Enkeshi El-Amin and William Isom II will provide an overview of their work documenting the history and living stories of vibrant African American communities across the Appalachian region, including here in Watauga County, North Carolina. Their presentation will build on the foundation provided by the common reading and encourage students to dig deeper into their own family histories.
Website: https://www.blackinappalachia.org/
Presenters:
Dr. Enkeshi El-Amin is an assistant professor of Sociology at West Virginia University. She earned her PhD in sociology at The University of Tennessee in Knoxville and has many years of experience as a researcher and cultural worker in the Appalachian region. Her work explores the link between race, place and Black practices in defining, contesting, and re-imagining of place.
William Isom II is an East Tennessee native & the director of Black in Appalachia. He coordinates the project's research, community database development, documentary film & photography production, oral history collection and educational events with residents.
For disability or accessibility accomodations, please visit the Office of Disability Resources.
Wednesday, February 22, 2023 at 5:00 p.m. in the Broyhill Music Center Rosen Concert Hall
The View from Junaluska: Perspectives from a Black Appalachian Community
The spring 2023 Courageous Conversations event will take place on Wednesday, February 22 at 5:00 pm in the Broyhill Music Center Rosen Concert Hall. Reception to follow. Add to Google Calendar.
Join us for a candid discussion on life and work in Boone with local residents of the Junaluska neighborhood, a historically Black community in the High Country. Moderated by Traci Royster, Director of Staff Development & Strategic Initiatives, in the Office of Student Affairs, the multi-generational panel will bring together community members whose career paths have included work at Appalachian State University. Inspired by the Common Reading book selection, Junaluska: Oral Histories of a Black Appalachian Community, all members of First Year Seminar as well as the broader community are welcome to attend.
Learn more about Courageous Coversations, an initiative of the Walker College of Business Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Team.
Related Local and Community Events
April 30 - October 22, 2022
Jagged Path: the African Diaspora in Western North Carolina in Craft, Music, and Dance
Exhibition at the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum (BRAHM)
159 Ginny Stevens Lane, Blowing Rock, NC
From the BRAHM website: This exhibit will illuminate the obscured history of African contributions to craft, music, and dance in Western North Carolina. Drawing connections from the 17th through 21st centuries, the Jagged Path will demonstrate how African traditions that survived the Middle Passage have helped create the culture of Western North Carolina through interviews, performances, historic artifacts, artist residencies, and more.
Exhibition webpage
This event is co-sponsored by The Schaefer Center Presents series.
From the Schaefer Center website: ANNETTE GORDON-REED, the first Black person to win the Pulitzer Prize for History and MacArthur Genius, is one of the integral voices who helped Juneteenth officially enter our national conversation. Her book about this profound day—On Juneteenth—is a powerful, essential work of history that weaves together America’s past with personal memoir.
Full event information
Location: Plemmons Student Union, Parkway Ballroom on October 24, 2022 at 7:00 pm
FREE and open to the public
Friday, October 28, 2022 from 11:00 am - 12:30 pm
The Mental Health Effects of Racism Speaker: Roger Suclupe, LCSW
Presented by the Department of Social Work and App Unidos, this event is a part of the Department of Social Work Speaker Series.
A fajita bar will be available to attendees following this presentation!
Roger F. Suclupe, MSW, LCSW, is a Clinical Assistant Professor and MSW Part Time Program Coordinator at UNC Charlotte’s School of Social Work. He earned his MSW from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and BA in Psychology from Appalachian State University. Professor Suclupe’s areas of research interest include the intersection of Latinx communities and health/mental wellness, Latinx communities and access to services, community based participatory research, grief and loss, child/adolescent/adult mental wellness, cultural awareness, humility, and inclusion in social work practice, creating and increasing social capital through social mobility, and creating healthy and thriving communities. Learn more
Location: Leon Levine, Dickson Lecture Hall Room 103 on Friday, Oct. 28, 2022 at 11:00 am
Download The Mental Health Effects of Racism event flyer (PDF)
Monday, November 14, 2022 from 11:00 am - 12:30 pm
The Mental Health Effects of Racism Speaker: Isis Bey, LCSW
Presented by the Department of Social Work and App Unidos, this event is a part of the Department of Social Work Speaker Series.
Isis Bey is the founder and owner of Harmony Health Therapeutic Services and IAB Consulting LLC. Learn more
Location: Leon Levine, Dickson Lecture Hall Room 103 on Monday, Nov. 14, 2022 at 11:00 am
Download The Mental Health Effects of Racism event flyer (PDF)
Saturday, February 25, 2023 at 7:00 pm
Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts: Mavis Staples
From the Schaefer Center website: Hailed by NPR as “one of America’s defining voices of freedom and peace,” Staples is the kind of once-in-a-generation artist whose impact on music and culture would be difficult to overstate. She brings her powerful message and equally powerful voice to the Schaefer Center for a one-night-only experience.
Full event information
Photo by Myriam Santos
Location: Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts, 733 Rivers Street, Boone, NC on October 25, 2023 at 7:00 pm; doors open at 6:00 pm
Information and Tickets: Contact theschaefercenter@appstate.edu, call 800-841-2787 or 828-262-4046, visit the box office at the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts, 733 Rivers Street, Boone, NC, or purchase online.
This special presentation is co-sponsored by The Schaefer Center Presents series.
From the Belk Library website: Pulitzer Prize-winner Natasha Trethewey served two terms as the 19th Poet Laureate of the United States (2012-2014). In his citation, Librarian of Congress James Billington wrote, “Her poems dig beneath the surface of history—personal or communal, from childhood or from a century ago—to explore the human struggles that we all face.” Trethewey was the first Southerner to receive the honor since Robert Penn Warren, in 1986, and the first African-American since Rita Dove, in 1993.
Full event information and library holdings
Location: Plemmons Student Union 201 AB, Blue Ridge Ballroom on April 20, 2023 at 6:00 pm
FREE and open to the public
