An evening with Dr. William Turner
McDowell County celebrates Black History Month
MCDOWELL CO, W.Va. (WVVA) - February is Black History month and Monday in McDowell County, several groups came together to sponsor a special program to mark the occasion.
The Jack Caffrey Arts and Cultural Center in Welch is the setting for this event.
It features a number of speakers, but the keynote presenter is the noted Dr. William Turner from Houston, Texas who is the author of the Harlan Renaissance: Stories of Black Life In Appalachian Coal Towns.
Dr. Turner has spent 50 years researching, writing, and even directing documentaries around the African American experience in Appalachia.
He shared his research and stories to the community to remember the African American history of the region.
“West Virginia to me and to many people is the very apocentre of black history and the study of black history because so many iconic pioneering people came from the mountain state.
The very man who came up with this black history month, to say we need to make sure here in 1926 that nobody forgets about the people from Africa who were brought to America to be slaves,” says Dr. Turner
The event was sponsored by Race Matters Inc, Loretta Young, and Mennonite central committee.
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