Hairston, Bill, African Americans--Appalachian Region, Appalachian dulcimer and autoharp music, Fiddling, Storytelling, Fiddle tunes, Folk music--West Virginia, Racism, Old-time music, Banjo, Saint Albans (W. Va.), Big Coal River Valley (W. Va.), 4-H clubs, School integration, and Folklore
Folklore, Saint Albans (W. Va.), African Americans--Appalachian Region, Old-time music, Folk music--West Virginia, Walker, John Homer, School integration, Appalachian dulcimer and autoharp music, Fiddle tunes, Banjo, Racism, Fiddling, 4-H clubs, Big Coal River Valley (W. Va.), Hairston, Bill, and Storytelling
Racism, Old-time music, School integration, Hairston, Bill, Appalachian dulcimer and autoharp music, Folk music--West Virginia, 4-H clubs, Storytelling, Folklore, African Americans--Appalachian Region, and Walker, John Homer
![["\"I want to sing an old song my grandmother used to sing when I was a kid... if I can remember-- I haven't thought of this for a long time. It was called \"The Two Little Orphans\" and she died when I was 12 years old and my sisters, they all, both remember her singing this. She'd sing us to make us kids cry, I guess! But let me see if I can remember it, it's been a long time. I was trying to think of it coming up here on the road today.\"West Virginia old-time musician, local historian, and collector Jim Costa sings \"The Two Little Orphans\" at the West Virginia Humanities Council MacFarland-Hubbard House, January 25, 2017.Jim Costa is a native of Summers County, and an accomplished traditional musician, storyteller, and local historian. He is also an avid collector and expert of 18th and 19th century farm tools and objects of rural life, including Hammons family fiddles, spinning wheels, cast iron cookware, and blacksmith tools. Costa has been building this collection throughout his life, and he restores many of the old tools and instruments himself. In addition to his public presentations on music and material culture, Costa appeared in the 1987 John Sayles film Matewan. Listen to the full tape of the concert here: https://soundcloud.com/user-521885027/west-virginia-folklife-presents-jim-costa-with-zoe-van-buren-12517Concert poster by Ratbee Press: http://www.ratbeepress.com/"]](/thumb/4224CostaJimVideo00112517 "Jim Costa performs \"Two Little Orphans\" at a concert at the West Virginia Humanities Council")
![["W.I. Bill Hairston, 71, is a storyteller, old-time musician, and pastor (Westminster Presbyterian Church) living in Charleston, West Virginia. He was born in Phenix City, Alabama, and his family moved to Saint Albans, West Virginia in 1960 when he was 11. Through his storytelling, Hairston, as he says in the interview, combines the Appalachian culture that he was exposed to on the Coal River, to the African-American culture that he is a part of. For 35 years, he served as music coordinator at the Stonewall Jackson Jubilee, and is currently the coordinator of the Vandalia Gatherings West Virginia Liars Contest. Hairston is an active member of the West Virginia Storytelling Guild, the Kentucky Storytelling Association, and the Ohio Storytelling Network, the National Association of Black Storytellers, and serves as the West Virginia liaison to the National Storytelling Network. He has performed in concerts, festivals, libraries, corporate meetings, conventions and schools throughout the region and the country. This interview is a follow-up to Emily Hilliards September 10, 2019 interview with Hairston. In this interview, Hairston discusses his participation in the last segregated Black 4-H Camp at Camp Washington-Carver, and the first integrated 4-H Camp at Jacksons Mill. He also speaks about his summer job with the Department of Natural Resources and his involvement in the United Methodist Youth Fellowship when he was young."]](/thumb/4224HairstonBillAudioInt121520 "Transcript of oral history of W.I. Bill Hairston")
![["W.I. Bill Hairston, 71, is a storyteller, old-time musician, and pastor (Westminster Presbyterian Church) living in Charleston, West Virginia. He was born in Phenix City, Alabama, and his family moved to Saint Albans, West Virginia in 1960 when he was 11. Through his storytelling, Hairston, as he says in the interview, combines the Appalachian culture that he was exposed to on the Coal River, to the African-American culture that he is a part of. For 35 years, he served as music coordinator at the Stonewall Jackson Jubilee, and is currently the coordinator of the Vandalia Gatherings West Virginia Liars Contest. Hairston is an active member of the West Virginia Storytelling Guild, the Kentucky Storytelling Association, and the Ohio Storytelling Network, the National Association of Black Storytellers, and serves as the West Virginia liaison to the National Storytelling Network. He has performed in concerts, festivals, libraries, corporate meetings, conventions and schools throughout the region and the country. In this interview, Hairston speaks about growing up in one of three Black families in the Lick Skillet area of Saint Albans along the Coal River, his interest in and work with rural West Virginia old-time musicians and 4-H camps, his friendship with Frank and Jane George, experiences with racism in West Virginia, and his work and mission as an Appalachian storyteller."]](/thumb/4224HairstonBillIntTranscript91019 "Transcript of oral history of W.I. Bill Hairston")