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["Doris A. Fields, aka Lady D, known as West Virginias First Lady of Soul is an R&B, soul, and blues musician and songwriter living in Beckley. She is the founder and organizer of West Virginias Simply Jazz and Blues Festival and previously hosted the weekly Simply Jazz and Blues radio show on Groovy94 in Beckley. In 2008, Fields original song Go Higher won an online contest sponsored by the Obama Music Arts and Entertainment Group. She performed the song as a headliner at the Obama for Change Inauguration Ball with President Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama in attendance."]%

13. Portrait of Doris Fields aka Lady D

Identifier:
4224.FieldsDoris.Photo.001.3.8.17
Title:
Portrait of Doris Fields aka Lady D
Date:
2017-03-08
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
African Americans--Appalachian Region, Rhythm and blues music, Jazz vocals, Soul music
Location:
Charleston (W. Va.)
["Doris A. Fields, aka Lady D, known as West Virginias First Lady of Soul is an R&B, soul, and blues musician and songwriter living in Beckley. She is the founder and organizer of West Virginias Simply Jazz and Blues Festival and previously hosted the weekly Simply Jazz and Blues radio show on Groovy94 in Beckley. In 2008, Fields original song Go Higher won an online contest sponsored by the Obama Music Arts and Entertainment Group. She performed the song as a headliner at the Obama for Change Inauguration Ball with President Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama in attendance."]%

14. Doris Fields aka Lady D at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Charleston, WV

Identifier:
4224.FieldsDoris.Photo.002.3.8.17
Title:
Doris Fields aka Lady D at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Charleston, WV
Date:
2017-03-08
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Jazz vocals, African Americans--Appalachian Region, Rhythm and blues music, Soul music
Location:
Charleston (W. Va.)
["Doris A. Fields, aka Lady D, known as West Virginias First Lady of Soul is an R&B, soul, and blues musician and songwriter living in Beckley. She is the founder and organizer of West Virginias Simply Jazz and Blues Festival and previously hosted the weekly Simply Jazz and Blues radio show on Groovy94 in Beckley. In 2008, Fields original song Go Higher won an online contest sponsored by the Obama Music Arts and Entertainment Group. She performed the song as a headliner at the Obama for Change Inauguration Ball with President Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama in attendance."]%

15. Doris Fields performs as Bessie Smith at the Charleston, WV Unitarian Universalist's River Music Concert

Identifier:
4224.FieldsDoris.Photo.003.3.8.17
Title:
Doris Fields performs as Bessie Smith at the Charleston, WV Unitarian Universalist's River Music Concert
Date:
2017-03-08
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Soul music, Rhythm and blues music, Jazz vocals, African Americans--Appalachian Region
Location:
Charleston (W. Va.)
["Doris A. Fields, aka Lady D, known as West Virginias First Lady of Soul is an R&B, soul, and blues musician and songwriter living in Beckley. She is the founder and organizer of West Virginias Simply Jazz and Blues Festival and previously hosted the weekly Simply Jazz and Blues radio show on Groovy94 in Beckley. In 2008, Fields original song Go Higher won an online contest sponsored by the Obama Music Arts and Entertainment Group. She performed the song as a headliner at the Obama for Change Inauguration Ball with President Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama in attendance."]%

16. Doris Fields aka Lady D performs her one-woman show about Bessie Smith

Identifier:
4224.FieldsDoris.Photo.004.3.8.17
Title:
Doris Fields aka Lady D performs her one-woman show about Bessie Smith
Date:
2017-03-08
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Rhythm and blues music, African Americans--Appalachian Region, Jazz vocals
Location:
Charleston (W. Va.)
["Doris Fields aka Lady D of Beckley led an apprenticeship in blues and Black gospel with Xavier Oglesby of Beckley as part of the 2018 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program, supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. Doris Fields aka Lady DBeckley, WVDoris A. Fields, also known as Lady D, is a West Virginia native born in Kayford in Kanawha County. She is a graduate of East Bank High School and West Virginia State University with a bachelors degree in communications. She is also a graduate of Phillips College in Gulfport, MS with an associate degree in travel and tourism. She is known as West Virginias First Lady of Soul.Lady D has been singing since the age of three years old. She is also an actress, songwriter, director, and promoter. Since 2003, she has toured her one-woman show, The Lady and the Empress, a musical stage play based on the life and music of blues legend, Bessie Smith. Her acting experience also includes a five-year stint with Theater West Virginias productions of Honey In the Rock, Hatfields and McCoys, and various other shows. On the local scene, Lady D was very active in productions with the Charleston Stage Company, Childrens Theater and Kanawha Players.As a professional vocalist, highlights of Lady Ds career include being the opening act for the legendary soul group, the OJays at Charlestons 2007 FestivALL. In 2008, her original song, Go Higher, was chosen as the best Obama Inaugural Song and earned her a trip with her band, MI$$ION, to Washington, D.C. to perform at the 2009 Obama for Change Inaugural Ball. In 2010, Lady D was honored to perform at the live recording of the HistoryMakers: An Evening With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. at the Cultural Center in Charleston. In August 2014, she was inducted into the All Black Schools Sports & Academic Hall of Fame (ABSSA) with a Lifetime Achievement Award.Xavier OglesbyBeckley, WVXavier Oglesby, a Beckley native, was raised in the black Pentecostal church, learning gospel music from his family. From 1997 to 2003, he hosted 545 Live, a gospel music radio show on Beckleys WJLS in Beckley. From 1997 to 2002 he was an actor and singer at Theatre West Virginia. He recently narrated voice-overs for the National Park Service New River Gorge African American Heritage Auto Tour. He currently works as a corrections officer.See our feature on Fields apprenticeship with Oglesby here: https://wvfolklife.org/2018/12/03/2018-master-artist-apprentice-feature-doris-fields-aka-lady-d-xavier-oglesby-blues-black-gospel/"]%

17. Portrait of Xavier Oglesby and Doris Fields aka Lady D

Identifier:
4224.FieldsDorisOglesbyXavier.Photo.001.5.15.18
Title:
Portrait of Xavier Oglesby and Doris Fields aka Lady D
Date:
2018-05-15
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Soul music, Apprenticeship programs, Gospel music, Rhythm and blues music, African Americans--Appalachian Region
Location:
Beckley (W. Va.)
["Doris Fields aka Lady D of Beckley led an apprenticeship in blues and Black gospel with Xavier Oglesby of Beckley as part of the 2018 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program, supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. Doris Fields aka Lady DBeckley, WVDoris A. Fields, also known as Lady D, is a West Virginia native born in Kayford in Kanawha County. She is a graduate of East Bank High School and West Virginia State University with a bachelors degree in communications. She is also a graduate of Phillips College in Gulfport, MS with an associate degree in travel and tourism. She is known as West Virginias First Lady of Soul.Lady D has been singing since the age of three years old. She is also an actress, songwriter, director, and promoter. Since 2003, she has toured her one-woman show, The Lady and the Empress, a musical stage play based on the life and music of blues legend, Bessie Smith. Her acting experience also includes a five-year stint with Theater West Virginias productions of Honey In the Rock, Hatfields and McCoys, and various other shows. On the local scene, Lady D was very active in productions with the Charleston Stage Company, Childrens Theater and Kanawha Players.As a professional vocalist, highlights of Lady Ds career include being the opening act for the legendary soul group, the OJays at Charlestons 2007 FestivALL. In 2008, her original song, Go Higher, was chosen as the best Obama Inaugural Song and earned her a trip with her band, MI$$ION, to Washington, D.C. to perform at the 2009 Obama for Change Inaugural Ball. In 2010, Lady D was honored to perform at the live recording of the HistoryMakers: An Evening With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. at the Cultural Center in Charleston. In August 2014, she was inducted into the All Black Schools Sports & Academic Hall of Fame (ABSSA) with a Lifetime Achievement Award.Xavier OglesbyBeckley, WVXavier Oglesby, a Beckley native, was raised in the black Pentecostal church, learning gospel music from his family. From 1997 to 2003, he hosted 545 Live, a gospel music radio show on Beckleys WJLS in Beckley. From 1997 to 2002 he was an actor and singer at Theatre West Virginia. He recently narrated voice-overs for the National Park Service New River Gorge African American Heritage Auto Tour. He currently works as a corrections officer.See our feature on Fields apprenticeship with Oglesby here: https://wvfolklife.org/2018/12/03/2018-master-artist-apprentice-feature-doris-fields-aka-lady-d-xavier-oglesby-blues-black-gospel/"]%

18. Display wall in Doris Fields' Beckley home

Identifier:
4224.FieldsDorisOglesbyXavier.Photo.002.5.15.18
Title:
Display wall in Doris Fields' Beckley home
Date:
2017-05-15
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Rhythm and blues music, Gospel music, African Americans--Appalachian Region, Soul music, Apprenticeship programs
Location:
Beckley (W. Va.)
["Doris Fields aka Lady D of Beckley led an apprenticeship in blues and Black gospel with Xavier Oglesby of Beckley as part of the 2018 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program, supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. Doris Fields aka Lady DBeckley, WVDoris A. Fields, also known as Lady D, is a West Virginia native born in Kayford in Kanawha County. She is a graduate of East Bank High School and West Virginia State University with a bachelors degree in communications. She is also a graduate of Phillips College in Gulfport, MS with an associate degree in travel and tourism. She is known as West Virginias First Lady of Soul.Lady D has been singing since the age of three years old. She is also an actress, songwriter, director, and promoter. Since 2003, she has toured her one-woman show, The Lady and the Empress, a musical stage play based on the life and music of blues legend, Bessie Smith. Her acting experience also includes a five-year stint with Theater West Virginias productions of Honey In the Rock, Hatfields and McCoys, and various other shows. On the local scene, Lady D was very active in productions with the Charleston Stage Company, Childrens Theater and Kanawha Players.As a professional vocalist, highlights of Lady Ds career include being the opening act for the legendary soul group, the OJays at Charlestons 2007 FestivALL. In 2008, her original song, Go Higher, was chosen as the best Obama Inaugural Song and earned her a trip with her band, MI$$ION, to Washington, D.C. to perform at the 2009 Obama for Change Inaugural Ball. In 2010, Lady D was honored to perform at the live recording of the HistoryMakers: An Evening With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. at the Cultural Center in Charleston. In August 2014, she was inducted into the All Black Schools Sports & Academic Hall of Fame (ABSSA) with a Lifetime Achievement Award.Xavier OglesbyBeckley, WVXavier Oglesby, a Beckley native, was raised in the black Pentecostal church, learning gospel music from his family. From 1997 to 2003, he hosted 545 Live, a gospel music radio show on Beckleys WJLS in Beckley. From 1997 to 2002 he was an actor and singer at Theatre West Virginia. He recently narrated voice-overs for the National Park Service New River Gorge African American Heritage Auto Tour. He currently works as a corrections officer.See our feature on Fields apprenticeship with Oglesby here: https://wvfolklife.org/2018/12/03/2018-master-artist-apprentice-feature-doris-fields-aka-lady-d-xavier-oglesby-blues-black-gospel/"]%

19. Awards and press displayed in Doris Fields' home in Beckley

Identifier:
4224.FieldsDorisOglesbyXavier.Photo.003.5.15.18
Title:
Awards and press displayed in Doris Fields' home in Beckley
Date:
2018-05-15
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
African Americans--Appalachian Region, Soul music, Gospel music, Rhythm and blues music, Apprenticeship programs
Location:
Beckley (W. Va.)
["Cora Lee (Phillips) Hairston (b. 1942, Sarah Anne, WV) is a musician and writer from Logan County, West Virginia. She and her husband Fred, also a musician, currently live in Omar, West Virginia. Cora Hairston is the author of two novels, Faces Behind the Dust and Hello World Here Comes Claraby Rose, both fictionalized accounts based on her childhood growing up in a Black coal camp. She spoke about her childhood, her music, and her writing practice."]%

20. Portrait of Cora Hairston

Identifier:
4224.HairstonCora.Photo.001.5.3.16
Title:
Portrait of Cora Hairston
Date:
2016-05-03
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
African Americans--Appalachian Region, Hairston, Cora
Location:
Chief Logan State Park (W. Va.)
["With his wife, Leonard Harris (b. Martinsburg, WV, 1936) is the co-founder of Sumner-Ramer School African American Museum and Archive in Martinsburg, West Virginia. He is an alumnus of Sumner-Ramer, which was the Black school in Berkeley County during segregation. The school closed in 1965, one year after schools in the county were integrated and 10 years after the Brown v. Board ruling. The Sumner-Ramer Museum and Archive is located in a ground-floor room of the school building and contains materials from the school and its alumni, including ephemera, photos, artifacts, portraits, and more."]%

21. Leonard Harris at the Sumner-Ramer School African American Museum and Archive in Martinsburg

Identifier:
4224.HarrisLeonard.Photo.001.7.20.16
Title:
Leonard Harris at the Sumner-Ramer School African American Museum and Archive in Martinsburg
Date:
2016-07-20
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Martinsburg (W. Va.), Community museums, Berkeley County (W. Va.), African Americans--Appalachian Region, School integration, African Americans--History, Segregation in education
Location:
Martinsburg (W. Va.), Berkeley County (W. Va.)
["Delores Johnson is an African American quilter and retired Marshall University linguistics professor. She was born in Athens, Georgia, but was raised and has lived in West Virginia for over the past 60 years. She is one of the founders of the Saint Peter Claver Piecemakers quilting group in Huntington, WV."]%

22. Peace Christmas card made by Delores Johnson

Identifier:
4224.JohnsonDelores.Photo.002.11.8.17
Title:
Peace Christmas card made by Delores Johnson
Date:
2017-11-08
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
African Americans--Appalachian Region, Quilting, African American quilts, Quiltmakers
Location:
Huntington (W. Va.)
["Delores Johnson is an African American quilter and retired Marshall University linguistics professor. She was born in Athens, Georgia, but was raised and has lived in West Virginia for over the past 60 years. She is one of the founders of the Saint Peter Claver Piecemakers quilting group in Huntington, WV."]%

23. Portrait quilt made by Delores Johnson

Identifier:
4224.JohnsonDelores.Photo.003.11.8.17
Title:
Portrait quilt made by Delores Johnson
Date:
2017-11-08
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Art quilts, Quiltmakers, Quilting, African American quilts, Portraits on quilts, African Americans--Appalachian Region
Location:
Huntington (W. Va.)
["Delores Johnson is an African American quilter and retired Marshall University linguistics professor. She was born in Athens, Georgia, but was raised and has lived in West Virginia for over the past 60 years. She is one of the founders of the Saint Peter Claver Piecemakers quilting group in Huntington, WV."]%

24. Panel of an art quilt by Delores Johnson

Identifier:
4224.JohnsonDelores.Photo.005.11.8.17
Title:
Panel of an art quilt by Delores Johnson
Date:
2017-11-08
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
African Americans--Appalachian Region, Quilting, Quiltmakers, African American quilts, Art quilts
Location:
Huntington (W. Va.)