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["Al Anderson is an R&B singer and shoe repairman from Osage, West Virginia. He grew up in the Scotts Run area outside of Morgantown, where Osage is located. He was a member of Billy Wards group The Dominoes, and says he sings lead on their recording of, \"What Are You Doing New Year's Eve.\" He is featured on the Songs of Scotts Run CD and is active with the Scotts Run Museum. In this interview, Al speaks about his life growing up in Osage, his work as a musician, and his role in and history of the Scotts Run community. This interview is part of a collection of interviews conducted with Scotts Run natives/residents and/or members of the Scotts Run Museum."]%

1. Transcript of oral history of Al Anderson

Identifier:
4224.AndersonAl.IntTranscript.4.5.19
Title:
Transcript of oral history of Al Anderson
Date:
2019-04-05
Creator:
Anderson, Al
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Interracial friendship, Rhythm and blues music, Community museums, Racism, Coal mines and mining, Shoemakers, Scott's Run (W. Va.), African Americans--Appalachian Region
Location:
Scott's Run (W. Va.)
["Shardinae Adams (b. Detroit, MI, January 1, 1993) is a Fairmont, West Virginia-raised hip-hop artist currently living in Las Vegas, NV. She is the owner of Blockstar Entertainment. In 2019, she was named one of Generation West Virginias Beacon Award winner for her community service work including backpack drives for Fairmont school children.In this interview Adams speaks about her music career, influences and writing process, childhood and adolescence as a ward of the state, life mentors, volunteer work, and future plans."]%

2. Transcript of oral history of TK Blockstar aka Shardinae Adams

Identifier:
4224.BlockstarTK.IntTranscript.10.9.20
Title:
Transcript of oral history of TK Blockstar aka Shardinae Adams
Date:
2020-10-09
Creator:
Adams, Shardinae
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Hip-hop--United States, Women rap musicians, African Americans--Appalachian Region
Location:
Fairmont (W. Va.), Las Vegas (Nev.), Charleston (W. Va.)
["Rev. Ronald English of Charleston, West Virginia was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1944. He grew up in the community surrounding the Ebenezer Baptist Church of Atlanta and his family was close with the family of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. English is a graduate of Morehouse College and served as ministerial assistant to Drs. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sr. He delivered a prayer at the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.Rev. English was called to the First Baptist Church of Charleston in 1972 where he served for 21 years. He now serves as an interim minister in Charleston and is a consultant in healing and restorative justice.In this interview with state folklorist Emily Hilliard and American Friends Service Committee West Virginia Economic Justice Project director Rick Wilson, Rev. English speaks about his relationship with Dr. King, his work as a pastor and community leader in Charleston, and his mindfulness practice."]%

3. Transcript of oral history of Rev. Ronald English

Identifier:
4224.EnglishRonald.IntTranscript.9.4.19
Title:
Transcript of oral history of Rev. Ronald English
Date:
2019-09-04
Creator:
English, Ronald
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily, Wilson, Rick
Subject:
African Americans--Appalachian Region, Charleston (W. Va.), Racism, Civil rights movements, Mindfulness (Psychology), King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968, African American Baptists, Restorative justice
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.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/"]%

4. Artist profile of Doris Fields aka Lady D

Identifier:
4224.FieldsDoris.ArtistProfile.6.19.18
Title:
Artist profile of Doris Fields aka Lady D
Date:
2018-06-19
Creator:
Fields, Doris
Subject:
Gospel music, Apprenticeship programs, Soul music, African Americans--Appalachian Region, Rhythm and blues music
Location:
Beckley (W. Va.), Raleigh County (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."]%

5. Transcript of oral history of Doris Fields aka Lady D

Identifier:
4224.FieldsDorisIntTranscript4.8.16
Title:
Transcript of oral history of Doris Fields aka Lady D
Date:
2016-04-08
Creator:
Fields, Doris
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Jazz vocals, African Americans--Appalachian Region, Beckley (W. Va.), Soul music, Rhythm and blues music, Gospel music
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/"]%

6. Transcript of oral history of Doris Fields aka Lady D and Xavier Oglesby

Identifier:
4224.FieldsDorisOglesbyXavier.IntTranscript.5.15.18
Title:
Transcript of oral history of Doris Fields aka Lady D and Xavier Oglesby
Date:
2018-05-15
Creator:
Oglesby, Xavier, Fields, Doris
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
African Americans--Appalachian Region, Apprenticeship programs, Soul music, Rhythm and blues music, Gospel music
Location:
Beckley (W. Va.)
["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."]%

7. Transcript of oral history of W.I. Bill Hairston

Identifier:
4224.HairstonBill.AudioInt.12.15.20
Title:
Transcript of oral history of W.I. Bill Hairston
Date:
2020-12-15
Creator:
Hairston, Bill
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
4-H clubs, Racism, Storytelling, Segregation in education, School integration, African Americans--Appalachian Region, Folklore
Location:
Charleston (W. Va.)
["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."]%

8. Transcript of oral history of W.I. Bill Hairston

Identifier:
4224.HairstonBillIntTranscript9.10.19
Title:
Transcript of oral history of W.I. Bill Hairston
Date:
2019-09-10
Creator:
Hairston, Bill
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Storytelling, African Americans--Appalachian Region, School integration, 4-H clubs, Old-time music, Folk music--West Virginia, Hairston, Bill, Appalachian dulcimer and autoharp music, Racism, Walker, John Homer, Folklore
Location:
Charleston (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."]%

9. Transcript of oral history of Cora Hairston

Identifier:
4224.HairstonCora.IntTranscript.5.3.16
Title:
Transcript of oral history of Cora Hairston
Date:
2016-05-03
Creator:
Hairston, Cora
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
foodways, Food habits, Hairston, Cora, West Virginia--Fiction, Foxx, Redd, 1922-1991, Coal mines and mining, African Americans--Appalachian Region
Location:
Chief Logan State Park (W. Va.), Logan County (W. Va.)
["With his wife, Leonard Harris (b. Martinsburg, WV, October 30, 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."]%

10. Transcript of oral history of Leonard Harris

Identifier:
4224.HarrisLeonard.IntTranscript.7.20.16
Title:
Transcript of oral history of Leonard Harris
Date:
2016-07-20
Creator:
Harris, Leonard
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Martinsburg (W. Va.), Berkeley County (W. Va.), African Americans--History, Segregation in education, African Americans--Appalachian Region, Community museums, School integration
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."]%

11. Transcript of oral history of Delores Johnson

Identifier:
4224.JohnsonDelores.IntTranscript.11.8.17
Title:
Transcript of oral history of Delores Johnson
Date:
2017-11-08
Creator:
Johnson, Delores
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
African American quilts, Huntington (W. Va.), African Americans--Appalachian Region, Portraits on quilts, Art quilts, Quiltmakers, Quilting
Location:
Huntington (W. Va.)
["Charlene (Jennings) Marshall Charlene (Jennings) Marshall (b. September 17, 1949) is a native of Osage, West Virginia in Scotts Run. She was the first African American woman mayor in Morgantown and all of West Virginia, serving from 1991-1998. She was a Democratic member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, representing the 44th District from 1998-2002 and 2004 until 2014. In this interview she speaks about growing up in Osage, her term as mayor, and experiences as an activist in the civil rights movement in Morgantown. She also showed pictures of an exhibit she has been working on, The African American Experience in Morgantown. This interview is part of a collection of interviews conducted with Scotts Run natives/residents and/or members of the Scotts Run Museum."]%

12. Transcript of oral history of Charlene Marshall

Identifier:
4224.MarshallCharlene.IntTranscript.3.23.19
Title:
Transcript of oral history of Charlene Marshall
Date:
2019-03-23
Creator:
Marshall, Charlene
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Morgantown (W. Va.), Knitters (Persons), School integration, African Americans--Appalachian Region, Civil rights movements, Racism, African American women politicians, Scott's Run (W. Va.)
Location:
Scott's Run (W. Va.), Morgantown (W. Va.)