NABS on the Road: Hearts Rooted, Souls Recharged, Gear Ready - Collecting Black Geographies

Documenting 2025 Black Appalachian Storyteller Fellows

By: Ilene Evans

Editor: Karen "Queen Nur" Abdul-Malik

Welcome to the journey! Ilene and Queen Nur are blazing the highways and byways of Appalachia! 

QUEEN AND ILENE

In our fourth year of documenting NABS Black Appalachian Storyteller Fellows (BASF), Queen sets out from New Jersey with gear well-packed to meet with Ilene at her home at the headwaters of the Potomac River. Funded by the Mid Atlantic Arts and South Arts Central Appalachian Living Traditions (CALT) program, the project allows us to travel to document the fellows’ work in their respective communities. These records, photos, and videos will form a collection at Berea College. We are blessed to witness and record these cultural preservationists in action and talk at length about their vision, dream, and accomplishments. What a joy filled time we have bringing their stories to you. 

Ethnographies of awarded fellows from 2022 through 2024 have revealed storified Black Geographies. As Black Appalachians they are a part of a strong community of storytellers and story makers. Mirroring the origins of African Oral Traditions origins of the djali, jalimuso, griot, griotte, jojo - storyteller - the fellows are activists and protectors of truth, keepers of stories that need to be told, and reclaimers of stories lost.  They give evidence to the contributions of people of color, women, children, and the dispossessed in the mountains. Quick to cross cultures in order to build networks of allies wherever they may be, their work expands awareness, elevates visibility, and empowers communal values.

What are Black Geographies?, You may ask…, the places we live, work, make home, reflecting the struggle we have faced and the accomplishments made. According to Katherine McKittrick, a researcher in this field says in her book Demonic Grounds, that “black lives are geographic…”  (McKittrick, 2006, p. xiii). The spaces we occupy are infused with our blood, our DNA and our memories. It is hard for some to see how the Appalachian Region is a black space, and this geography has had a hand in shaping who we are and sustaining the spirit of being self-sufficient. Our storytellers help us understand the significance of the families who built businesses, planted crops, taught our greatest scholars, writers and entertainers here in the mountains.   

Regaining the story of the land also plays a part in retaining our cultural identity, values, lifeways. One generation sharing the story of their journey is vital to our collective mental health. It directly confronts the issues we face of erasure and how long-term prosperous communities have vanished from the memory of place. The narrative of land and the people on it are the rich humus in which we grow to build an identity crafted by those who love us and want us to survive. 

And so, Queen and I set off on our mission, where mystery lies over the river and through the woods and around every curve in the road. At least to get to my house where we combine forces to map out our journey to visit the illustrious Black Appalachian Storytellers. A worthy journey ensues, along winding roads, mist and fog, rain and wind, over hill and holler to ridges high on the mountain tops. A stout heart, a courageous heart are wrestled in our gear. Every hill brings a new challenge, microclimates, and weather changes. Our storytellers are as diverse as the rolling hills as represented in their styles, experience, and use of Blackstorytelling to heal, restore and remember their communities. 

We love stories! We love our Storytellers!

3, 6, 9  -  What’s on your mind? Travelling with NABS is blowin’ my mind!

ON THE ROAD WE GO

Morning Song

The Mountains are singing today.

The horses, the cows are sheltering from the wind 

Where there’s a salt lick in the meadow -  a storm gathering in. 

We all feel the change and know the signs, 

Leaning into that fearsome wind, hold the line!

Our animals know before we do and warn us – Thank you!

Springtime in the mountains is constant change

The weather, the mood, the frost in the glade

For all the bluster, for all the cold, the beauty comes hard, 

fought for, standing against all odds. 

But there it is. The crocus, the tulip, the daffodils. 

That teaches us something city folks may not know

The most beautiful blooms come from the toughest climbs

 the most obstinate rains, from frost and sun and blizzard. 

The roots go deep so the mountain song will survive.

Directions for Queen

To find my place?

Take a right turn up at the crossroad and keep going down the hill. 

It’s just over the ridge and along the rill. 

Look for the big maple tree and barrels by the shed

There’s an old barn and a quiet creek running in a river bed

Just under the apple trees you’ll see the homeplace

A crooked door, a crooked window, but gentle grace

A cozy fire, stew bubbling on the stove, cold cider in the cellar

If you’ve made it this far, I guess you’ve reached Kempton Holler.