Pulitzer Center Update February 20, 2025
Reflections on the Affrilachia Project: Engaging Youth With Local Black Histories Through The 1619 Project
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The following reflection was written by Jordan Campbell, recipient of the 2024 1619 Impact Grant. Campbell and his team at the Gateway Regional Arts Center in Mount Sterling, Kentucky, facilitated a community-based initiative to connect 1619's resources and themes with local community history.
The Gateway Regional Arts Center is an arts and cultural nonprofit institution in Eastern Kentucky. Our mission and vision center on the phrase “all the arts for all the people.”
Our Affrilachia Project was envisioned as a multi-year initiative to honor and uplift the cultural contributions of Black Appalachians. The project included partnerships with schools, local artists, and organizations like the DuBois Community Center. We sought to explore the intersection of African American history, local Black identity, and the legacies of slavery and systemic inequities in our community. We rooted our work in The 1619 Project, anchoring its themes in the lived experiences of our own community of Mount Sterling, Kentucky.
We hoped this bold initiative would bring the legacies of Black Appalachian history into the spotlight, creating a meaningful dialogue between the region’s past and present.
The youth-focused initiative funded by the 1619 Impact Grant was just one prong of the larger Affrilachia Project, but it enriched the entire endeavor. In this key component, youth interviewed Black elders who shared their experiences growing up in Appalachia. While other elements of the project explored broader themes of Affrilachian identity through performances, lectures, and visual art, the youth component grounded the work in local history. It brought fresh perspectives and a sense of urgency to the project, ensuring that the stories of our elders were not just preserved but actively woven into the fabric of our community’s cultural identity.
Students engaged deeply with primary sources, oral histories, and artistic expression as they explored themes of resilience, identity, and systemic inequities. They developed critical thinking, historical analysis, and storytelling skills. Students documented their learning through reflective journals, community interviews, and a culminating presentation that incorporated art, writing, and digital media.
Taking an Innovative and Localized Approach
The Affrilachia Project uniquely positioned itself at the intersection of African American and Appalachian histories, two narratives often perceived as separate. By engaging Black elders in our community to share their stories of growing up in Appalachia, we created an intergenerational dialogue that bridged historical research with personal memory. These oral histories brought history alive for the students, transforming abstract lessons into tangible, relatable experiences.
Tying these local narratives to the essays and resources from The 1619 Project also helped to realize the connection of what was happening locally to the concurrent national events. Essays like “Chained Migration” helped contextualize legacies of enslavement beyond Southern states. Often, folks in our community have proudly and incorrectly proclaimed, “Things like that didn’t happen here. People always lived in harmony here.” But that narrative only exists because of the stories that have been buried.
The history of racial tensions and systemic inequities that are a part of our national narrative are certainly relevant in Eastern Kentucky, too—and there are real people, places, and events documented through Black journalism and primary sources to prove that. Through community journalism research, we were able to unearth those primary sources to help tell the full story of Black Appalachians in our area from 1800 to present day.
Energizing and Empowering the Community
It was important to us that the youth be a part of this community research. Including them in this way helped connect our students to their own community. They weren’t just learning about history—they were actively documenting it. They conducted interviews, curated exhibits, and engaged in storytelling workshops where they reimagined historical narratives through their own voices.
This hands-on, student-led approach empowered them to see themselves as keepers and shapers of history. One high school junior shared how learning about the struggles and resilience of elders in her own community made her see her town in a completely new light. For her—and many others—history shifted from being something distant and impersonal to something alive and deeply relevant.
There were many energizing moments during the interviews with Black elders. Their willingness to share deeply personal stories, from childhood experiences of segregation to the vibrant cultural traditions of their communities, took the project to an entirely new level. I was surprised by how eager elder community members were to participate. Many elders expressed a deep gratitude for the opportunity to share their stories with the youth, recognizing this as a chance to preserve their legacy and inspire the next generation.
This project was profoundly empowering for students, for the Black elders engaged, and for our broader community. Students took ownership of their education and engaged with history on their own terms. The elders had a chance to share their legacies and see their contributions validated and celebrated. For the broader community, the Affrilachia Project was a reminder of the rich and complex narratives that have shaped Appalachia—a counterpoint to the often one-dimensional portrayals of the region.
We saw a tangible shift in the way people engaged with the legacies of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans in our community. Participants—both youth and adults—heard stories of local Black heroes and successes as well as the struggles they faced due to systemic racism.
With The 1619 Project resources, they were able to contextualize local happenings alongside national narratives on slavery, Jim Crow policies, reconstruction, etc. in a creative way. The culminating exhibit, which combined student projects with excerpts from the oral histories, became a community-wide event that sparked conversations across generations and racial lines. Visitors shared how the exhibit challenged their assumptions and deepened their understanding of local history.
Cultivating a Safe and Meaningful Environment
Creating a safe and meaningful environment for this community conversation was central to our work. We approached the subject matter with sensitivity, acknowledging the trauma and complexity of discussing slavery, systemic racism, and inequity. We prepared our students with workshops on empathy, cultural humility, and active listening before they conducted interviews. For the elders, we provided spaces where they felt comfortable and respected, ensuring that they were full partners in shaping how their stories were told.
This developmental appropriateness extended into our creative process. We encouraged students to interpret their learning through multiple mediums—art, poetry, and digital storytelling—offering different avenues for engagement that met them where they were. The result was a multifaceted, student-driven project that honored both the content and the audience.
Learning and Addressing Challenges
As with any ambitious project, we faced challenges. Logistically, coordinating interviews and ensuring that students and elders had access to necessary resources demanded flexibility and patience. Budget constraints required creative problem-solving. But the biggest challenge was navigating the emotional weight of the stories being shared. These weren’t easy topics—systemic racism, segregation, and cultural erasure—but we found that addressing them with honesty and compassion created a foundation for trust and growth.
For educators and arts leaders looking to implement similar projects, my advice is to start with relationships. Build partnerships with community organizations, like we did with the DuBois Community Center and Montgomery County Public Schools’ Black & Hispanic Achievers program. Engage community members early and listen to their needs and concerns. Equip students with the tools to engage meaningfully, and allow them the creative freedom to make the project their own. Most importantly, approach the work with humility and a willingness to adapt.
Looking Ahead
If I could change one thing for the future, it would be to allocate more time and resources for continued impact. The project sparked so much energy and interest that it feels like only the beginning of what’s possible in our local community. We’d like to expand the oral history archive, perhaps creating a permanent digital resource for our community. We also hope to deepen our partnerships with local schools to integrate this work into their curricula.
In the end, the greatest value of the Affrilachia Project was its ability to create connections—between generations, between communities, and between history and the present. It showed us the power of storytelling to heal, inspire, and transform. As we continue this work, we remain committed to amplifying underrepresented voices and ensuring that all members of our community see themselves reflected in the story of Appalachia.
