Memphis Tennessee Garrison: The Remarkable Story of a Black Appalachian Woman

In 1968, when Appalachian school teacher and union organizer Memphis Tennessee Garrison was 78 years old, she recounted her life story reaching back to a time when members of her family were slaves, up through the years when U.S. Steel ran the county (including its schools) and into the ""civil rights struggle."" Anecdotally rich, Memphis Tennessee Garrison: The Remarkable Story of a Black Appalachian Woman fills the gap in historical accounts of mining, ""which have largely ignored black miners,"" according to editors Ancella R. Bickley and Lynda Ann Ewen. Of particular interest is her work in the NAACP and her recollections of its less-remembered cultural mission in the black community organizing the Negro Artists Series as well as its political one. Historical afterword by Joe W. Trotter. Photos. ( Aug. 15)