Country Roads
From March/April 2008 Issue
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Theresa Burriss, assistant professor of English and Appalachian Studies at Radford University in Radford, Va., is interviewing women who are having an impact on their communities and in the region, with the eventual goal of a book. In her words:

“‘Women of Change, Women of Courage: Appalachian Activists’ is a book-length project comprised of oral histories, or ‘herstories,’ I am gathering from women of the central Appalachian region, namely, southwest Virginia, southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, northeast Tennessee and western North Carolina. Though I was born and raised in East Tennessee, I had to move away from the area for many years to appreciate the rich culture of my home.

“It would take another half-decade before I actually embraced my heritage and a half-decade more before I devoted my life’s work to celebrating Appalachia and attempting to dispel the negative stereotypes plaguing the region. As I devote time and energy heralding the strength of so many Appalachian women activists, I do celebrate these role models as ones to emulate no matter where readers may call home.

“Truly, throughout Appalachian history, women have taken an active role in changing or eliminating the myriad oppressive structures under which Appalachians have been placed by outsiders. Some of these women were born and raised in the mountains, while others moved to the region from other areas or have direct ancestral ties to the land as a result of out-migration. Regardless, Appalachian women activists are abundant and have been for well over a hundred years. Unfortunately, these women rarely enjoy the attention or credit they deserve. With this book I hope to remedy the deficiency.”

Meredith Dean

Meredith Dean

Meredith Dean lives in southwest Virginia, near her family’s homeplace of eight generations and is the founding director of the Appalachian Women’s Alliance. “The reason I first started doing this work is because I felt a spiritual calling to work for social justice here on earth. My heritage and early work led me to focus on Appalachia, community and women’s experience.”

Elaine Dowe Carter

Elaine Dowe Carter
As the director of the Christiansburg Institute, Elaine Dowe Carter has come full circle in life. In 1944 at the age of 10, Dowe entered the institute and enjoyed the benefits of a solid educational foundation established by Booker T. Washington and promulgated by the Quakers. Due to the laws of segregation at the time, black children often did not have access to a secondary education. The school defied this deprivation and bused in children who lived as far as 30 miles away.

“The work I am doing stems from a deeply held respect for my African American heritage. [It] is my conviction that nations and societies can destroy those citizens who either deny or are consciously and unconsciously deprived of the opportunity to know their past, be it good or bad.”

Frances Emerson

Frances Emerson

Frances Alison Emerson, director of the department of Museums for Wytheville, Va., created her position in 1994 when she became aware of a great need to share the history and artifacts of the Haller-Gibboney Rock House Museum. Because the museum remained closed except for occasional Sundays in the summers, not only were the myriad tourists who passed through the town deprived of this cultural experience, so were the residents and children of the area. Eighteen years later, Emerson has expanded the museums to include the Thomas J. Boyd Museum and Children’s Discovery Center, as well as the Heritage Preservation Center. Educational outreach has remained central to her mission.

"I want [the children] to look around them and say, ‘This is really a wonderful area. My heritage is very rich. There’s a lot we can contribute, and there’s a lot that this area has contributed.’”

Elizabeth McCommon

Elizabeth McCommon

Named three times Best Leading Actress of the Atlanta theater season by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Elizabeth McCommon is author of “The Ballad of the New River” and publisher of two albums of original songs that speak to her concern about the deteriorating quality of the environment, especially our water. In addition to her songwriting, she has authored or co-authored several scripts, including “Web Six” for an ensemble of women artists who toured regionally in central Appalachia and were aired on Blue Ridge Public Television. During her years as a social worker, she devoted her time, energy and talents to Substance Abuse Services of the New River Valley. McCommon is a writer, teacher, mother and grandmother living in Blacksburg, Va. When asked to explain her outlook on life, McCommon notes:

“‘Fall Forward, Spring Back’ is not only the title of my one-woman-show, but is also an admonition to never quit, to pick yourself up and go on when life knocks you down. Wisdom from Elizabeth McCommon’s book of life.”




Grace Toney Edwards

Grace Edwards

Grace Toney Edwards, born and raised in the Central Appalachian town of Sunshine, NC, made her way to Radford University in 1980. At the time, no Appalachian Studies program or center existed, but this all changed in 1981 when RU initiated its minor in Appalachian Studies. Though other professors such as Melinda Wagner and Bill Hrezo were involved in the planning before Edwards arrived, she became a key player in the program’s evolution and the subsequent creation of the Appalachian Regional Studies Center (ARSC) in 1994. Since the ARSC’s inception, Edwards has served as its director, growing the center’s mission and expanding its educational outreach. The Appalachian Arts and Studies in the Schools (AASIS) program serve as one of her outstanding achievements in this regard. Not only do the RU undergraduate and graduate mentors of the program serve as role models and guides to high school students in the region who are college-able but not necessarily college-bound, they promote the rich heritage of the Appalachian region, thus fostering cultural pride in the AASIS scholars. Edwards’ colleagues and peers in the Appalachian Studies Association recognized her contributions in a formal acknowledgement when she won the Award for Outstanding Dedication and Service to the Appalachian Studies Association in 1999. When reflecting on women’s efforts to celebrate Appalachia, Edwards remarks:

“Changes that have occurred have so often happened because of women… I think our voices have been really much more in the public forum than maybe we’ve been given credit for in history.”

Click here to read Edwards’ “The Mountains: My Hopes” column in the January/February 2007 issue of Blue Ridge Country.