Tales Of Koehler Hollow

Tales of Koehler Hollow tells the story of Amy Finney and her descendants. Amy, a formerly enslaved Black woman, gained her freedom and established a homestead in the Appalachian mountains during a time in American history when she was dehumanized for the color of her skin and devalued for being female. Naomi Hodge-Muse, working with Christopher A. Brooks, recounts stories from her family history, starting with her great-great-grandmother, Amy, through her parents, aunts, uncles, and siblings and their rural life. Their family story represents a microcosm of the African American experience in southern Virginia from the mid-19th century to the present - along with the complications, joys, tragedies, and sorrows that surrounded them.

At once funny, wistful and unsettling, Sum is a dazzling exploration of unexpected afterlives—each presented as a vignette that offers a stunning lens through which to see ourselves in the here and now. In one afterlife, you may find that God is the size of a microbe and unaware of your existence. In another version, you work as a background character in other people’s dreams. Or you may find that God is a married couple, or that the universe is running backward, or that you are forced to live out your afterlife with annoying versions of who you could have been. With a probing imagination and deep understanding of the human condition, acclaimed neuroscientist David Eagleman offers wonderfully imagined tales that shine a brilliant light on the here and now.

Now available in ebook format--one of the important books that marked the beginning of the ongoing conversation about slavery and our nation's history. From the sixth great-grandson of Thomas Jefferson and enslaved woman Sally Hemmings comes an anthology of Jefferson's living descendants. Told in the style of a family photo album—with a combination of photographs and interviews—Jefferson’s Children is the riveting story of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemming’s sixth great-grandson, Shannon Lanier’s, travels across the country to meet his relatives from both sides of the family. The profiles contained chart the multiple perspectives of Jefferson’s and Hemming’s descendants, from those who embrace their heritage to those who want nothing to do with Jefferson’s legacy. A fascinating picture soon emerges, one that begins with a pairing of two individuals with vastly disparate levels of power—on the one side, the third president of the United States and the author of the Declaration of Independence; on the other, the woman who was his property—and that ultimately represents America’s complicated history with issues of diversity and race and the unusual ways in which we define family. An ALA Best Book for Young Adults “The portraits that emerge are as generous and jumbled as America itself.” —The New York Times “A book about American history, racial identity and the bonds of family that will help young people navigate these difficult areas.” —Black Issues Book Review

Vivid storytelling brings American history to life and place readers in the shoes of people who experienced one of the most notorious moments in American history - the Salem Witch Trials. In the spring of 1692, girls in Salem, Massachusetts, accused several local women of witchcraft. The events that followed were marked by mass hysteria and religious extremism and ultimately led to trials, convictions, executions, and many more accusals. Suspenseful, dramatic events unfold in chronological, interwoven stories from the different perspectives of people who experienced the event while it was happening. Narratives intertwine to create a breathless, What's Next? kind of read. Students gain a new perspective on historical figures as they learn about real people struggling to decide how best to act in a given moment.

Union organizer and balladeer Ella May became a martyr for workers nationwide when she was murdered on her way to a union meeting in Gastonia, North Carolina, at age 28. A mother of nine and bookkeeper for the communist-led National Textile Workers Union, May worked to organize fellow mill workers in Gaston County. Her efforts to organize black workers--along with her brash, outspoken manner--incensed the local community and she was shot by an anti-union vigilante group on September 14, 1929. Written by her great-granddaughter, this book tells Ella May's story, including her involvement in the Loray Mill Strike, the largest communist-led strike on American soil. Her most famous ballad, "Mill Mother's Lament," reveals her motivation: "It is for our little children."

Old Wing Mission is a historical treasure of rare documents giving the account of Reverend George N. and Arvilla Smith in their work and social interactions with Native Americans at a Christian mission colony. / "On the American frontier natives and newcomers met in many places, but nowhere was the encounter more profound than at the Christian mission. Here missionaries sought not only to save Indian souls but to Americanize them. . . . As told through a remarkable set of original sources, the story of the Old Wing Mission reveals all the tensions and complexities when one culture seeks to change another. Old Wing Mission offers readers an opportunity to hear voices on both sides of the cultural divide. . . . Deserves a wide and appreciative audience." James P. Ronda, University of Tulsa / "Meticulous. . . . The Smith diaries recount the trials of frontier missionaries. . . . Academicians, Christian scholars, and readers who love history will all benefit from this high-quality work." James M. McClurken, Michigan State University

“The most comprehensive and comprehendible history of the West Virginia Coal War I’ve ever read.” —John Sayles, writer and director of Matewan On September 1, 1912, the largest, most protracted, and deadliest working-class uprising in American history was waged in West Virginia. On one side were powerful corporations whose millions bought armed guards and political influence. On the other side were fifty thousand mine workers, the nation’s largest labor union, and the legendary “miners’ angel,” Mother Jones. The fight for unionization and civil rights sparked a political crisis that verged on civil war, stretching from the creeks and hollows of the Appalachians to the US Senate. Attempts to unionize were met with stiff resistance. Fundamental rights were bent—then broken. The violence evolved from bloody skirmishes to open armed conflict, as an army of more than fifty thousand miners finally marched to an explosive showdown. Extensively researched and vividly told, this definitive book about an often-overlooked chapter of American history, “gives this backwoods struggle between capital and labor the due it deserves. [Green] tells a dark, often despairing story from a century ago that rings true today” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).

Much of the literature about northeastern New Mexico depicts range wars, bandits, labor union strife, and Indian depredations. This collection of twelve modern folktales describes events that never made headlines and people who never had a building named after them, evoking the rich tradition of storytelling that flowed through the coal camps and ranches of the Raton region during the early twentieth century. The tales in this collection are about everyday life with some fantastic elements. An African American mother and daughter confront a German prisoner of war in one story, while in another a coal miner?s gift for braying leads to a war between coal camps. Here are chronicles of a Mexican barber who extracts a ghoulish revenge for being forced to shave the beard of a killer; of the terrible fate that awaits boys who are lured into a dancehall during the Lenten season by the Devil and his beautiful cowgirls; and of an old coal miner who attempts to control his young wife by pretending to be the voice of the Lord. In other stories a lion who is accidentally caught and caged teaches a coal miner a lesson; two crusty cowboys come to understand the purpose of gnats and tumbleweeds and why rattlesnakes have rattles; and the Angel of Death is told to collect Hispanic souls or else. The account of a rootin?-tootin? cowboy and his wife who use a pitch-baby to trap a pesky jack rabbit and a fish story round out this multiethnic collection of tales. Recounted in a lively, humorous style, the stories show how ordinary people managed to conduct dignified and happy lives?with occasional help from the spirit world?in a difficult social and physical environment.