In 2017, Black in Appalachia began documenting African American life and history in Lawrence & Gallia Counties, with a particular focus on the region's Emancipation Proclamation celebrations. Those events in Gallia County, Ohio hold the distinction of being the oldest continually celebrated Emancipation Day gatherings in the United States, begun on September 22, 1863.

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Once we arrived in the region and began talking with residents, we quickly understood the vast and impressive narratives associated with Black life from the early 1800's until today. The unique confluence of Free Black communities, large numbers of United States Colored Troops during the Civil War, as well as the strong economic, intellectual, cultural and social infrastructures have helped to cultivate a massive network of communities of Color with ripples beyond it's geographic footprint. These communities were coal and lumber camps, iron forges, underground railroad stops, bastions against slave-catching paddy-rollers, agricultural operations and hubs for intellectual and religious thought.

These stories of Appalachian Ohio do not need our assistance in researching, uncovering and preservation. They know, teach and maintain their own spaces and family histories.