Feb. 20, 2014
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — In commemoration of Black History Month, a new photograph exhibit entitled “Fabric of Our Community: A Glimpse at African-American West Virginians” has been unveiled at the Culture Center. From the collections of the West Virginia State Archives, it features 51 photographs of life in communities across West Virginia. The photographs will be on display through April 30.
Primarily from the first half of the twentieth century, these images feature school, church, and social activities as well as workers and artists. The photographs were taken in communities throughout West Virginia, including Charleston, Huntington, Wheeling, Harpers Ferry, and Scotts Run. Other images show Camp Washington-Carver, which served as a 4-H and agricultural extension camp for West Virginia’s African Americans, and the construction of the Hawks Nest Tunnel. A few of the photos are of prominent West Virginians, such as Carter G. Woodson, who lived in Huntington and is known as the “Father of Black History,” and Dr. Mildred Mitchell Bateman, the first African American woman to be named to a high-ranking office in West Virginia state government. Ed Hicks, photo archivist for Archives and History, selected the photographs for this display.
For more information about the exhibit, please contact Caryn Gresham, deputy commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History at (304) 558-0220 or by emailing her at caryn.s.gresham@wv.gov.
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History is an agency within the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts with Kay Goodwin, Cabinet Secretary. The division, led by Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith, brings together the past, present and future through programs and services focusing on archives and history, arts, historic preservation and museums. For more information about the division’s programs, events and sites, visit www.wvculture.org. The division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
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