A Presidential Medal for YOU

At the end of October, our Executive Director, Tiffany Sturdivant, traveled to Washington, DC, to accept our 2022 National Humanities Medal from President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden. We are so incredibly grateful for this honor, especially as one of only 19 recipients and only 2 organizations. Tiffany was accompanied by our Radical Hospitality Coordinator, Tommy Anderson, who has been around the shop since they were 12 years old. Tiffany also invited former Executive Director Alex Gibson, who was grateful for the invite but was unable to attend. 

After years of generational transition, a pandemic, and a flood, we are so proud to accept this award on behalf of everyone who has ever had a hand in creating this 55-year old organization. This is for you! To celebrate, here are some exciting updates from our team.

Growing Our Community Archive

In addition to cataloging restored items returning since the flood, our archive team has been performing intake on new items as well. In fact, our Community Archive Coordinator, Joshua Outsey, is building a new collection around Black Appalachian churches. 

On October 13, Outsey stopped by Chestnut Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Norton, Virginia, as they celebrated their 108th anniversary. (Listen to audio from the event.) The church was formed in 1916 and still knows how to have a great time. At the event, which had a theme of “It’s a Family Affair,” Guest Pastor Reverend Thomas Sweat of Lynch, Kentucky, spoke. Reverend Sweat was accompanied by the Greater Mount Sinai Spirituals and members of Greater Mount Sinai Baptist Church in Lynch, Kentucky, where Reverend Ronnie Hampton is the pastor. Other visiting churches in attendance were Macedonia Baptist Church in Appalachia, Virginia, under the leadership of Elder Carolyn Smith, and Williams Chapel AME Zion Church in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, led by Reverend Sandra L. Jones. Local pastor Reverend Solomon Jones was also a part of the celebration. 

The current pastor of Chestnut Grove is Leroy Cain. (Check out this interview with Pastor Leroy Cain from 2022.) Cain happens to be the grandson of legendary OC Cain (lovingly called Preacher Cain) who was a former pastor of Chestnut Grove and at least three other churches in Southwest Virginia. OC Cain was also a founding member of the Clinch River Baptist Association.

Outsey notes, “Black churches are central to our communities and cultures here in Appalachia. Some of these churches even predate the Civil War. Through digitally recorded oral histories, photographs and moving images, my goal is to tell their stories—including those of the Black coal miner—and through those stories bring more visibility to Black Appalachian history.”

Listen to this Mountain Talk episode for a taste of Outsey's work. And stay tuned for more from Outsey, as his new podcast, Intersections of Faith and Freedom, will release next month!