This book begins with a 31-page ethnography of Junaluska, an African-American neighborhood in Boone, North Carolina, by the author who is Professor-Emeritus in anthropology at Appalachian State University in Boone, and the author or editor of four previous very well-regarded books. The heart of the book, however, is 35 edited oral history interviews, called “life history narratives.” They are divided pretty evenly into five groups covering people born in different eras from 1885-1909 all the way to people born from 1960 to 1993. These interviews took place over the past three decades. This work really gives an in-depth view not just of one neighborhood, but of the African-American experience in Appalachia.
Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Publishers, 2020. 235 pages with photos and an Index. 7” X 10” trade paperback