In libraries, churches and living rooms across the tri-state region, Ohio University Southern has been gathering the stories of African Americans whose place in local history has too often gone unrecognized.
Through a documentary called “Telling Our Story – The African American Experience,” faculty and students are documenting the lives, experiences and achievements of African Americans across the Ohio River corridor of Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. Working alongside residents, historians and community partners, they are collecting oral histories that trace the region’s African American story from its roots in the Underground Railroad through the era of segregation and integration. The project is part of the broader Appalachian Freedom Heritage Tourism Initiative.
“The Ohio River and the hills that surround it hold a lot of stories that, instead of being written down, were passed on by word of mouth,” said Ernie Hall, adjunct professor of electronic media, who is leading the documentary. “We want to make sure we get these recorded.”
The documentary brings together voices from across the region. Among them is Bernice Henry, a graduate of Paul G. Blazer High School and a longtime Ashland community leader whose decades of service stretch from the city commission to the local NAACP, and who lived through segregation and integration firsthand.
Other featured voices include Lewis D. Nicholls, a retired Greenup County judge and local historian, and Darrell Smith, co-founder of the C.B. Nuckolls Community Center and Black History Museum in Ashland. Historians Dr. Andrew Feight of Shawnee State University and Dr. Cicero M. Fain III of Marshall University, author of “Black Huntington: An Appalachian Story,” also lend their expertise.
The project began with research. Students from a range of disciplines fanned out across the region, traveling from Portsmouth, Ohio, to Huntington, West Virginia, visiting library after library to gather documents and track down records. What they found, again and again, was how little had been preserved.
“As a history major, I get to do my field, not just learn about it but actually do it,” said Lane Hutchinson. “There were schools built specifically for Black students that were later torn down. Learning about what those communities had and what they went through has been the most interesting part for me.”
For social work major Natalie Pratt, the research changed how she understood her own education.
“The most shocking thing I learned is how little we’re taught,” she said. “This is a part of history I had never learned in my whole life. The more I researched it myself, the more I realized how much we don’t know.”
Pratt said the work also speaks to her future career.
“To help people as a social worker, I need to understand their past,” she said.
Bringing the story to the screen
Once the research took shape, the work moved into the field and the editing room. Hall, who is directing, filming and editing the documentary, brought electronic media students along to handle camera work and production, giving them a firsthand look at what it takes to capture a story on location.
Peter Haugen, an electronic media student who handled much of the filming, said the project taught him as much about people as about production.
“It takes a lot of thinking and planning to get just one shot,” Haugen said. “But the bigger thing I learned is that you’re not there for yourself, you’re there for them. You can tell a story and still keep someone’s dignity.”
Hall said that kind of growth is the point. Students gain hands-on experience conducting research, interviewing community members and producing multimedia content for a project with lasting value
“When my students leave here, they can say, ‘I worked on this,’” he said.
The documentary is one piece of the Appalachian Freedom Heritage Tourism Initiative, a nine-county effort to identify, mark and share the sites where the region’s African American history unfolded. The initiative is supported by a $1.5 million POWER grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission, awarded to the Lawrence County Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Lawrence Economic Development Corporation, and it brings together nearly 20 partners across Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia.
Across the region, the initiative is marking Underground Railroad sites with custom markers and digital archives. Among the first were the former Campbell House and Quinn Chapel AME Church in Ironton, both recognized by the National Park Service’s Network to Freedom, with more than two dozen sites planned.
“This initiative is about more than plaques,” said Marty Conley, a 2019 OHIO Southern graduate and director of the Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce and Tourism, who leads the effort. “It’s about honoring the people who stood on the side of justice, preserving their legacy and making sure future generations know the truth about what happened in our communities.”
For Robert Pleasant, OHIO Southern’s director of student services, who helped bring the documentary to campus, the project shows what the university does best.
“This project is about partnering with our communities to make sure these stories are not lost and that future generations can learn from the people and experiences that helped shape our region,” Pleasant said.
Organizers see the documentary as the first installment in a longer series, with future projects under discussion on the region’s Native American history, women’s history and industry. The film is expected to premiere later this year, with details to be announced.
For Hall, recording these accounts is as much about timing as history
“Segregation was only 60 years ago. We still have people alive today who could not use the same swimming pool or drink from the same water fountain,” he said. “Human memory is short, and it’s important that we document this while we can.”
