Former West Virginia folklorist's new book highlights hidden parts of Appalachia

Nov. 26—FAIRMONT — A former West Virginia folklorist wants to challenge the common perception of folklore and Appalachian culture in her new book.

In her book, "Making Our Future: Visionary Folklore and Everyday Culture in Appalachia" published by The University of North Carolina Press, Emily Hilliard catalogs her experiences from 2015 to 2021. Some chapters focus on the 2018 teacher strike, specifically on the expressions West Virginia teachers used during the strike in their signs, chants and songs, the cultural significance of the West Virginia hot dog and independent pro-wrestling, which is an Appalachian storytelling tradition that has long roots in the state of West Virginia. Hilliard said her goal is to

"Folklore, which often gets labeled as being the untrue or trivial or the antiquated ways and in West Virginia, particularly, I think that gets coded as old timey ways of white folks in the mountains. I want to show, in all of my work, including the book that folklore is very much a part of contemporary life of every cultural community. So it's diverse and vibrant and it's living. It's always been shaped by communities that practice these traditions," Hilliard said.

Hilliard said she enjoyed her work in West Virginia because of the people she was able to meet. She started working on the book in 2019 and it was published Nov. 22.

One chapter focuses on Scott's Run, the multiracial coal camp community outside of Morgantown, amateur women songwriters who write not necessarily for public performance but as a private creative expression sometimes about their faith, family or the Union — in one case, the UMWA and Helvetia, the Swiss community in West Virginia.

"A lot of my work in West Virginia was talking to the tradition bearers and traditional artists around the state. ... You know, a neon sign-maker in St. Albans, gospel singers in Beckley and Logan and Foodways Practitioners all over the state. So yeah, it was doing a lot of field work across the mountain state," Hilliard said.

One of her favorite days of research was spent touring Milton, West Virginia, where short story writer Breece D'J Pancake grew up. Hilliard and her friends, Rick Wilson and Robert Jackson, who grew up in Milton and knew Pancake during childhood, toured sites around the city that were significant to Pancake's life of writing.

"We went to all these sites around Milton that inspired some of the scenes and locations in Breece Pancake's stories. ... We went to the spot where his childhood home had been, which is now a Wendy's and went to his grave ... and also the church where his friend, Robert Jackson, last saw him before he died. So that was a really interesting experience to kind of, you know, read Breece Pancake stories through the place that he was from," Hilliard said.

Hilliard currently works as the program director for folk and traditional art at Mid Atlantic Art, which covers the Mid-Atlantic Region, including West Virginia. She is 39 and lives in Berea, Kentucky, where she works remotely. She studied English and French at the University of Michigan. After college, she moved to Vermont, worked in sustainable agriculture with AmeriCorps and played in old-time and experimental bands.

She said she has always been interested in folklife, but she didn't realize how much she enjoyed it until living in Vermont and taking trips to the library.

"I always had an interest in folk music. My dad had a folk radio show, and played in a traditional music band when I was a kid. ... All of the books I was checking out from the library were about folklore, folk music, and I sort of discovered it was a field of study and a public art and humanities career path," Hilliard said.

She interned and worked at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and studied folklife, while she was applying to grad school for folklore. She attended the University of North Carolina to obtain her masters of fine arts in their folklore program.

Hilliard said she loved serving as West Virginia's folklorist and got a sense of satisfaction when she was able to offer someone a grant or apprenticeship.

The book is available online and in bookstores.

Hilliard will be doing several presentations about the book in bookstores and libraries across Appalachia. On Nov. 28, she will be reading at Taylor Books in Charleston and hosting a conversation with Barbara Allen Smith. Nov. 29, she will be in Wheeling at noon at the Ohio County Public Library. Later that evening, she will be in Pittsburgh at White Whale Bookstore. Nov. 30, she will be at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Dec. 1, she will be at WordPlay bookstore in Wardensville, West Virginia. On Dec. 3, she is having a dinner and release party with Chef Leah Gore, who's is a local chef from Milton, West Virginia.

To purchase a copy or for more information on "Making Our Future: Visionary Folklore and Everyday Culture in Appalachia," visit University of North Carolina Press website.

Reach me at sshriver@timeswv.com or 304-367-2549.