Affrilachia

Region of Appalachia

Frank X Walker

Affrilachia is a term that focuses on the cultural contributions of African American artists, writers, and musicians in the Appalachian region of the United States.^[1] The term "Affrilachia" is attributed to Kentucky-based writer Frank X Walker, who began using it in the 1990s as a way to negate the stereotype of Appalachian culture,^[1][2] which portrays Appalachians as predominantly white and living in small mountain communities.^[3] Walker is also the man who jump started Affrilachia, and could be said to have made this word global.^[4] The term Affrilachian stands for an African American who is a native or is a resides in the Appalachian region.^[5] Affrilachia is also the title of Walker's 2000 book of poetry, published by Old Cove Press.^[6]

Frank X Walker co-founded and in 2009, created The Affrilachian Journal of Arts and Culture.^[7] Frank X Walker is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, currently serves as an associate professor in the UK Department of English.^[8] Walker’s partnership with the University of Kentucky allowed him to also create and teach an educational program on African-American and Africana studies, which further contributed to and raised awareness of Affrilachian art, culture, and history.^[9] The word "Affrilachia" is included in the second edition of the Oxford American Dictionary.^[10]

In 2011, Marie T. Cochran created the Affrilachian Artist Project with the goal of building a sustainable collaborative network among the region’s artists and community organizers.^[2] Today, the project has over 2,000 members and has organized several Affrilachian-themed art exhibitions.

Members[]

The Appalachian region has more than thirty prominent art community members. This includes writers, musicians, and artists who identify as Affrilachian, including: Frank X Walker, Nikky Finney, Kelly Norman Ellis, Mitchell L. H. Douglas, Crystal Wilkinson, Bianca Spriggs, Parneshia Jones, and Ellen Hagan.^[11] As of March 2021, 3,028 people currently follow the Affrilachian Artist Project's Facebook page.^[2]

Culture[]

Literature[]

Frank X Walker has made the books Issac Murphy: I Dedicate This Ride, which is a poem about Issac Murphy. He made the book Masked Man, Black pandemic and protest poems which he uses to insert a conscience into the tumultuous cacophony that is social media.^[12] He also made Black Box Poems in the year 2006, and Affrilachia Poems in the year 2000.

Crystal Wilkinson is the author of the books: The Birds of Opulence (2016), Water Street (2011), Blackberries, Blackberries (2000), and Perfect Black that is expected to be published in August of 2021.^[13]

In 2018, Affrilachia celebrated 25 years since the term was created in the book, Black Bone: 25 Years of the Affrilachian Poets edited by Bianca Lynn Spriggs and Jeremy Paden, published by The University Press of Kentucky.^[14] This book had contributions from Frank X Walker himself along with other prominent members of the Affrilachian community.^[14]

Music[]

Very little people are aware of the impact Black Appalachians, or Affrilachians, have on changing this regions style of music. No music has been more influential in the Appalachian region than the music that is made surrounding the banjo. A banjo is a 5 stringed instrument, 4 of the strings are for melody and 1 drum string. There is a style of playing the banjo called the "clawhammer" which is more common in the Appalachian region. The "clawhammer" is a technique used when all of the fingers are down stroking^[15].The banjo is considered an Appalachian icon when it comes to music. West African enslaved musicians had brought over many musical instruments including the banjo to the New World ^[16]

Cuisine[]

Affrilachian food and cuisine has slight variations from region to region, just like the rest of Appalachian culture. Some of the stables across Affrilachian cuisine are the practices of preserving produce through pickling, fermenting, and canning as well as drying out other crops such as beans and corn.^[17] Many of the food that is eaten is the different Appalachian regions are the crops that families could grow themselves or trade for at local markets. Another Affrilachian stable is the style of pan-frying many different dishes using butter as opposed to neutral oils. Rufus Estes has differentiated his fried chicken from many others using the "pan-fried in butter" method.

Malinda Russell's Cookbook

Malinda Russel has been coined as an influential member of Affrilachia because of the cookbook The Domestic Cookbook: Containing a Careful Selection of Useful Receipts for the Kitchen that she published and her "Washington Cake" that gained fame from its combination of citrus and spiced flavors.^[18]

References[]

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