Tales of Koehler Hollow: An African American Family in Rural Appalachia
October 28, 2024
Meet VCU Authors: Christopher Brooks
Start time: 12:00 p.m.
End time: 1:00 p.m
Location: Virtual
Description
Tales of Koehler Hollow tells the story of Amy Finney and her descendants. Amy, a formerly enslaved Black woman, gained her freedom and established a homestead in the Appalachian mountains during a time in American history when she was dehumanized for the color of her skin and devalued for being female. Naomi Hodge-Muse, working with Christopher A. Brooks, recounts stories from her family history, starting with her great-great-grandmother, Amy, through her parents, aunts, uncles, and siblings and their rural life. Their family story represents a microcosm of the African American experience in southern Virginia from the mid-19th century to the present - along with the complications, joys, tragedies, and sorrows that surrounded them.
At the core of Tales of Koehler Hollow (pronounced “holler,” or “holla”) is the family matriarch Amy Finney (1850 – 1936), a formerly enslaved woman in southwest Virginia (modern-day Henry County). In 1890, Amy purchased land about one mile from the main house in which she had once worked in bondage, thus founding a family legacy that continues to this day. This area outside of Martinsville, Virginia, would come to be known as Koehler, and the valley where Amy’s property is, became known as “Koehler Hollow.”
Amy’s great-great-granddaughter, Naomi Hodge-Muse is the current owner of the Koehler Hollow homestead and its surrounding land, In this book, Naomi recounts family lore from Amy’s time as a child to the present—from Reconstruction and the early years of emancipation through the Depression, the 1950s and turbulent 1960s and 70s. This provides the reader with a rare glimpse of life in black Appalachia over the last 150 years. Through the narratives, the characters come alive. We see Amy’s son, George Finney (known as “Poppa”) and his wife, Rosa (“Momma Rosie”) build a stable and sustainable life in the holler for their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. This is a story of an American family in a southern “holler.” The chapters are revealing, sometimes sad, occasionally hilarious, but always engaging and reflective.
“Bringing the story of the once enslaved Amy Finney and her family to a larger readership has been a very rewarding experience," stated Christopher Brooks. "It is my mission to tell the sometimes overlooked complexity of the African-derived experience, and this book is an important next step in that mission. I am grateful to Naomi for sharing her family’s story."
About the Author
Christopher A. Brooks, PhD, is Professor of Anthropology at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. He has produced numerous publications focusing on the African continental and Diasporan experience. He is the general editor of the 1,600-page reference work, The African American Almanac 11th Edition (Cengage/Gale, with a forward by NAACP President and CEO, Benjamin Jealous, February 2011). Brooks wrote several major chapters for the volume including “Africa and the African Diaspora,” “Blues and Jazz,” and “African Americans in the Military.” He is a contributor to the Encyclopedia of African American Culture (Greenwood Press, 2010) where he wrote the chapter, “HIV and the African American Church.” His other publications include chapters in the African and African-American Religions and Religion and War volumes in the Religion and Society Series published by Routledge (2001 and 2003 respectively). He has a chapter celebrating the centennial of W.E.B. Dubois’ landmark publication, The Souls of Black Folk 100 Years Later, entitled “The Souls of Black Folk: Can a Double-Consciousness Be Heard?” (University of Missouri Press 2003), where he examined the prophetic statement DuBois made about the crucial issue of the 20th century being the race question.
As an internationally-recognized biographer, Christopher Brooks has produced several book-length manuscripts including I Never Walked Alone: The Autobiography of an American Singer (with the late Shirley Verrett, John Wiley 2003 now available in Kindle version, 2011); Follow Your Heart: Moving with the Giants of Jazz, Swing and Rhythm and Blues (with the late Joe Evans, University of Illinois Press 2008; second paperback edition, February 2011), and Dangerous Intimacy: Ten African American Men with HIV (with Christopher Coleman, Linus Publications, June 2009).
His books have been reviewed in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Chicago Tribune, Opera Quarterly, Book Reporter, Opera News, Ebony Magazine, Kirkus Book Reviews, Down Beat Magazine, Jazz UK (British based), Richmond Times Dispatch, Black Issues Book Review, Publishers Weekly, La Scena Musicale Online (Italian based), The Sowetan (South African based), The Afro-American, The Chicago Crusader, and Style Magazine (Richmond based) among other publications.