their world is changing fast. they need to adapt, survive. >> we are going to go in. i want you to start at the bottom. >> there it is. now, i want you to -- >> upside down? >> there you go. >> bob marley said it best. stolen from africa, gentrified in harlem, american black folks

keep losing our connection to the places we come from. i am headed to central appalachia, a place many folks don't realize black folk still live, to hunt, eat, farm, and harmonize on the harmonica with the folks that fight to keep this place known as one of the homes of black folks. this is black appalachia. >> yeah. nice. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

>> when i say appalachia, you probably picture something like this, or this. harmful stereotypes of poor white folks. we will have to take those on another day. what you probably do not picture is this. a history of black folks here runs as deep as any other nonindigenous people. they are a critical part of appalachia. i am here to help tell their story, because it is in danger of disappearing forever. >> i'm watching the appalachian trail. >> there are mountains, there. those are some of the oldest mountains in the world. you see the swiss alps, they are so big. these are the grandmothers. >> crystal good is a sixth generation west virginia native, founder of appalachia's first all-black newspaper. she will show me around and introduce me to people and places at the core of black appalachia. >> a lot of these narratives

that paint and appalachian stereotype forget that not all appalachia is white people. folks like me, and black families, don't necessarily get into that narrative and that is why i am excited to be the docent of appalachia. >> is that an official title? >> i just made it up. this place tells one of the most amazing stories of the united states of america. >> i love this story. in 1859, john brown, a white radical abolitionist, led a raid on this armory, intended to free america's 4 million slaves. it is one of the many moments in american history where you wonder, what would've happened if that worked out? after two days of fighting and 14 deaths, the armory was surrounded by u.s. marines and he was caught, tried, and hung because, of course. >> people don't think of this

place as not only the place where the first shots of the civil war were fired. they don't think of it being the place where the civil rights movement started. >> for many people, the story of black appalachia begins and ends with john brown. a white dude. >> the significance of this place is dismissed. this is where the niagara movement had their first meeting in america and that is the foundation's of the naacp. this is just the entry point for black appalachian history, that is american history and going to go on a journey. >> all right. >> appalachia is not a place. it is a region. 13 states, 206,000 square miles and 26 million people. the 2.5 million black appalachian's are the largest minority group, here, disrupting that singular white

narrative that we often hear in the media. black appalachian's came here over generations, dating back to the conquistadors. they worked the coal mines and fought for labor rights alongside white appalachians. they won. they farm and hunted and all things considered, black folks found a pretty decent life. we know how capitalism works though. with the discovery of extractable coal, many mines shut down and people of all colors flowed out of the region. since 1950, west virginia lost nearly half of its black population. in some ways, the culture they created is barely hanging on. the first stop on the appalachian trail brings me here, in full camo, with a shotgun. stay tuned. if the history of the show teaches us anything, this does not go well.

>> this is chicken of the woods. smell that. >> marcus oglesby is a renaissance appalachian, actor, comedian, musician, and you can tell, this is not his first time outdoors. he is taking me to hunt squirrels. that is right, squirrel gravy. >> i want you to try a squirrel call. all right. just like that. close your hand. >> squirrels are like, what? clearly, i will keep working on my squirrel call. luckily, i am with marcus. he shows me there is food everywhere. >> you ever had these? it is one of the only indigenous fruits to the area. this is like, and avocado full

of sugar. >> okay. >> bon appctit. trust me. that's pretty good. right here, there is a cluster. >> if you live on land like this or have land available to you, you can kill some meat, eat some of these. sustain yourself. >> if you are removed and you don't have somebody to introduce you, you would never know. >> if you do not keep passing the skills down, the next generation doesn't -- >> it happened. there are fewer and fewer hunters. as you grow up doing these things, how can you be a bad person? you learn patience, sustainability, we should be hunting squirrels but we are eating fruit. >> let's get back to it. >> it goes without saying that not as many black folks spent their time hunting and forging as we used to.

a lot of it is because of access to land. we moved to urban centers where you cannot be a black person carrying around a gun, even if you are hunting. >> it is something you passed down. if you have been out in the woods. >> my dad was in mobile, alabama. >> there is a squirrel. 12:00. get ready to shoot. it's right there. right there. on the tree. >> i don't see him.

>> i understand how hunting works. there is still a stigma about going out there and killing stuff. >> a lot of people think it is nature and us. we are nature. we are predators. he's back. cover your ears. right on that tree. dead squirrel. >> did you see that? >> he is on the ground. >> a little tony montana, at the end. right in the walmart bag.

[ laughter ] >> we got one. >> back at the homestead is marcus's brother scott, and his kids. this is marcus's son. >> let's get our hands dirty. >> oh my god. >> now, you have to get the rest of that out. >> you shoot it, you clean it, or you stand next to dude who shoots it and you still clean it. >> i finger win in the hole. >> marcus's dad is the chef, a master of coalfield cuisine, where you make good with what you got. in this case, venison, biscuits, and that sweet squirrel gravy. before you start making fun of

appalachian people eating squirrels, this is not an everyday meal. squirrel is how they teach newbies to hunt, they are doing this for me. welcome to the family. >> there we go. nice. >> make sure you don't get buckshot. >> i think it passed. >> you have to have a lot of skills. >> necessity is a good teacher. >> there were no dear, and the whole thing, that my dad taught us how to hunt was squirrels and rabbits. >> what you feel like, generally, the rest of the country understand about west virginia? >> some people don't want to come here because they all think we are hillbilly and backwards and will come out with a straw hat and overalls and a double barrel shotgun. >> there is something around

the way that black people in west virginia have to survive, that we don't explore enough. a lot of times, what happens for us in west virginia is that even on the outside, black communities don't necessarily see us. these people, when they eat squirrel out of necessity, when people frown on these kinds of things, it is because they are willing to accept a narrative handed to them and not explore any further. you can either accept it or get to know somebody. >> united states of america is sponsored by ally. do it right. go to d.c. universe.com/milestone to learn how ally and d.c. are championing the next generation of black and diverse comic creators. you're pretty particular about keeping a healthy body.

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life is funny. sometimes, you end up in places you would not expect and then go back. tucked into the mountains of eastern kentucky, this is one of those places. you may recognize it from shows. back in 2016, young, gifted, and black. what brought me back is this. >> i love to rattle off the fact that you take appalachia as a geopolitical space, some of the most well-known black people in american history have their roots in appalachia. the most famous black men, booker t. washington. he was a coal miner. you have heard of the legend of john

henry. bessie smith, the empress of the blues. >> dr. bill turner is the truth. he wrote the book, the books, on black appalachia. his latest book, "harlem renaissance" details his life. >> well, this story, back in the day, the street would be filled. so, we used to say our little town was the blackest town for mountains around. when i was a child, the baseball leagues used to come here, otis redding. >> people outside wouldn't think of it as cosmopolitan but it must have felt that way. >> pretty much. there were people with all kinds of names. it was a rich mixture of the black south

meeting the appalachian white south in this place, right here. a very unique town. this town was owned by the largest company in the united states, at the time. united states steel. the money was in coal, and our parents were part of that labor movement. >> in the 1920s and taken back 30s, the coal industry in central appalachia employed 150,000 people. despite how it is portrayed, 1 in 5 coal miners were black. lynch had a population of over 10,000 people. in 2019, 533. there are still folks here to tell their story. >> i worked in a coal mine for 13 years. my dad did not work in the mines, but when they started letting women be coal miners, there was an opportunity.

>> trina smith thomas is a former coalminer. claire clemens is a teacher. you artie know crystal and dr. turner. >> when you said they started to hire women. >> they were not hiring women. women didn't work in coal mines. >> you can't argue with science like that. >> what was it like being among the first women to work the coal mine? >> well, some tried to get you to quit. i'm a strong woman. >> i imagine there is talk about physically you could not do the work. it's like, shoveling up on the bell. >> that's why i have these guns, right here. >> i was going to say something. was it hard on you?

>> honey, yes. lord have mercy. i have aches and pains today, you know? your back is like, this, all night long. >> i have been right there. i have been right there. i am proud to be a coalminer. especially a block coalminer. it ain't in between. >> we have been here forever. you know the song that says, if a tree falls in the woods, and there is nobody there to hear it, did it make a sound? since a lot of people did not see us, they did not know that we were here. >> when i look around, as you can see, there is a crane down there, taking down a house. this is what happens when a

company abandons the town. >> back in the day, right, when you had five kids, when you graduate, you get a bus ticket, because they can see the economic change coming. >> the young people, they get out of here and don't come back. what would you say to the people here now? what do you want for them? >> do we have any? i don't know. it's sad. >> for decades, this was a place where black folks could come and get a pretty fair shake , a good education, equal pay. a chance to build a life. the sons and daughters of this place have spread from one entry of the country to the other. doctors, lawyers, educators, professional athletes. we owe them more than to be forgotten. we owe it to them.

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this is cnn. >> the whole thing about food, first of all, is who you are cooking with an cooking for. i teach, and one of the things i say to my students is not what you are writing, it is why.

cooking is the same thing. >> please welcome to the show, nikki giovanni, a living legend, born in knoxville, tennessee. a poet, writer, activist, and educator. she has been called the poet of the black revolution. no biggie. she is also a fantastic cook. we have the whole garden. >> i am a southern cook. you eat and cook with what you have. >> i am her sous chef as she cooks up chitlins and pigs feet. >> i ate pigs feet and i love chitlins. >> for the record, what are chitlins? >> the intestines. you see what we are doing is just cleaning. just taking the fat off it. >> how long have you been cooking chitlins? >> when i was tall enough to stand. in those days --

>> you couldn't afford to waste. these foods are foundational to southern cooking if you know what to do with them. trust, nikki knows what to do with them. not only is it part of the pig that most people don't eat, it is a lot of work to get to. >> everything that is good is a lot of work. >> you're doing the thing you do. >> you just kind of stand there. look like the blues. so, you are always going to have onion, some carrots. we are just adding, as i said, i'm not a chef, i am a southern cook. i'm going to put some beer over this. this is what will really give it. >> magic. >> your wife is going to love me for this. >> she already loves you, but yes. isn't that pretty? >> it looks beautiful.

>> it really does. thank you. this is just going to relax. >> tell me more. how long has this been here? >> since the quakers started this. the quakers, they don't believe in violence. a lot of people came up to learn how to be nonviolent, how to protest. >> the highlander center is like a university of civil disobedience. buried in the hills outside of tennessee, it was founded by myles horton in the 1930s, originally to train union organizers. by the 1940s, the center focused to the civil rights struggle. >> my grandmother came up here and learned about how to be a protester. you know, rosa parks came up here.

>> through the years, this place has stood as a beacon of our ship and resistance. the montgomery bus boycott, the student nonviolent coordinating committee. look at this. martin working on that dream. hallowed ground. >> we put the appalachians and black americans together to make america, not just the culinary situation, but the stories. >> obviously, you are nikki giovanni, a legend, internationally known. you are from here and you could live anywhere. why do you come back here? >> this is home. >> this is home. >> absolutely. >> it looks wonderful. >> i have never done this. >> it's all very nice and tender. whatever you want to try is

going to be good >> i pull it apart? >> it's a finger food. oh yeah. it melt. it's pretty good. [ laughter ] >> i feel like sometimes in my life, i have been accused of not being black enough. eating pigs feet with nikki giovanni is a real punch in my black card. >> those people are just jealous. we're carvana the company who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100 percent online now we've created a brand new way for you to sell your car whether it's a year old, or a few years old we want to buy your car so go to carvana enter your license plate answer a few questions and our techno wizardry calculates your car's value

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♪ time to share some of this good food we cooked up. okay, mostly nikki cooked it. joining us are the folks behind the black in appalachia podcast. because, of course there is a podcast. we have the executive director of the highlander center and the poet laureate. i'm hungry. >> i am a jeopardy fan. i was sorry when alex trebek died. he could pronounce anything.

something greek, 8000 years old, you know? he can pronounce it. the question was appalachia. and he could not pronounce appalachia. i was like, let me call. >> i would have loved that. nikki giovanni just called in to correct me. >> there is a very popular narrative of black americans in the south that we cannot tell the story of the south without telling the stories of black americans. however, often america tells the story of appalachia without the black folks. you know. what is it to be black in appalachia? >> if i am in a place where there are black people, i am at home. it feels like home. >> it's the land. >> my family has been here. i

have a relationship year. i could name everyone of those hills out there. i do not exist without this place. >> what i care about is that my nine-year-old niece grows up to know that, she came from a long line of people that expected her to inherit this experience. the experience of what it will tell her about who she is. and, reclaiming what right supremacy and patriarchy and capitalism stole from me. they might relinquish me calling myself appalachian, but the thing he really did not want me to know is a long legacy of resistance. >> i was in lynch, kentucky and the narrative i got was that in 2030, there might not be black appalachians. how do you continue the legacy?

>> we need resources. black folks and poor folks, folks need resources. >> we have a resource that i feel like, among ourselves, of how we pass and share information and i think that that is key to survival and key to bringing young folks with old folks, that multigenerational, what is the future? >> i have lived two hours my whole life from highlander and didn't know it tested until my 19th birthday because some student was like oh, you're from tennessee, what's up with highlander? and i was like, i don't know. >> they said, oh, there is a nudist colony. >> we have had many personas. >> clearly this identity of being from this place is being

stolen. we are in an uphill battle against a multitude of states that are intentionally trying to keep this story whitewashed and i don't think that is by accident. >> i'm a big fan of, we need to tell ourselves that the history is. forget what other people are doing. i will be 80 in two years. we are beginning to lose the people who know those stories. >> one way to keep these appalachia stories alive is music. that brings us to the banjo. you knew we would get some banjo. this is the source of a lot of unfortunate stereotypes, but you know, for all of human existence, the banjo was born in africa, brought to america by enslaved black folks and absorbed into the new world as if the old one never existed. by keeping the bengles roots alive, trey wellington point just appalachia's forgotten history.

♪ >> [ applause ] >> thank you. >> on the next episode, kamau heads to boston. a town obsessed with sports. is winning more important than mental health? >> we view people, as entertainers and athletes. >> it's important for athletes to be able to stick up for themselves point >> are we mature enough as a culture, for sports? >> next sunday at 10:00 on cnn.

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♪ one of the biggest issues facing all of appalachia is getting young folks to stay in appalachia. not all is lost. today i am going to a baby shower. i jumped at the opportunity. i know exactly what to bring. a big load of -- a big load of diapers. it is a mess. cut. >> happy baby! >> here you go. just a few. a few diapers. >> twins, from the town of big

stone gap, virginia. right, big stone gap. >> nothing sounds more like an appalachian city than a city named big stone gap. that's just, it sounds like -- >> this baby shower is for the latest addition to this community. their soon-to-be daughter. kamau is a good name. >> we are all from here. there are still young people, here. >> the shower is packed with young appalachians to support the new parents. that is in part because they are making it a point to stay and build their lives here. >> it's easy for some people to say like, let's just leave. it's not always an option for folks to leave. >> is not free to life or start your life somewhere else. >> the good thing about this is that a lot of people outside of

this area of the world don't realize there could be a racial mix like this at one gathering in appalachia. we have all shades of black folks and all shades of white folks. >> it's not this homogenous narrative of just white folks. it's a range of people with different backgrounds and experiences. >> what is life like around here? >> a lot of running around with your friends, playing tag and stuff like that. i feel like we were always outside. it's exciting. exciting as it could be as a kid in a small town, but it was nice. >> now your activist's. were you always headed in that direction? >> not for me. my first year, i went to play ball. after that, i attended a summer institute.

>> stay together appalachian use. along with black appalachian use rising works to connect and support young people here, losing them at the forefront of community building. >> when we started doing work, i started driving and became a part of that and that is part of my life. meeting these people has helped it to change me and the way i and it has helped my music and the way i write and talk about things. ♪ ♪ >> what is it about? a lot of people leave where they are from and can't wait to get out. why stay? >> you know, five generations have lived in this house. we are eighth generation

appalachians. i just think, the ancestral land we are on. i think it tells how special it is. having this piece of property in our family that has been passed down. it gives us the ability to stay. it's almost a spiritual element. our lives are tied to this place and this community. i think that if all of the stories and memories, all of the different lives that have passed through that yard. >> you are a musician. you can go to nashville. there are a lot of places you can go. why stay? >> being able to gain more appreciation for where i come from has helped me grow as a person and artist. now that i have my daughter on the way, i want to show her that this area can be whatever we want it to be. ♪ ♪

>> i want to show people that there are artists in appalachia. instead of just relying on the few jobs there are here, we can make our own money doing the things we love and care about. we can have it all, right here. >> big stone gap is a bit of a enigma. the percentage of black folks here is eight times higher than the rest of central appalachia. that makes it a lot easier for young black appalachians to envision a home here. what you are seeing may just be the seed of a strong future community. if they can hold on and keep building, maybe in 50 years, this place will thrive like lynch did, 50 years ago. >> okay. without skimping on the things you love. ♪ you know how to spend a little less

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farm. while the farmer is owned and operate d by jason, it is clear that the 8-year-old runs the place. we'll be spending time with him later. the farm produces hundreds of tons of agriculture a year. he trains farmers of all races. me, i'm here because i look good. >> there we go. i learned this. there we go. there we go. but don't guess distracted by my good looks. these are a big deal here. >> i'm ready for work, please. we're going to check in. >> the resident beekeeper and ay's dad. i'm telling you, this kid never

stops. he's put me in charge of killing mites in the beehive. i'm on it. >> we found out recently this area has more capacity to produce hundred than the entire state. >> really? what makes it that good. >> trees. >> just the amount of trees or the type of trees? >> both. >> yeah. there we go. you could see the honey in there. >> right there. oh wow. >> yeah. >> they're still working on it. >> they're still working on it. see how they're living in there. >> come on, everybody. these are lazy. >> yeah, right. >> they ain't doing nothing. lazy bees. >> these bees are like me in high school, i'm working on it. >> to be fair to the bees, that ain't really honey season. but when the spring and summer come, they produce some of the best honey in west virginia.

i know because i brought some home. but besides taste, it is a way for people to make money off these mownuntains without coal. >> an lagold. we all left and ran to this. i was guilty of it myself. the leaders here, they only speak one language, and that's coal. >> when this mono economy collapsed, it left this place, mcdowell county with having the biggest population loss in the last 50 years. >> all these problems, you know, could have been avoided. let's talk about the after. what do we do after coal. and that never happened. you know. so here we are now trying to put that together. i think agobusiness.

honey alone could produce a lot of economic growth for this region. >> i think a lot of people when they think of why is this blackman in west virginia doing agriculture, they don't see it as an act of resistance. this is the protest and this is -- you know thrks is every day work and this is planting a seed for a vision of cooperative economics and how can we share this land and develop this land? >> absolutely. >> talk about the ghana connection. >> 2019, they had the year of return. i went to ghana to have my dna tested to find out my ancestors were from there. to see the spirit of the people, how hard they work, they never quit. and here we are facing a lot of similar challenges.

it really motivated me. so a lot of what we have done here in west virginia is a mirror of what's taken place in ghana. my ancestors raising hogs, chickens, you know, sustaining themselves for years. so bringing back that sense of pride and, you know, being a producer, a creator yourself. ultimately to leave a legacy of you see ay running around loving what he's doing, understanding what's going on. he understands value added. >> he tried to sell me honey. >> absolutely. >> look at that pretty thing. watch it. >> do you like do this work, a.y.? >> yeah. >> why do you like it? >> because it's fun. now what we do is cut this. >> that's a blade.

>> careful. >> whoa. all right. you know what you're doing. you know you're not in an urban environment when a kid has unteterred access to the axe. so how often do you come here and do this work? >> every day. >> every day. a.y., what you have is called a job. do you know that's a job. you have a job. >> you love it, don't you? >> if somebody asked you what's your goal? what's your goal here? >> my goal is black excellence. we are very capable. we have shown it time and time again and we are given the opportunity when left to ourselves to do our thing, that's the result. it's always been the result. so give us the opportunity to do what we do. it doesn't matter what industry. it doesn't matter where we are.

we will -- we will turn nothing into gold. here i think that opportunity is through agriculture. and i want these young african-americans that come through my program to understand what you have been taught and what you have been shown about your own community, about your own abilities is not true. and bringing folks through here to make them believe again, there is no greater feeling. >> is one day all of this going to be yours? >> it is right now. >> out of the mouth of babes. you know it. >> you know what i'm saying? >> throughout this episode we talked about how there are fewer and fewer black folks left here. look at them. these people are home. we need to keep telling their

stories. we need to acknowledge them in this place. we need to make sure that just like ghana, sierra leone and others, this is a place black folks come from. somebody get my harmonica. i feel a song coming on. xxxxx . hello and welcome to our viewers joining us. just ahead, systemic failures. a damn report to the police response to the shooting in uvalde, texas. plus the video given to cnn that shows the chaotic actions of authorities. and shake-up in kyiv. ukraine's president fires two top officials, accusing them of collaborating with the russians as