Reclaiming the Narrative

By Suzanne Révy

Who is the narrator of the past? Or the present? As we commemorate the 250th birthday of the United States this year, I have been contemplating the interwoven fabric of American history, and the ways in which we learn it. So much of what I studied as a high school student of American history revolved around the Founding Fathers, which is an admittedly narrow slice of American culture. Photographers Chris Aluka Berry and Virginia McGee Richards expand the view in recently published books that focus on Black communities in the southern U.S. In the mountain regions, Berry presents Affrilachia: Testimonies and along the east coast, Richards published The Inner Passage: An Untold Story of Black Resistance Along a Southern Waterway. These books introduced me to realms that were glossed over or ignored in my own education by affording agency to the communities they depict.

Affrilachia: Testimonies by Chris Aluka Berry (University Press of Kentucky)

“Deacon B.C. Mance, 103, Toccoa, GA” by Chris Aluka Berry, 2017, from the book Affrilachia: Testimonies courtesy of the artist and the University Press of Kentucky.

A portmanteau of  “Africa” and “Appalachia,” the term “Affrilachia” was coined by the poet Frank X. Walker in the early 1990’s to counter the stereotype that only white people live in the mountainous regions of the south. When he devised that word, it inspired a group of writers to found a poetry collective, which has become one of the oldest Black writing groups in the country. The recently published Afritlachia: Testimonies is a poetic visual journey by Chris Aluka Berry, a biracial native of rural South Carolina. A closeup photograph of the expressive yet fatigued pair of eyes is one of the first pictures in the book, and I sensed a deep well of life in those eyes. Did this person endure hardships or savor blessings? Or both? The book is full of intimate gestures such as a child’s feet in the pews or the mixed joy and sadness of communion. The glow of light through a window at night or muted trees shrouded in mist convey an nuanced sense of living in this rural community.

Two Reverends carry Mae Louise Allen into Mount Zion AME Church, Cullowhee (left), then she meets her sister, Ann Rogers (right) from the book Affrilachia: Testimonies by Chris Aluka Berry. (Book photograph by Suzanne Révy)

“Elijah Justice Crawford gets comfortable during Easter service at Mount Zion AME Zion Church in Cullowhee, NC” By Chris Aluka Berry, 2016 from the book Affrilachia: Testimonies, courtesy of the artist and the University Press, Kentucky.

“Memorial Service, Rock Springs Camp Meeting, Mossy Creek, GA” from the book Affrilachia: Testimonies, by Chris Aluka Berry. (Book photograph by Suzanne Révy)

Berry employs classic documentary photography to tell the stories of the Black communities who have lived in the Appalachian Mountains of the American south for generations. Seeking to create an historic record of current residents, Berry began this project when he was introduced to two sisters in a church through their Deacon. By getting to know local clergy, the photographer met and photographed several families in different small towns in Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina.  He hoped to better understand the rich connections and intergenerational legacies of the societies who have long dwelled among these ancient peaks. 

Seated Portrait of John Arnold family, Jackson County, NC circa late 1800’s, courtesy of the Hunter Library Special Collections from the book Affrilachia: Testimonies. (Book photograph by Suzanne Révy)

“Morning, Pisgah National Forest, western North Carolina” from the book Affrilachia: Testimonies by Chris Aluka Berry. (Book photograph by Suzanne Révy.)

The book’s sequence feels like a symphony with several movements. Portraiture, landscape and events are peppered throughout and are accompanied by vernacular historic pictures, expository essays, poems, and written memoirs. Berry’s pictures applaud human dignity, and are a counterpoint to the many ways in which Appalachia has been stereotyped. Returning over several years to make photographs, to gather stories about the past and to understand their hopes, Berry has created an affecting portrait of a region. He asks, how has the terrain, the atmosphere and personal experience shaped the tenets of these people? This book serves not only as an album for the present, but as a significant historic document for the future.

The Inner Passage: An Untold Story of Black Resistance Along a Southern Waterway by Virginia McGee Richards (MIT Press)

Land itself cannot speak, of course, but its history can be palpable at certain times and under certain atmospheric conditions. Virginia McGee Richards gives a voice to the trees and topography that witnessed traumatic events of the past in the lowland waterways of coastal South Carolina in her book The Inner Passage: An Untold Story of Black Resistance Along a Southern Waterway. Using the wet plate collodion process, Richards explores an area where canals were dug in the late 17th and early 18th centuries by enslaved men to allow safer passage of goods from north to south. Ironically, the canals became a route for those escaping enslavement before the Underground Railroad was established. Her dramatic images exude a wistful sense of wonder at the past, as if to ask who lived and toiled in the thick, humid air of these wetlands. 

“Witness Tree, Wadmalaw Island” by Virginia McGee Richards from the book The Inner Passage: An Untold Story of Black Resistance Along a Southern Waterway, courtesy of the artist and MIT Press.

“Cypress Knees, Colleton County” (left) and “Boat Canal to the Ashepoo River” by Virginia McGee Richards from the book The Inner Passage: An Untold Story of Black Resistance Along a Southern Waterway. (Book photograph by Suzanne Révy)

“View from the Porch, McLeod Plantation, James Island” (left) and “New Cut road, Wadmalaw Island” (right) by Virginia McGee Richards from the book The Inner Passage: An Untold Story of Black Resistance Along a Southern Waterway. (Book photograph by Suzanne Révy)

An ethereal portrait of a three hundred year old live oak tree draped in Spanish moss opens the portfolio of photographic plates. This “witness tree” to the back breaking work of dredging a canal offers quiet testimony through Richards’ camera. Although the wet plate process was invented a century and a half later than these canals were built, employing this Civil War era process allows for a redolent sense of melancholy in the fields, creeks and swamps Richards photographed. Her pictures create a sense of place, but one that is burdened with an eerie sense of foreboding. The softly illuminated monochromatic tones and the flaws inherent in wet-plate allude to the underlying violence that marred these tranquil vistas. 

“Irvin McKnight, Ravenel” by Virginia McGee Richards from the book The Inner Passage: An Untold Story of Black Resistance Along a Southern Waterway. (Book photograph by Suzanne Révy)

“Hilary Green, Carolina” by Virginia McGee Richards from the book The Inner Passage: An Untold Story of Black Resistance Along a Southern Waterway. (Book photograph by Suzanne Révy)

Modest man-made structures such as a boat, window, gravestone or white picket fences reveal a human presence, but it is in her portraits that we learn about the generations of families who inhabit these lush environments. Detailed stories accompany her evocative portrayals that are made in subdued light with a twinge of pathos. I have to wonder, how does a verdant and fertile coastal ecosystem shape the ethos of a culture? Can we ever atone for the atrocities committed in the early eras of our country? With a detailed history written by Imani Perry, this book skillfully combines editorial research with eloquent photography to produce a work that is intellectually rigorous and emotionally expressive. 

“Pon Pon Chapel, near the Stono River in Colleton County” by Virginia McGee Richards, from the book The Inner Passage: An Untold Story of Black Resistance Along a Southern Waterway. (Book photograph by Suzanne Révy)

Affrilachia: Testimonies
By Chris Aluka Berry
With Kelly Elaine Navies and Maia A. Surdam
University Press of Kentucky, 2024
https://www.kentuckypress.com/9781985900929/affrilachia/

The Inner Passage: An Untold Story of Black Resistance Along a Southern Waterway
By Virginia McGee Richards
Introduction by Imani Perry
Forward by James Estrin
The MIT Press, 2026
https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262051712/the-inner-passage/

(Feature Image) Affrilachia: Testimonies by Chris Aluka Berry (left) and The Inner Passage: An Untold Story of Black Resistance Along a Southern Waterway by Virginia McGee Richards. (Books photographed by Suzanne Révy)