Victoria A. Casey McDonald - Just Over the Hill: Black Appalachians in Jackson County, Western North Carolina

Just Over the Hill: Black Appalachians in Jackson County, Western North Carolina by Victoria A. Casey McDonald could be recounted as part of the Liars Bench, a casual storytelling tradition among southern men sitting in the public square and at barbershopsfolktales of a bygone era for entertainment purposes only. This collection of Appalachian narratives simultaneously steps into the circle of griots throughout the African Diaspora. Although Victoria never lived outside of Jackson County, her appetite for knowledge and her ancestral pride granted her regional and global citizenship simultaneously.

With this reissued edition, Just Over the Hill reemerges in the aftermath of an unprecedented year. A decade after its original publication in 2012, the nation continues to face the turmoil of a devastating global pandemic, a sobering racial reckoning, and contentious political conflict. Looking back, the fatal shooting of seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012 was an ominous foreshadowing. The handling of that tragic incident in Sanford, Florida, combined with the subsequent acquittal of gunman George Zimmerman, sparked an international debate across all media regarding racial profiling and the criminal justice system in the United States.

I met Victoria in my role as a newly minted visiting faculty member at Western Carolina University (WCU). Our paths crossed as participants in numerous rural activist causes, including the historic campaign for President Barack Obama in 2018. In hardly any time at all, Victoria became my community ambassador, just as she had for many other new arrivals to the area. These points of reference set the tone for my contemplation about the reissue of Just Over the Hill.

The stories here do not possess the lexicon of the Black Lives Matter movement, but they proclaim and confirm the message. The immeasurable value of this book lies in the mysteries between the lines of text and the patterns within its retelling. Instead of a review of Just Over the Hill, I am compelled to render a portrait of my dear friend and venerated elder.

Victoria Casey McDonald passed away on Sunday, August 17, 2014. At her homegoing service, a diverse assembly of individuals from every walk of life shared their stories about a phenomenal woman who was (in no particular hierarchy) a teacher, preacher, singer, artist, community activist, and author. As a Black woman born and raised in the shadow of the mountains of western North Carolina during the era of racial segregation, she moved in a community within a community. Her lived experience defied category. Affirmatively Victoria was a collector of storiesin the foreword of her first published book, African Americans of Jackson County: From Slavery to Integration, A Pictorial History, Victoria recounted the origins of her journey into community history:

In 1981, Dr. Clifford R. Lovin, a friend and history professor at Western Carolina University, gave me the opportunity to [fulfill] my dream of researching the African American history of Jackson County. Cliff told me about the North Carolina Humanities Council minigrant to individuals that could be presented to the adult population in the area. He gave me the form and I submitted it. Weeks later ... I was awarded funding. Through the sponsorship of the Black Community Development Club of Jackson County, which was under the auspices of Mountain Projects, I was given the task of presenting slide talks based on this research ... which spanned the years from 1865 to 1967.