For many, the terms “Black” and “Appalachia” are a contradiction. Few if any studies have examined the role of Black churches in the southernmost pocket of Appalachia. Yet, dedicated scholars have increasingly begun to explore the histories of Black Appalachians within parts of West Virginia, Kentucky, and Virginia, and a recognition of Black Americans in the region has been growing.

Through my research, I have uncovered “pocketed communities”, or communities where Black Americans once carved out safe spaces within larger White communities in the southernmost tip of Appalachia. Black churches in Appalachia were examples of safe spaces that provided support to these pocketed communities and were established in collaboration with local white business leaders, many of whom had relocated to the region following the end of the Civil War hoping to harness the labor of Black Americans in southeast Tennessee and northwest Georgia. Many of these leaders supported the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Zion, and were themselves part of the northern Methodist church. Moreover, many industrial leaders in Appalachia supported Black Americans in their efforts to establish what became known as Missionary Baptist Churches, and the Church of Christ, a southern-born denomination that often de-emphasized racial differences, also facilitated the growth of Black Church of Christ congregations in Appalachia.

Using oral interviews, church records, and material culture, I hope to explore how Black churches fostered the development of these pocketed communities, what protections they created for their residents, how their residents interacted with each other and with the dominant White community around them, and lastly, why these communities have all but disappeared.