Bessie Woodson Yancey (May 1882 – 11 January 1958) was an African American poet, teacher, and activist, whose only published poetry collection, 1939's ''Echoes from the Hills'', was "perhaps the earliest example of

Affrilachia Affrilachia is a term that focuses on the cultural contributions of African-American artists, writers, and musicians in the Appalachian region of the United States. The term "Affrilachia" is attributed to Kentucky-based writer Frank X Walker, wh ...

n children's literature."

Life

Bessie Woodson was born in

New Canton, Virginia New Canton is an unincorporated area, unincorporated town in northeastern Buckingham County, Virginia, Buckingham County, Virginia, United States. It lies along U.S. Route 15 below the James River (Virginia), James River, northeast of the county se ...

, to James Henry and Ann Eliza Riddle Woodson. She was the younger sister of famed black historian and educator

Carter G. Woodson Carter Godwin Woodson (December 19, 1875April 3, 1950) was an American historian, author, journalist, and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). He was one of the first scholars to study the h ...

. She was educated in a school run by her uncles, John Morton and James Buchanan Riddle, until 1892, when the family moved back to

Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Cabell County, and the largest city in the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as the Tri-State Area. A h ...

, where they had lived during the 1870s. There, she attended Douglass High School, where her brother Carter was a teacher, and principal. She graduated in 1901, and became a teacher herself. Carter_G

Woodson married Robert Lee Johnson on 4 June 1905, with whom she had two daughters: Ursula and Belva. She and Lee later divorced, and she married Patrick Yancey of

Louisa County, Virginia Louisa County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 37,596. The county seat is Louisa. History Prior to colonial settlement, the area comprising Louisa County was occupied by severa ...

. While working as a teacher in mining camps and along West Virginia's

Guyandotte River The Guyandotte River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 166 mi (267 km) long, in southwestern West Virginia in the United States. It was named after the French term for the Wendat Native Americans. It drains an area of ...

, Yancey had first developed an interest in poetry. Her poems—written while working as a teacher and court house matron—explored "Appalachian identity, black migration from the deep South, agricultural and mining labor, and the everyday joys of childhood in West Virginia." Defined as '"Affrilachian" (African American + Appalachian)', Katherine Capshaw Smith has described Yancey's poetry as being "cross written for and cross read by black children and adults." Her only published collection, ''Echoes from the Hills'' (1939), "acknowledges the pressure on youth to become race leaders, and positions the child... as the visionary who will lead the community forward." They also seek to inculcate a love and appreciation of the natural world, possibly drawing on Yancey's experience as a schoolteacher, as well as exploring black Appalachian identity. In 'If You Live in West Virginia', she wrote:A review in the ''

Negro History Bulletin The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) is an organization dedicated to the study and appreciation of African-American History. It is a non-profit organization founded in Chicago, Illinois, on September 9, 1915 ...

'', founded by her brother Carter G. Woodson, described the collection as aimed at "understanding life in its broadest aspects." Smith notes the influence of

Paul Laurence Dunbar Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American C ...

on Yancey's work; Yancey herself having written of him that 'When I ponder your great works/ I feel like an atom.' Smith notes, however, that:Despite never publishing another book, Yancey continued to write poetry, letters, and editorials, which were published in newspapers. She wrote over 100 letters to the editor of local newspaper the ''Herald-Advertiser'', eventually adopting pseudonyms on the advice of the editor. Yancey used her letters to comment on international events and civil rights, and to encourage

desegregation Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...

. Though she received support for her 'mini-editorials,' "on at least one occasion

hey Hey or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...

provoked an anonymous threat by a conservative reader." Bessie Woodson Yancey died in 1958, in the home of her brother Carter G. Woodson.

References

External links

*
Echoes from the Hills
' at

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Material by or about Bessie Woodson Yancey
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodson Yancey, Bessie 1882 births 1958 deaths African-American history in Appalachia Appalachian culture 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century African-American writers 20th-century American poets People from Buckingham County, Virginia 20th-century American women writers African-American poets 20th-century African-American women People from Huntington, West Virginia