Mary Crawford for Virginia Tech
Emily Satterwhite, left, points out areas of Appalachia on a map that she expects to highlight as part of a $3 million project to commemorate the region's neglected history. Satterwhite and Katrina Powell, right, both faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, are leaders of the project.
A new project housed at Virginia Tech with a focus on untold histories will help fund six to ten nontraditional monuments across the Appalachian region of Virginia. Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia (MAAV) is focused on creating the kinds of events and exhibits that may not immediately be recognized as monuments but nevertheless document and celebrate the area’s diversity and rich history.
Many stories and stereotypes about Appalachia persist, but this group hopes to highlight the many different kinds of stories that exist. “We are telling more complex stories about Appalachia and its history,” explained Dr. Emily Satterwhite, project co-lead and director of the Appalachian Studies program in the Department of Religion and Culture at Virginia Tech. “These stories help people reimagine our region not as a white, static, simple, rooted place but as dynamic, with migration and many different groups of people being central.”
MAAV is looking for historians, educators, arts groups, and social justice organizations to partner with to celebrate local history through creative works such as murals, performances, exhibitions, statues, and art installations. The group is especially interested in movement across the landscape via migration and population displacement; resource extraction and environmental change; and struggles for social justice including feminist, anti-racist, environmental justice, and pro-labor movements.
The group has been awarded $3 million to fund up to ten monuments across the region, and hopes the community will bring forward untold histories and experiences to be recognized by the project. “We bring a mindset of working with the community, not coming in and saying, ‘This is how you should build a monument to your history,’” said Dr. Katrina Powell, project co-lead and director of the Center for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies at Virginia Tech. “We have resources and would like to work with you on what you see is important to your community.”
Organizations or groups with projects they would like to be considered for funding should contact MAAV by email, maav@vt.edu, for more information on how to apply. The group also seeks community volunteers who would like to apply to be considered for the project advisory board to act as jurors to help select project designs and concepts.
About MAAV
Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia looking to document and commemorate histories and experiences that have been silenced, denied, or excluded. Across a three-year period, MAAV anticipates creating six to ten new monuments with a focus on: the diversity of communities with regard to race, ethnicity, indigeneity, national origin, sexuality, and more; movement across the landscape via migration and population displacement; resource extraction and environmental change; and struggles for social justice including feminist, anti-racist, environmental justice, and pro-labor movements.
Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia based at Virginia Tech and funded by the Mellon Foundation. MAAV is part of a $250 million initiative the Andrew Mellon Foundation started in 2020 to support public projects across the country.