The history of African Americans in southern Appalachia after the Civil War has largely escaped the attention of scholars of both African Americans and the region. In this book the author relates the complex experience of an African American community in southern Appalachia as it negotiated a radically new world in the four decades following the Civil War.--Publisher's description.

"Sitting just south of the nation's capital, Alexandria has a long and storied history. Still, little is known of Alexandria's twentieth century African American community. Experience the harrowing narratives of trials and triumph as Alexandria's African Americans helped to shape not only their hometown but also the world around them. Rutherford Adkins became one of the first black fighter pilots as a Tuskegee Airman. Samuel Tucker, a twenty-six-year...