Saving Black Mountain
Save Black Mountain (1999-2002)
Lead Artists: Nick Szuberla, Greg Howard, and Harlan County Youth; including Danielle Burke
Organizers: Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Harlan Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Chapter, Evarts youth, and statewide youth coalition
Additional documentation: 19 hours of audio, 317 photos, academic and news articles
During my artist residency at Evarts High School in Harlan, Kentucky, I taught media production and community organizing to students. Concurrently, I collaborated with the Harlan chapter of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, which launched a campaign to protect the upper reaches of Black Mountain—the highest peak in the state—from mountaintop removal mining.
Hazel King at the base of Black Mountain near Everts, Kentucky.
These two endeavors, along with others, merged into the Save Black Mountain campaign, ultimately preventing the mountain's destruction from mountaintop removal. Over two years, I worked alongside young activists and adults in a grassroots community media campaign, successfully preserving Black Mountain from mining. It helped to rename this mining practice from tip or point removal to mountaintop removal.
With support from community elders and residents, including figures like Hazel King, young activists organized public campaigns and direct actions to halt the mining project. Their efforts captured the attention of lawmakers and compelled them to address the issue. This forced them to purchase the mountain for the state to protect it from mining.
Today, Black Mountain stands as a triumph of youth activism.
Articles, Research, and News about Saving Black Mountain:
Susan Chamber Cantrell, Sandra Adams, Rebecca Powell (2001) Saving Black Mountain: The Promise of Critical Literacy in a Multicultural Democracy. The Reading Teacher
Robert Gipe, The Fight to Save Black Mountain 1998-1999 (2012). Confronting Ecology Crisis in Appalachia and the South. University Press of Kentucky.
Maureen Mullinax (2012) It’s About Being a Resident of A Place: A Case Study of Practicing Civic Engagement Through Community-Based Art and Oral History in Harlan, Kentucky. University of Kentucky.
