Ancella Bickley to present "Life of Memphis Tennessee Garrison" at Mountain State University
March 20, 2003

Historian Ancella Bickley, Ph.D., will stage a presentation of the life of educator and civil rights pioneer Memphis Tennessee Garrison as part of Mountain State University's Appalachian Visions series. The presentation will take place on Tuesday, March 25, at 7:30 pm in the John W. Eye Conference Center on the University's Beckley campus.

Born in 1890, Garrison grew up in the coalfields of McDowell County, where she spent most of her life working to provide educational and cultural opportunities for African Americans. She organized the first NAACP branches in southern West Virginia in the 1920s and later became the first woman elected to a national office within that organization. She served on West Virginia's first Human Rights Commission, and her many honors and awards include the state's "Living the Dream Award," presented in 1988.

Bickley, along with Lynda Ann Ewen, edited an oral history of Garrison's life, <i>Memphis Tennessee Garrison: The Remarkable Story of a Black Appalachian Woman</i>, published by the Ohio University Press in 2001. A retired professor and administrator at West Virginia State College, Bickley is well known as a researcher, writer, and lecturer on the history of African American residents of Appalachian. A native of Huntington, she has a bachelor's degree from West Virginia State College, a master's from Marshall University, and a doctorate from WVU.

Mountain State University's acclaimed Appalachian Visions series, now in its eighth season, brings the best in regional scholarship and arts to southern West Virginia. Series programming ranges from studies in the history, culture, and religious expression of the southern highlands to celebrations of the region's music, literature, and traditional arts—all free and open to the public, in a relaxed atmosphere that encourages discussion among participants and connection among disciplines and ideas.

The series is made possible through the support of the West Virginia Humanities Council and local donors.