Rednecks for Black Lives - by Beth Howard

Book Synopsis

An Appalachian organizer's excavation of the past, her own and her people's, to spark a collective fight for a future where we all have what we need and deserve

In Song for a Hard-Hit People, Beth Howard shares her story of growing up in Appalachian Kentucky--the economic struggles, trauma, and ever-present sexism along with the loving care of her close-knit rural community. These complex people shaped Howard's sense of justice and solidarity, and taught her about the inextricable bonds working-class people share, despite our differences. But her childhood also left her with emotional wounds that threatened to destroy the life she built for herself. While healing her wounds is deeply personal, there's no separating it from the people and place that made her.

Appalachia is often framed as a place to escape from, where people are hateful, lazy, and bring tragedy upon themselves. But in her quest to understand her home and her people, Howard uncovers the powerful history of white Appalachians fighting alongside Black and Brown people, pushing back against billionaires who gain power by using racism to divide them. Appalachia, she realizes, has not only been hit hard; it is the place to wage a freedom struggle.

Too many of us are denied the basic necessities of life: somewhere decent to live, good food to eat, health care that doesn't break the bank, jobs that don't kill us. As Howard reminds us, we haven't got a chance--unless we organize.

In the midst of divisive rhetoric, violent repression, and grifters writing elegies, may this story be a song.

Review Quotes

"Beth Howard has gifted us with a brilliant memoir of growing up and organizing in Appalachia, an important antidote to JD Vance's memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, in which he demonizes his Appalachian family and people. On the contrary, author Howard provides the horrors of capitalism, that sucks the life out of families and workers, then blames them for the dire conditions they are left to deal with. Howard respects and organizes rather than blaming the victim." --Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, historian and author

About the Author

Beth Howard is the Appalachia Peoples Union Director for Showing Up for Racial Justice, the largest national organization bringing white people into the fight for racial and economic justice. Originally from Eastern Kentucky, she has organized throughout the South for two decades. She currently lives in Lexington, KY.