Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MA

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

History

Committee Chair

Austin McCoy

Committee Member

Melissa Bingmann

Committee Member

William Hal Gorby

Committee Member

Jessica Wilkerson

Abstract

Using Huntington, West Virginia as a case study to examine Black urban-Appalachian communities, this thesis analyzes Huntington’s Black “city within a city” from 1934–1961, exploring how city-sanctioned segregationist practices shaped the community. In 1929, The Herald Dispatch asserted that Black Huntingtonians were able to thrive due to racial harmony facilitated by the “tolerant” attitudes of white Huntingtonians. However, closer inspection reveals that the city’s Black population survived in spite of persistent racial intolerance from white citizens, as well as city, state, and federal authorities. Though Huntington was not technically segregated by de jure means, it is apparent that the city promoted and upheld segregationist practices, challenging the commonly held belief that segregation in Huntington was de facto. This thesis demonstrates that the city of Huntington did, in fact, embrace and reinforce de jure segregation by permitting segregation in private businesses and public facilities, and by taking an especially active part in discriminatory housing practices, which later hindered the progress of school desegregation.

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