Ancella Bickley's Current Projects

Lost Voices

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Community Shaping
Women

CURRENT PROJECTS

I grew up in a time when history- the history that was taught to us in school was very white, and it was also very male, but particularly it was very white. It has taken me a long time to understand, to recognize, the difference between what was true and what was being told. I came to understand that history was a matter of choice. That the decisions about what was to be included and what was excluded were decisions that somebody made and that the history of my grandfather the slave, which had been excluded, was as true as the stories of Washington crossing the Delaware or Abraham Lincoln walking five miles to return 2 cents, that all of us have learned about. And somebody decided that what had happened to my grandfather was not important and should not be told.

One priority of Dr. Ancella Bickley's, is to reinstate the histories which have been left out of our textbooks. Currently, she is working with Dr. Rita Wickes on an oral history project which highlights the experiences of retired black teachers in West Virginia. She is also involved in putting together a reunion of campers and staff at the formerly all-black, Washington Carver 4-H Camp in Fayette County, West Virginia. Additionally, Dr. Bickley is attempting to reunite members of the Black Civilian Conservation Corps, which was active in the state during 1930's and 1940's.

Dr. Bickley has authored several stories, including "On This Rock" and "My Simple City", as well as articles, the most recent of which was for Golden Seal. Currently, she is working on a novel, a series of short stories, and a play. While involved in research at Marshall University, Dr. Bickley experienced the difficultly of tracing black roots beyond the time of slavery because slaves were not named in the census record... So I imagined what happened beyond that point. History, imagination and a love of her people, provides the material for Dr. Bickley's works.