In 1833 Mrs. Frances Silver was hanged in Morganton, North Carolina, for the ax murder of her husband Charles. For a century and a half the case has lived on in newspapers, pamphlets, memoirs, petition, folksong, and legends. Bobby McMillon, a member of the Silver family, learned stories about Frankie as he grew up in… Read More →
Being a Joines: A Life in the Brushy Mountains
John E. “Frail” Joines was a master tale teller from Wilkes County, North Carolina, on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains. His hunting tales, stories from World War II, and religious narratives mirror changes that have swept away the mountain folk community in a single generation and show the character and values… Read More →
When My Work is Over
Louise Anderson (1921-1994), the gifted African American storyteller who played Dark Sally in Tom Davenport’s children’s classic Ashpet: An American Cinderella, tells her family stories and folk tales, and recites poetry in this film taped in Jacksonville, North Carolina, in the last years of her life. She presents a powerful portrait of courage, dignity, and… Read More →