Slavery in Appalachia will focus in on the history and legacy of slavery in Appalachia, utilizing Tazewell County, Virginia as representative of the larger Appalachia region.

Tazewell is an Appalachian county on what would become the border of Virginia and West Virginia. The discussion will examine slave holding practices in the county and throughout Appalachia, as well as the effect geography and the Civil War played on slavery in the county.

In doing do, Laura will also seek to tell the often overlooked story of enslaved people themselves, using family histories as well as previously recorded interviews. The case of Tazewell County complicates commonly held assumptions about Appalachian slavery and slave societies.