PRINCETON, W.Va. - TelAve -- West Virginia — As Black History Month is observed nationwide, West Virginia faces a growing and uncomfortable truth: while the state frequently commemorates African American history of the past, it offers limited visible support for the Black high achievers, writers, scholars, historians, and cultural contributors who are actively shaping that history today.

Across West Virginia, African American excellence persists—in scholarship, authorship, ministry, caregiving, entrepreneurship, and historical preservation—often without institutional recognition, sustained investment, or clear pathways for advancement. The result is a quiet but consequential gap between celebration and support.

Historian and author Anita Hackley Lambert, a Monroe County resident and the author of seven nonfiction books, is among those calling attention to this disparity. Lambert's work documents underrepresented African American civil rights advocates, family lineage, faith traditions, and cultural memory through rigorously researched biographies and memoirs grounded in archival evidence and lived experience.

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"I achieve Black history by recording Black history, one book at a time," Lambert says. "Yet too often, Black achievement in West Virginia goes unnoticed unless it exists safely in the distant past."

Lambert's scholarship illustrates a broader issue: while West Virginia maintains general humanities and cultural institutions, there are few visible, sustained, or targeted structures designed to identify, elevate, and invest in contemporary Black achievers and intellectual labor. For aspiring Black writers, scholars, historians, and cultural workers, recognition frequently comes only after leaving the state—death, or not at all.

This absence has consequences. Without the support of living contributors, we risk treating African American history as static rather than ongoing. Stories remain undocumented, talent goes underdeveloped, and future generations inherit gaps instead of continuity.

Black history in West Virginia did not end with coal camps, segregated classrooms, or early twentieth-century reform movements. It continues today through individuals who research, write, teach, minister, and preserve community memory—often independently and without institutional backing.

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The call is not for symbolic acknowledgment alone, but for intentional inclusion: recognition programs, funding pathways, platforms for publication and presentation, and partnerships that affirm Black excellence as an asset to the state's cultural, educational, and civic life.

Seeing all the contributors enriches West Virginia's history. Supporting Black achievers today is not separate from honoring Black history—it is how that history survives.

Contact:
Anita Hackley Lambert
Author | Historian | Public Speaker
Email: aHackleyLambert@gmail.com
Web:  https://AnitaHackleyLambertBooks.com

Available for interviews

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