Victoria A. Casey McDonald (1943-2014)  daughter of Appalachia was born to Estus and Derosette Casey in Peter's Bluff, a Black community of Cullowhee, NC and a lifelong resident of Jackson County. Victoria was one of ten siblings, including twin brother, Victor Casey. She was mother of son Creighton O. Casey, daughter, Faustine McDonald and her heir and grandson Victor Lee Crimmins.

 

Long before the term “Affrilachia” was coined, Victoria Casey-McDonald spent decades gathering the stories of her family and neighbors in North Carolina’s Jackson County. For example, her book Just Over the Hill: Black Appalachians in Jackson County, Western North Carolina, (republished Spring 2022 by the University of NC Press) presents a collection of short narratives that illuminate the lives of African Americans featuring educators, soldiers, factory workers, ministers, athletes, and ordinary people. 

 

Victoria is the author of three other books, African Americans of Jackson County: From Slavery to Integration, A Pictorial History, and the historical fiction novels Living in the Shadow of Slavery and Under the Light of Darkness: Love and Marriage in the Antebellum South for Slaves.

 

She has received local and state-wide recognition for her work as a teacher, preacher and community historian. The list of awards is too numerous to name here. However, on the memorial date of her 80th birthday, the City of Sylva and Jackson County proclaimed February 26, 2023, “Victoria Casey McDonald Day.” The North Carolina Literary Review selected the 2022 reissue of Victoria's book Just Over the Hill to be featured as part of its archived lesson plans, making Victoria's work accessible to teachers and classrooms everywhere.

 

https://www.wcu.edu/stories/posts/News/2022/04/hunter-library-issues-reprint-of-book-with-local-black-community-narratives.aspx