Pulaski remembrance: local history and documentary on Corbin school case announced

Mickey Hickman addressed the council for a Black History Month recognition, combining local historical details, cultural context and a community announcement.

Hickman said that, according to 1840 census figures he cited, Pulaski County had roughly 9,000 residents of whom about 3,000 were enslaved. He told a local story about a formerly enslaved woman who chose to sell herself back into slavery to remain near family rather than move north, and described how waterways such as the Little River and New River provided routes toward freedom for some escapees.

He discussed cultural and linguistic history — how enslaved people spoke multiple languages, developed coded ways to communicate, and how distinctive Black vernacular and musical culture evolved across decades — and contrasted different civil-rights-era leaders and tactics while noting Jesse Jackson’s advocacy and Malcolm X’s emphasis on Black pride and separatist ideas.

Hickman also recounted the local civil-rights litigation Corbin et al. v. Pulaski County School Board, explaining that 23 Black parents representing 54 children sued over unequal educational opportunities and that NAACP attorneys prevailed on appeal in the late 1940s. He said the community commissioned a quilt commemorating the plaintiffs and their families and that Virginia Tech sponsored a documentary about the project.

Hickman invited the council and public to a free screening of the documentary, Stitched Together, at the Pulaski Theater on February 28 at 6 p.m., calling it an opportunity to learn more about local Black history and the families involved in the case.