W is for Wilma Dykeman: Powerhouse Activist, Naturalist, Historian, Mother & Literary Grannies from A to Z

Wilma Dykeman: Cross Genre Writer, Historian, Conservationist, Academic Developer, Appalachian Advocate

 

Wilma Dykeman: when I came across her name I didn’t realize I would find yet another woman writer/kindred spirit. The more writers I find, the more kindreds I find. This can only mean one thing: there are more kindreds out there for each of us than we could possibly imagine.

Writing alongside these women – which is what it feels like I have been doing – has been astoundingly wonderful. (See all the W’s?) I am actually surprised at my tenacity: posting on the right letter on the right day all month and never straying behind or giving up.

This alone is remarkable.

Which is what and who Wilma Dykeman was: remarkable. She isn’t easy to fit into one writing genre because she wrote across genre. She was a historian, she was a naturalist, she was an activist, she was a devoted wife and mother.

Her family has lived in the mountains of Appalachia for hundreds of years so her writing has its roots there: a place that to this Californian feels almost fable-like. I’ve seen photos and movies but I’ve never been to the Southern Appalachians.

Wilma Dykeman had it in her blood, even after attending a school in the North, she returned to the South and lived out her life near Asheville, North Carolina. She received awards such the Sidney Hillman Award (shared with her husband James) and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She was honored as a Tennessee Conservation Writer of the Year. Plus she received a National Endowment for the Humanities Senior Fellowship. She wrote alone, and as you just read, with her husband.

Her 1957 Civil Rights classic, Neither Black Nor White,  reflects upon the Brown desegregation case in 1954. It was revered by many for its impact on world peace, race relations and civil rights. She wrote biographies, novels and articles for newspapers and magazines.

She helped to develop the Academic Discipline of  Appalachian Studies.

She was a powerhouse, Wilma Dykeman. I wish I could have known her when she was alive!

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