For generations, this family's history survived the only way it could: unspoken.
Written by Ryan Garrett Dingus, Hard Hitting Stories From A Hard Hit People uncovers the history of his mixed-ancestry Appalachian family: a story of faith, land, kinship, and survival through the violence of the Jim Crow era.
The book gathers true accounts passed down through generations that were never meant to be written down. Drawn from decades of research, the book rescues true stories of ancestors before they were lost for good: stories of people who endured injustice and displacement, yet met it with character, faith, and a stubborn sense of humor.
Inside, readers will find family tragedy and ghost stories, faith healers and moonshiners, traditional hymns and mountain folkways, all set against the rugged landscape of the mountains in Southwest Virginia. Courthouse records, family interviews, photographs, and oral tradition anchor every account in fact, told with genuine love for the Appalachian people who lived it.
Ryan did not live to see this book published. What he left behind is a rescued record of people who refused to disappear, and a debt of memory now paid.
