On Tuesday, May 5, 2015, Dr. Melissa Sartore will discuss “Outlaws in West Virginia: War, Whiskey, and Wonder—and not a Robin Hood in Sight” in the Archives and History Library of the Culture Center in Charleston. The program will begin at 6:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
West Virginia is associated with outlaws and “outlaw activity” in the minds of many, in aspects of popular culture, and even in history books. Outlaws similarly evoke notions of Robin Hood-figures that fight injustice and give back to society despite breaking the law in doing so. There are very few indications, however, that any outlaws in West Virginia—John Brown and the Hatfields and McCoys, for example—were heroic. West Virginia’s relationship with outlaw behavior (such as fighting, bank robbery, and moonshining) reveals the complex relationship between law, culture, and justice in Appalachia while demonstrating how the definitions of outlaws shape and are shaped by our collective consciousness. Sartore will discuss outlaws in history and folklore as well as how West Virginia has fostered the outlaws it needs, Robin Hood or not.
Melissa Sartore received a B.A. and M.A. from Western Illinois University and her Ph.D. in medieval history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her dissertation, “Outlawry, Governance, and Law in Medieval England,” was recently transitioned into a book published in 2013. Sartore currently is an assistant professor of history at WVU-Tech.
On May 5, the library will close at 5:00 p.m. and reopen at 5:45 p.m. for participants only. For additional information, contact the Archives and History Library at (304) 558-0230.
