Legacy of
VICTORIA A. CASEY McDONALD
Daughter of Appalachia • Teacher • Preacher • Author • Community Historian • Preservationist
SHE PRESERVED THE STORY.
Victoria A. Casey McDonald understood something powerful: a community's history can disappear when no one accepts responsibility for carrying it forward. Born in 1943 to Estus and Derosette Casey in Peter's Bluff, a Black community of Cullowhee, North Carolina, she spent her life in Jackson County listening, teaching, documenting, and preserving stories that might otherwise have been lost.
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.
Meet Victoria
Rooted in Western North Carolina
Her story begins in Peter's Bluff, a Black community of Cullowhee, North Carolina, and extends across Jackson County through classrooms, churches, homes, archives, and the mountains themselves. For Victoria, place was never just a backdrop. It was where the people she loved and documented lived, worked, worshiped, and built their lives.
The Educator
Education was one of the ways Victoria transformed preservation into action. Knowledge was not meant simply to be collected. It was meant to be shared, discussed, taught, questioned, and placed into the hands of another generation. Her legacy as a teacher continues in the students, families, and communities who still carry what they learned from her.
BEFORE “AFFRILACHIA” HAD A NAME, VICTORIA WAS ALREADY PRESERVING ITS STORIES.
SHE DIDN'T NEED A NEW TERM TO KNOW THE PEOPLE WERE HERE.
SHE KNEW THEIR NAMES.
SHE KNEW THEIR STORIES.
AND SHE UNDERSTOOD THAT THEY DESERVED TO BE RECORDED.
Victoria Casey McDonald Legacy Project
The Victoria Casey McDonald Legacy work exists to ensure the materials, stories, artwork, history, knowledge, and contributions connected to Victoria are not simply stored, but intentionally preserved and made useful for future generations.
The Archive Experience
JUST OVER THE HILL
Black Appalachians in Jackson County, Western North Carolina
AFRICAN AMERICANS OF JACKSON COUNTY
From Slavery to Integration, A Pictorial History
LIVING IN THE SHADOW OF SLAVERY
Historical fiction
UNDER THE LIGHT OF DARKNESS
Love and Marriage in the Antebellum South for Slaves
Voices About Victoria
“Victoria received local and statewide recognition for her work as a teacher, preacher, and community historian. Her legacy lives in the students she taught, the stories she preserved, and the people who continue to learn from her work.”
Living Legacy Stories
THE WORK THAT CONTINUES TO SPEAK
The Historian
THE WORK THAT CONTINUES TO SPEAK
JUST OVER THE HILL preserves a collection of short narratives illuminating African American life in Jackson County and Western North Carolina educators, soldiers, factory workers, ministers, athletes, and community members whose lives collectively help tell the story of Black Appalachia. She documented people history could have otherwise overlooked. First published in 2012, the book was republished in Spring 2022 by the University of North Carolina Press, extending its reach to new readers and classrooms.
The Artist
The Story Keeper
Black Appalachia
Before “Affrilachia” had a name, Victoria was already preserving its stories. Long before the term was coined, she spent decades gathering, documenting, and preserving the stories of her family, neighbors, and Black community in Jackson County, Western North Carolina. She didn't need a new term to know the people were here. She knew their names. She knew their stories. And she understood that they deserved to be recorded.
Family
Mother → Daughter
The Work Lives On
The Victoria Casey-McDonald Legacy Project exists to ensure that Victoria’s materials, stories, artwork, history, knowledge, and contributions are preserved, organized, shared, taught, and used to build future possibility.
Public Art & Public Memory
Moving stories from private memory and archival spaces into public landscapes so communities can encounter them together.
From Archive to Education
Transforming preserved documents and stories into resources that educators, students, and communities can learn from.
Living Legacy Stories
Editorial stories about Victoria, her work, Black Appalachia, family, community, and how her legacy continues to create possibility.
Legacy in Motion
She preserved the story. She gave Black Appalachia a record. The record continues to teach.