The 23/54 Project
Pulaski, Virginia
The 23/54 quilt on display at its unveiling celebration. Photo by Matthew Pickett.
Inspired by the twenty-three Black parents and fifty-four children who challenged racial discrimination in the NAACP’s 1947 equalization case of Corbin v. County School Board of Pulaski County, Virginia, this monument engages with the lived experiences of Black parents and caregivers in Pulaski, Galax, Wytheville, and Christiansburg Virginia.
Stories of courage, resilience, sacrifice, and power have been shared generationally within Black communities, yet have been marginalized and under-represented in public narratives of Appalachia.
“You can’t talk about Pulaski without talking about this history,” he says. “This is what makes this country.”
-Leon Russell, President, NAACP, at the 23/54 unveiling (Vinegar Hill Magazine, 2026)
The 23/54 monument challenges those narratives, coming together through formal oral history interviews, informal story-gathering events, community quilt making, online and touring exhibitions, and resource sharing for Appalachian communities interested in conducting similar processes in the future.
The physical monument, a handmade quilt, chronicles the collective struggles of Black Appalachians who maintained community networks throughout the 20th and 21st centuries despite rampant inequality and discrimination.
Community members participating in quilt design workshops. Photo by Cassie Ring.
A child looks at the 23/54 exhibit at the Calfee Community and Cultural Center, during the quilt’s unveiling
Monument Team
Michael Hickman
Clay Adkins
Jill Williams
Jessica Taylor
Keiona Henderson
Kamille Simon
Oluwatoni Ikhile
Kent Taylor
Jamie Raczynski
Tristan Hickman
Mariam Ismail
An illustration of the community gathering aspects of the 23/54’s quilting workshop. Illustration by Rebecca Steele.