BLACKEY, Ky. (WYMT) – Malcolm J. Wilson, of Blackey, won the 2024 East Kentucky Leadership award for Media and Technology.

Wilson said he believes capturing photos is in his DNA. He added at age three he would trot around his hometown of Cumberland, Kentucky with an empty film camera.

However, he said something happened at 6-years-old that shifted his focus as he heard something he had never heard before.

“He no longer had his Appalachian accent,” Wilson said. “He was Pronouncing every syllable.”

He said his dad’s friend had moved away and one day stopped at their home for dinner. However, Wilson said the change in his father’s friend confused him and he vividly remembers running to his father after dinner to ask him what happened.

“He said son, Theodore is ashamed of where he came from. He doesn’t want people in Louisville to know that he is from these Appalachian Mountains. He said don’t you ever be ashamed of where you come from. Don’t you ever be ashamed of these Appalachian Mountains,” Wilson said. “It became the catalyst for everything that I did in my life. That was pouring the foundation to make Malcolm Wilson who Malcolm J. Wilson is.”

Malcolm said he has spent his life with the goal of telling the truth of the misunderstood Appalachian people.

“We all have to fight. We have to fight now only here inside Appalachia. We have to fight for jobs and for environment and clean water and now we have to fight the drug problem. But then we also have to fight the rest of the country for what they think we really are and we’re not,” he said.

Malcolm and his late wife Jennifer worked together on a project that gained a large audience around the world. It was called, “Humans of Central Appalachia.”

They told the stories of Appalachian people through pictures and video. However, when she passed Malcolm said he could not keep the project going without her and his focus shifted.

He began working with students in the region. He started teaching kids the art of photography in hopes that they would love to tell the same truth he has worked to tell throughout his life.

When the July 2022 floods hit Eastern Kentucky Malcolm and his interns picked up their cameras to capture the stories. They began creating a list of needs and Malcolm made the decision to share the list with followers of his former project. He said he was amazed at the help they received as a designated UPS stopped in their community each day for several weeks with items on the list.

His photos were continuing to capture the hearts of his community around the world and make a difference.

“My work is not for pundits, critics or scholars. My work is of the people, by the people, for the people,” Malcolm said. “Something to balance how they feel about where they came from. To prevent the Theodore’s of the world from feeling like they have to change their voice.”

As Malcolm continues to write the next chapter, he said he is hopeful that one of his students will continue to write the book.

“It’s good to work with these kids. But I am hoping that at least one of these kids takes some of me,” he said. “When I’m gone has that same love for these mountains and this culture and keeps trying to spread the truth.”

The East Kentucky Leadership Conference will be held Thursday and Friday, April 25th and 26th, in Corbin.

Click here to learn more.

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