Evans Gaye Political Consciousness 1

Gaye Evans was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she has been a community activist since the 1970s. She out-migrated to California in the 1960s, where she came into contact with the anti-war and Women’s movements. She returned to Tennessee in the 1970s, and within a few years began working for the Commission on Religion in Appalachia (CORA) and later served as the executive director of the Appalachian Community Fund. Here she discusses growing up in Knoxville in the 1950s, her journey to California, and her first encounters with the anti-war, counter-cultural, and Women’s movements, as well as her ongoing work for social justice in Appalachia.