|
The
Case for Appalachian Studies
page 4
In
the coalfields of central Appalachia, industrial
development took an entirely different turn, and the
result has been a reaction quite distant from that of
other rural areas. In central Appalachia, most of
the land is owned by land-holding companies or coal
companies. Railroads were built into mine
locations and companies built entire towns or coal
camps to house the thousands of workers needed to run
the mines. Gradually, over a period of years,
local mountaineers were lured down from their farms to
the camps by the glitter of high wages and material
benefits. Unscrupulous land speculators and coal
operators cheated early settlers out of their lands by
convincing them to sign away their heritage for a few
dollars in periods of hard times or personal financial
crisis. Other thousands of workers and their
families were brought in by railroad car to work the
mines. The result is the most densely populated
rural area in the country where it is quite common to
find three or four thousand residents strung out along
a narrow hollow or roadway. In these settlements,
most of the people are dependent upon coal mining or
government subsidy for income.
Because they do
not own the land and because there is rarely space for
a garden, many have lost the traditional farming
skills. But despite the fact that some skills
have disappeared, the people have kept the attitudes
and values familiar to anyone traveling from one part
of the mountains to another. Along with these
values they have also clung to their own separate
identity - an approach to life which is quite distinct
from middle America. This fact can clearly be
seen in the large migrant colonies of the North where
thousands of mountain people have been forced to
migrate over the past 20 years as mines closed down and
small farmers were unable to meet mortgages or compete
with larger farms.
Despite the fact
that migrant families may be a thousand miles from
home, they retain the old family structures and the
same highly personalized relationships to the people
around them. It's not uncommon to talk with a
migrant who still defines "home" as the hills
of East Kentucky or Tennessee despite the fact that he
may have lived in Detroit or Chicago for past twenty
years. Certainly, anywhere mountain people have
settled, the easiest identifiable part of the culture
is the music - whether it be traditional mountain
ballads or the more modern bluegrass or country
music. But the cultural roots and the common
identity which form the basis for personal pride, go
much deeper than simply playing music. Along with
the Blacks, Appalachians form the largest single ethnic
group in America -- a fact even most Appalachians are
just beginning to realize.
next
- page 5
|