Appalachia

In chapter XIV of Our Southern Highlanders, Horace Kephart delves into the reasons why the inhabitants of Appalachia accepted solitude and also analysing their family ties, customs, holidays and religious traditions. “The Law of the Wilderness” is composed of seven pages each dealing with a different topic, a good amount of information fills the pages providing a good insight into the minds and the way of living of the Appalachian inhabitants. From isolation to religious beliefs through some…

romanticizes a simpler time that takes place in old Appalachia. Robert Morgan, the author of the Gap Creek, shares his love for Appalachia heritage by depicting a story of a strong-willed girl named Julie. Although the exact time period is not provided, we know that it takes place sometime after the invention of trains but before the invention of automobiles. Furthermore, there is not much mention of the outside world around them. In the Gap Creek, southern Appalachia heritage is represented by…

The particular elements that comprise status groups are lifestyles or “the set of conventions and traditions that they have” (Hurst 69). Next is their inclination to marry within their own respective ranks in their group. In addition to that, they overwhelmingly stress the action of interacting intimately with only people that reside within their status group. Moreover, they also characterize themselves by frequent monopolization of economic opportunities, or reassuring their social dominance by…

J.D. Vance’s memoir entitled Hillbilly Elegy, is a captivating story that elucidates his tussle, toleration, and triumph of growing up a “hillbilly” in the Appalachian region of America. This region runs through eastern North America, stretching from Alabama to New York and covering every hillbilly neighborhood in between. Vance, a proud hillbilly himself, grew up in this region, but spent a majority of his time in Jackson, Kentucky and Middletown, Ohio. Vance begins his memoir by describing his…

the early 1960s to a region that was already economically disadvantaged, President Lyndon B Johnson made Appalachia the center of his plan “The War on Poverty” (McGreal 2015). At the time of Johnson, half of the population could not read or write (McGreal 2015). Although the poverty rate has dropped, Appalachia still has problems. Today, 33.1% of the population living in some parts of Appalachia dropped out of high school (McGreal 2015). The number of employed people, in eastern Kentucky, fell…

fourteen percent of the people living in Oak Hill have a bachelor’s degree or higher. Unfortunately, the deficiency in educational opportunities and the shortage of business and industry has led to many of my peers living in poverty. Poverty, in the Appalachia area, has created the need for volunteerism. Starting at the age of ten, I have worked at our local…

necessarily responsible for their situation, although are not helping their own cause. They are not helping themselves by staying in the same dying job market, they need to branch out learning skills towards a new profession. These rural areas like Appalachia were founded on industries that forged material item. Jobs that people depended on in this area were jobs like people a farmer, sharecropper, steel factory worker, coal miners and etc. Throughout the entirety of the 1900s, these jobs were…

cheap source of labor. He then goes on to talk about the American Revolution later but only for a few pages, he however does not take into the account the perspectives of the colonists. Walter Nugent’s “Habits of the Empire” first chapter “Trans-Appalachia” explains in detail how the colonists acquire land before, during and after the Revolution. He goes into little detail of land acquisition like Louisiana Purchase, Quebec Act and Proclamation Line of 1763. Walter Nugent takes a neutral side of…

Brady Price Mrs. Gillum English 11A 16 May 2018 Appalachian Mountain Appalachian refers to a largely rural people who reside in the southern Appalachian region covering about 110,000 square miles in the states of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. Appalachian are spread through the Appalachian Mountains in nine states. This area consists of three physiographic regions. The Blue Ridge Mountains, with the highest peaks in…

After the Seven Years’ War broke out in Europe, America was on the verge of having a war of its own. The root of this conflict started over disputed ownership of the Ohio River Valley, (which was an important area, because it contained the Ohio River which could greatly increase trade in the colonies). Both England and France claimed the area. Soon this argument over the ownership of the Ohio River Valley, paired with an already existing war between the two powers in Europe led to the French and…