Appalachia Assignment One

4. In the central mountain range of
Appalachia hundreds of children wake
up every day facing the possibility
that they will not have enough food to
eat, clothing to wear, medicine to
keep them healthy and blankets to
keep them warm. Almost 50% percent
of the population lives in extreme
poverty, and the area now fronts 37 of
the poorest 100 counties in the United
States. Poverty and a persistent
instinct towards survival at all odds is
a prominent aspect of Appalachian
culture. It was a prominent aspect of
the populous Scots Irish heritage. It is
perhaps what endeared these Anglo
Saxon immigrants to the runaway
slaves they found prominent in the
area during their early eighteenth
century migrations to the area.

5. The close-knit families that live here are among the
proudest of all Americas

6. These lofty mountains, born of the emerging Atlantic Ocean sea
floor buckling, as the African tectonic plate slammed up against the
North American plate hundreds of millions of years ago, are part of a
trans-hemispheric chain that finds itself “from Norway to the
Scottish highlands, across Ireland and Newfoundland extending to
the Atlas Mountains of North Africa.” (Furstenberg 2008)

7. It is no wonder that Appalachia is a patchwork of
cultural influences that make up the region. From the
Iroquois, Shawnee, and populous Cherokee
communities that were displaced by the large Scots-
Irish warrior class that ultimately subdued the natives,

8. to the large communities of free blacks who found in Appalachia
neither a plantation nor a region of the south that was enthusiastic
in their support of the Confederate cause.

9. The persistent stereotype of an ignorant in-bread community of
“hillbillies” popularized by movies like Deliverance (1971), and TV
shows like the Beverly Hillbillies (CBS 1962-1971) are demeaning
xenophobic representations of the worst kind. They betray the prolific
tapestry of a community whose rich cultural heritage rivals that of the
New Orleans in its influence upon American culture.

10. In the middle of the 19th Century,
Appalachia became a boom town for
coal mining companies and the rail
road industry. There were no
plantations in Appalachia and slave
labor was negligible or nonexistent
prior to the Civil War. Many Blacks
were themselves or the sons and
daughters of runaway slaves who
settled in this remote area which
appeared to have only a passing
concern for the goings on between the
blue and the grey. Many Black men
worked building the railroads. However
it is only until recent times that the
true influence of Black culture on
Bluegrass and Appalachian music has
been explicated.

11. As an isolated enclave and some
contend a colony even,
Appalachia became a center of
the moonshining industry during
prohibition. It was not
uncommon during the last half
of the 20th Century for it to
become a large center for
marijuana harvesting. Today it
has been plagued to a large
extent by methamphetamine.
Yet, from mining to moonshine
to methamphetamine, nothing
has seemed dampen the pride of
these people of the hills.

12. Little did I know that my own landlord who lives but a few
yards from my apartment is from the coal mining mountains of
Tennessee? She was raised in Ivey Dell just 42 miles east of
Knoxville. Barbra Jean left she says at the age of 16 with $2.00
and 3 pieces of chicken in her pocket.
Today I understand where her stellular pride and uncommon
decency come from.
She gave me the following recipe for Blueberry wine that was
past down through her family.

13. In some mountain families making
"Blackberry Wine" was a tradition.
The wine was usually served only for
special occasions.
Gather six to eight gallons of wild black-
berries wash them and put them in a big
container.
Mix in five pounds of sugar and cover the
container with a cloth, fastened securely
so that bugs can't get in but the mixture
can still breathe. Let sit for eight to ten
days. Then strain the mixture through a
clean cloth, squeezing the pulp so that all the juice is removed.
Measure how many gallons you have. For every gallon of juice, add one and a
half pounds of sugar. Let it work off. When it stops (bubbling has stopped on
top), strain it again and measure the juice, adding another one and a half
pounds of sugar to each gallon. When it finishes working this second time,
bottle it.

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