Appalachia's Social Problems

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson declared an unconditional war on poverty in the United States and the most photographed area was the Appalachia region. Many of the photographs intentional or not, became a visual definition of the Appalachia region. The images have drawn from the poorest areas and people to gain support for the war on poverty, but came to represent the entirety of the region. The point of the Looking at Appalachia project is to explore the diversity of Appalachia and to establish a visual counter point. (Home - Looking at Appalachia.) The three images I am going to analyze are challenge some of the stereotypes put on the Appalachia region. I believe my images challenge the stereotype that all Appalachian people do is work hard, go to church, and don’t have time for anything besides those two things.

Southern Appalachia alone includes three hundred counties covering most of West Virginia and the Southern Highlands or Upland South. The mountains form a natural barrier between the eastern Coastal Plain and the vast Interior Lowlands of North America. As a result, they have “played a vital role in the settlement and development of the entire continent.”

Growing up in Appalachia is unlike growing up anywhere else in the world. Appalachia is a region that is often the focus of negative media and cruel, sadistic stereotypes. Appalachia

Being known as the region synonymous with destitution and home to some of the pauperized counties in the country, Appalachia has always been hidden from or sort of isolated from the rest of the world because of their geographic location. The people of Appalachia are often seen as unintelligent and less civilized than other Americans as they were less developed and not exposed to the commercial world. Because of

     Appalachia is no longer the land of severe poverty that it was three decades ago, now the poverty rate of one in 15 is close to the national average. The number of adults who have received a high school diploma has also jumped from one out of three to two out of three; and the infant death rate has been

Appalachia, a vast, beautiful panoply of lush green mountains. At least, most of the thin line of peaks that make up the Appalachian Mountains used to be that way. Currently, the continued spread of a method of coal extraction known as mountaintop removal mining has plagued areas of the eastern United States, mainly including the state of West Virginia. Throughout its increasing stages of implementation, mountaintop removal mining has caused numerous hampering effects, including causing serious harm to nearby residents, and polluting a once-pure environment. Because of this, mountaintop removal mining needs to be limited in order to preserve the natural state of the Appalachian Mountains.

In the world of Appalachia, stereotypes are abundant. There are stories told of mountaineers as lazy, bewildered, backward, and yet happy and complacent people. Mountain women are seen as diligent, strong, hard willed, and overall sturdy and weathered, bearing the burden of their male counterparts. These ideas of mountain life did not come out of thin air; they are the direct product of sensational nineteenth century media including print journalism and illustrative art that has continuously mislead and wrongfully represented the people of Appalachia. These stories, written and told by outsiders, served very little purpose to Appalachian natives other than means of humiliation and degradation. They served mostly to convince readers of the

Naturally historic, beautiful and entertaining, the Appalachian Mountains have long represented a place where life could be lived simply. It is a different lifestyle with its own charm. It is a place where time seems to slow down, and where no population has perfected the skills quite like the friendly people of these storied mountains.

In Uneven Ground, the author Ronald D. Eller narrates the economic, political, and social change of Appalachia after World War II. He writes “persistent unemployment and poverty set Appalachia off as a social and economic problem area long before social critic Michael Harrington drew attention to the region as part of the “other America” in 1962.”(pp.2) Some of the structural problems stated by Eller include problems of land abuse, political corruption, economic shortsightedness, and the loss of community and culture; personally view the economic myopia as being the most daunting.

Appalachian Poverty Poverty is a global problem, and it has existed from the beginning of civilization. Hunger, homelessness, and lack of health care are major aspects of this world-wide dilemma. Many countries are in complete poverty and a majority are third-world countries. Within the United States of America, a land of plenty, there are also pockets of extreme poverty. Governments around the world are trying to solve this huge problem.

Daugneaux, Christine B. Appalachia: A Separate Place, A Unique People. Parsons: McLain Printing Company, 1981. Print.

What does this happen to Kentucky and not the rest of America? In order to respond to this question, one must analyze the lifestyle of Kentuckians. Poverty is the cause for most of cancer issues in Eastern kentucky. According to the Fahe, 25 percent of Appalachian Kentuckians live under the poverty line. Additionally, in 2014, there is a difference of $16,000 between the the average income of people in Appalachian kentucky and the rest of the United State.(Fahe.org) Those statistics demonstrate that the economic situation in Eastern Kentucky is terrible ,and people are desperate. Eastern kentucky is probably the worst place to live in the entire United States. According to the NY Times, six of the top ten poorest county are located in Eastern Kentucky; Clay county is the poorest of all. The regions has never been that pitiful; it all happened when coal mining was shut down. It was the source of revenue for most households. In this region, many men did not pursue education, instead they went to work in the coal mines before or right after high school. Therefore, the economy of the regions depended on one variable: coal mining, and now there is nothing left to the

Lexington, Ky: University press of kentucky. This book is about the development of Appalachia after the civil war. This book contains stories as well as a historical context to the narratives of the people. Ergood, B., & Kuhre, B. E. (1991). Appalachia: social context, past and present.

As a society, we expect everybody to follow our norms, rules and regulations. However, Appalachia seems to have its own set of norms. Although they may not consider them to be deviant, the normals and those in power probably would. One of the biggest problems in Appalachia is the leading agents of their society. During the documentary, we follow four different people, and we see their leading agents, which are their parents and families. Shawn’s mother sells pills, Jeremy follows his father-in-law down into the mines to provide for his fledgling family, Courtney’s mom is a high school dropout and Erica’s mom has been in and out of rehab constantly. How can these children break the cycle of poverty and deviance if they are learning and living

There are problems in cities too regarding healthcare access. Access such as emergency services, diagnostic equipment and medical specialist are problematic (Soroka,