What do people in Tupelo, Mississippi, and Ithaca, New York, have in common? Are the Appalachian region's biggest cities - Pittsburgh, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Birmingham - really that much alike? Do coal miners in central Pennsylvania and farmers in north Georgia really share many values?
The answers might surprise you. But for the sake of space we'll say just that there ARE common cultural themes that run the length of the Appalachian Mountains - lots of them.
Those themes are based on similarities in lifestyle which themselves often rest on economic, environmental, or historic factors that characterize the region as a whole:
- People in Appalachia are twice as likely to be rural as the rest of the nation.
- Coal and mining dominate much of the economy from Pennsylvania to Alabama.
- The difficulty of travel through the mountain has (until recently) promoted isolationism and self-reliance as important cultural values.
- Much of the Appalachian population shares a common Scotch-Irish ancestry.
The shared Scotch-Irish ancestry probably served as a rich source of cultural fodder; mountain geography alone is not the only source of self-reliance and independence in the Appalachian personality.
Historic images of the mountain people are powerful. The Matewan, W.V., mine wars, the Molly McGuires of the early union movement, and the Hatfields and the McCoys provide deep (and sometimes one-sided) insights into the Appalachian psyche. Movies like "Deliverence" cement the images in the public mind. And "The Beverly Hillbillies" pokes fun at it.
The music of Appalachia has also left a deep mark on the rest of America - from Bill Monroe and Loretta Lynn to many of the stars of today. A drive down Patty Loveless Blvd. in Elkhorn, Kentucky, brings home the meaning of the word "rural". John Michael Montgomery, the Judds, Kathy Mattea, Dolly Parton, ...the list goes on. Appalachia's music touches the nation. The banjo and the mandolin, the fiddle and the dulcimer - everyone knows the sound of the hills.
But not all of the music is country. Aretha Franklin got her start in the southern Appalachian town of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Elvis was born in Appalachian Mississippi.
Go To Page: 1 2
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Greg Cruey's Appalachia topic, please visit the Discussions page.