AMST 63 Junior Seminar
Fall 1997
Hillbilly Highway: Appalachia and America
Dr. David E.Whisnant Purposes of the Course:
- To introduce you to the history, politics, and culture of the Appalachian region
- To interrogate the pervasive cultural and other stereotypes associated with the region
- To explore the relationships between Appalachia and dominant discourses and institutions
Course materials list:Durwood Dunn, Cade's Cove: The Life and Death of a Southern Appalachian Community, 1818-1937
Ronald D. Eller, Miners, Millhands and Mountaineers
Steven Fisher, Fighting Back in Appalachia
Lon Savage, Thunder in the Mountains: The West Virginia Mine War 1920-21
David E. Whisnant, Modernizing the Mountaineer: People, Power, and Planning in Appalachia
David E. Whisnant, All That Is Native and Fine: The Politics of Culture in an American Region
Selected materials on reserve
Selected films [all titles mentioned are in Non-Print section of UNC undergraduate library]
Some General Online Resources:Appalachian Center at the University of Kentucky
Appalachian Film Workshop (Whitesburg KY) Homepage
East Tennessee State University's Archives of Appalachia
Southern Folklife Collection at UNC-CH (Wilson Library)
Library of Congress American Memory Collection
Virtual Reference Desk at UNC Libraries
American Studies Web (great place to start to find links on history, culture, race, class, region, labor, economics, politics, etc.)
Course Requirements:You will be responsible for completing the following components of work in the course. Percentages of your final grade for each component are indicated in parentheses.
1. You will make yourself an expert on one Appalachian county or city during the semester (see Instructions) [33%]. You will present the results of what you are learning in a series of mini-reports at indicated points during the semester.
Examples of final versions of some student projects Fall 1997:
2. You will take a mid-term examination that will cover all required readings and class discussions [20%].Joy Salyers on Carter County TN
Michael Murray on Wise County VA
Tracy Sloop on Roanoke VA
Paul Edwards on Letcher County KY
3. You will complete one small research project, using primarily World Wide Web materials [7%].
4. You will prepare carefully for class discussions, and participate actively in them [15%].
5. The final examination will count 25%/
Class SessionsThe following class sessions are grouped around five broad topics:
Defining the Region (5 classes)
1. Introduction
Population (6 classes)
Economy (9 classes)
Cultural Politics (3 classes)
Music (5 classes)2. Defining the Region I: How do you know when you are there?:
A map of 1696 showing "Apalatian" mountains
3. Defining the Region II: Questions That Are Useful, and Some That Are Not
National Geographic physical map of US showing Appalachian mountain chain
Color Landform Atlas of the United States [click on separate states for excellent topo maps, satellite maps, county maps]
Map of the Southern states of America [Russell 1795]
Topographical map of Appalachia (Ford, The Southern Appalachian Region: A Survey [1960])
A set of maps showing boundaries of "Appalachia" by counties, as established at various times, for various purposes, 1921-1967 (prepared by Lynne Degitz, UNC Ctr. for Teaching and Learning):John C. Campbell (1921)
U.S. Department of Agriculture (1935)
President's Appalachian Regional Commission [PARC] (1964)
Appalachian Regional Commission definition (1965)
Appalachian Regional Commission [ARC] (1967)
COMPOSITE MAP OF THESE FOUR
Alabama
Georgia
Kentucky
Maryland
Mississippi
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Tennessee
Virginia
West Virginia
4. Population I: The First Appalachian People: the Cherokees and others
Map of pre-contact cultural areas
5. Population II: White Mountaineers: Who came, from where, and when?
Map of federally owned lands in US, including Indian reservations
Tribes by states map index [clickable]
Map of state populations of native Americans
Maps of Cherokee lands at different historical periods
A map of that part of Georgia occupied by the Cherokee Indians [n.a. 1831]
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Windows on Native Lands, Current Places, and History
Index of Native American Sources on the Internet [a huge links page]
A good brief Cherokee history [two parts]
The official homepage of the Cherokee Nation Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Western North Carolina.
Cherokee Messenger newspaper
A very nice Cherokee Links Page [lots of good, interesting links]
Cherokee John G. Burnett’s Story of the Removal (1890)
Prehistoric people of the Kanawha Valley in West VirginiaDunn, Cade's Cove:
Draft #1 of City/County report due [See Instructions]
Chap. 1: Settlement and Early History, pp. 1-22
Chap. 2: The Impact of the Wilderness, pp. 23-62
Early immigration routes (map)
Great Philadelphia Wagon Road map
Map of location of Cade's Cove in Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Contemporary photo of Cade's Cove
The Hensley Settlement in Bell County KY6. Economy I: The Preindustrial Economy and the Buying/Selling of the Mountains
Eller, Miners, Millhands and Mountaineers:
7. Music I: Ballads
Chap. 2 : A Magnificent Field for Capitalists, pp. 39-85
Dunn, Cade's Cove:
Chap. 3: The Market Economy, pp. 63-98
Maps that are useful:Railroad map of the United States [DeBow 1851]
Appleton's railway map of the southern states [Appleton 1865]
Railway & county map of the Southern states [Mendenhall 1863]
Appleton's railway map of the Southern states [Appleton 1874]Dunn, Cade's Cove:
8. Economy II: Turnpikes, Hot Springs, and Railroad Hotels: Early Tourism
Chap. 5: The Civil War, pp. 123-42 [check this web site also: Cade's Cove in the Civil War]
Chap. 6: The Folk Culture, pp. 143-78
Suggested film: Appalachian Film Workshop, Fixin' to Tell About JackThe Conservation Movement, 1847-1920
9. Defining the Region III: Mountaineers in Genteel Magazines: Local ColorMary N. Murfree, "The Dancin' Party at Harrison's Cove" [reserve]
10. Economy III: Tumult on the Mountains: LumberingCopy work sheet on the story. Use to aid your reading, and bring to class discussion.
Dunn, Cade's Cove:
Mary Murfree, In the Tennessee Mountains (1884) (full-text web version)
Chap. 7: Family Life and Social Customs, pp. 179-200Warren Steel's Sacred Harp Page
Historical introduction to shape-note singing
About the Sacred Harp book (continuously in print since 1844)
What are the shapes and why? (explains the shape-note system)Eller, Miners, Millhands and Mountaineers:
11. Music II: Fiddle tunes
Chap. 3: The Last Great Trees, pp. 86-127Early logging with horses (1903)
Very large log from early logging operations
Huge chestnut tree (before 1937)
Forest workers with huge tree cut in eastern Kentucky in the 1920s
Logging camp in West Virginia (from Clarkson, Tumult on the Mountains)
Diagram of steam skidder used to drag logs to loading area (from Clarkson, Tumult on the Mountains)
Loading logs on train in West Virginia (from Clarkson, Tumult on the Mountains)
Log rafts assembled to go downstream in West Virginia (from Clarkson, Tumult on the Mountains)
West Virginia Lumber Company yard (from Clarkson, Tumult on the Mountains)
Moving houses from lumber camp after stand has been cut (from Clarkson, Tumult on the Mountains)Some web pages to check out:
12. Economy IV: Birth and Growth of the Coal IndustryOld-time fiddler Clyde Davenport(south central Kentucky)
Films at UNC:
Nineteenth century minstrel show advertisements
Example of a minstrel show tune in the fiddle repertoire ("Liza Jane")
"Every Time I Turn Around Rite, Reversal, and the end of blackface minstrelsy" (Jim Comer ) (material on elements of minstrelsy)
Vassar Clements homepageThe Old Time Music Maker, Melvin Wine (V4134; 27 min.): a West Virginia fiddler
Draft #2 of City/County report due [See Instructions]
Sprout Wings and Fly (V1804; 28 min.; 1983): traditional fiddler from Round Peak area of NC, with revival players
Texas Style (V4149; 28 min.; 1987): to help you compare Texas style and repertoire with southeastern stylePictorial essay on coal mining in the 19th-century United States (Anthracite fields of PA; Ohio State University Department of History)
13. Defining the Region IV: Yellow Journalism and the Feuds
Directors and friends inspect property of Elkhorn Mining Corp., Fleming, KY, May 15, 1914.
Eller, Miners, Millhands and Mountaineers:
Chap. 4: The Ascendancy of Coal, pp. 128-60
Chap. 5: Life in the Company Towns, pp. 161-98
Chap. 6: Profits and Power: The Coal Barons, pp. 199-224Coal Fields of the Conterminous United States [clickable map]
Time line on development of the coal industry
Pictorial Essay on Coal Mining in the Nineteenth Century (prepared by History Department, Ohio State University)
Coal Mining in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (prepared by the History Department, Ohio State University)
Library of Congress American Memory Collection [search on "coal miners" (photos and prints only)]
Map of Kentucky coal-producing areas
Kentucky Geological SurveyPaper assignment: From data available on the MSHA sites below, write a 3-5 pp. paper on what you conclude to be some of the most important facts about, trends, and changes in coal mining health and safety since 1931. Paper is due at class #15
Brief history (by MSHA) of mine safety and health legislation
Legislative history (by MSHA)
Federal Mine Health and Safety Act [PL 91-173} was passed in 1977)
Historical data on mine disasters
Historical coal mining statistics (production, injuries and deaths, etc.)
Dunn, Cade's Cove:
14. Population III: Churches
Chap. 8: Government, Law and Politics, pp. 201-19
The Hatfield-McCoy Feud: "Devil Anse" Hatfield and family, 1897
Contemporary survivals of the feud iconography and myth:Reference in contemporary press (Associated Press article in Salt Lake Tribune)
The Feud ("punkabilly band")
Hatfields & McCoy's Home Brew Supplies Lincoln, NebraskaDunn, Cade's Cove:
15. Cultural Politics I: All That Is Native and Fine: Settlement Schools and Festivals
Chap. 4: Religion and the Churches, pp. 99-122
Whisnant, Modernizing the Mountaineer:
Chap. 1: The Council of the Southern Mountains, pp. 3-39
Recommended film: Appalachian Film Workshop, In the Good Old Fashioned Way (1973)
Links to some denominations that figure prominently in the region (sites I could find; absence of a denomination from this list does NOT mean it does not operate or is not important):Assemblies of God (Pentecostal)
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons)
Jehovah's Witnesses
Southern Baptists
Primitive Baptists
United Methodist ChurchWhisnant, All That Is Native and Fine:
16. Economy V: Bloody Harlan and Blair Mountain: The UMWA and the Mine Wars
Introduction, pp. 5-16
Chap. 1: Culture and Social Change at Hindman Settlement School, pp. 17-101
Paper due on historical coal mining statistics (class 12 material above)Lon Savage, Thunder in the Mountains: The West Virginia Mine War, 1920-21
17. Mid-term examination (Tuesday, October 14)
Recommended film: Appalachian Film Workshop, Dreadful Memories: The Life of Sarah Ogan Gunning (1988)Labor history time line
Matewan Historic District (with links to Battle of Matewan and the mine wars
Lon Savage's Battle of Matewan home page
Battle of Matewan
Matewan War Links
United Mine Workers of America home page
Labornet(large site; general labor resources)
Democratic Socialists of America Labor Activists Home Page (a rich site with many links to alternative/left views, labor organizations, publications, films, racial and gender issues)
Labor and workplace issues on the American Studies Web (searchable)Adam Winkel mid-term exam
FALL BREAK18. Music III: String Bands
String bands [Site in Southern Historical Collection, UNC-CH. Many interesting links.]
19. Population IV: Non-whites
Commercial hillbilly string band of the 1920s
Thumbnail history of the banjo
Banjo timeline
Banjo bibliography
Introduction to bluegrass music
BR5-49 "Living Legends of Hillbilly Music"(contemporary "hillbilly beatnik" band)View before class: Appalachian Film Workshop, Evelyn Williams (1995)
20. Cultural Politics II: L'il Abner and Other Hillbillies: Print and material culture stereotypesWhisnant, All That Is Native and Fine:
21. Economy VI: Strip Away, Big D-9 Dozer: Technological Change and Decline in the Coal Industry
Chap. 2: The Cultural Work of Olive Dame Campbell, 1908-1948, pp. 103-80
Recommended film: Appalachian Film Workshop, Strangers and Kin (1984)
Hickland on the Web (WARNING: some parts are offensive)
A must see hillbilly site: (located by Joy Salyers)
L'il Abner and other cartoons
Hillbilly Hercules
Hillbilly's Redneck Rampage HomepageFisher, Fighting Back in Appalachia:
22. Population V: Hillbilly Highway: Outmigration
Bingman, "Stopping the Bulldozers," pp. 17-30Peabody Coal Company stripmining shovel
Allen, "Save Our Cumberland Mountains," pp. 85-100
"Reseeding" operation on stripmined hillside
Photograph of auger mining operation
Recommended films:
Appalachian Film Workshop, On Our Own Land [stripmining]
Appalachian Film Workshop, Coal Mining Women [women coal mining workers]
Appalachian Film Workshop, Mine War on Blackberry Creek [1980s strike against A. T. Massey Co.]
Appalachian Film Workshop, Justice in the Coalfields [current labor law cripples collective bargaining]
Buffalo Creek WV flood (1972) caused by negligent stripmining practices (West Virginia Library Commission site)
Draft #3 of City/County report due [See Instructions]
View before class: Appalachian Film Workshop, Long Journey Home (1987)
23. Music IV: Commercial Country Music and Appalachia
Alford, "A New Appalachian Migration?" Columbus Dispatch
Appalachian metropolitan areas
Degree of urbanization, by county
Map of Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine area (Appalachian receiving area 1950ff.; now gentrifying)
Newspaper story on NC Appalachian outmigrant's play performed for Appalachian boys in a youth correctional home in OH
Columnist Karen Samples, who covers Appalachian affairs for the Cincinnati EnquirerWhisnant, All That Is Native and Fine:
Chap. 3: The White Top Folk Festival, 1931-1939, pp. 181-252
Recommended films:
Appalachian Film Workshop, Lily May Ledford (1988)
Appalachian Film Workshop, Morgan Sexton: Banjo Player from Bull Creek (1991)Brief, very selective history of country music
24: Economy VII: Federal Development Programs (1)
Good links to established artists
Country Music [a good place to start for the current scene]
A huge site of contemporary country performers' home pages
Country Music in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Western Europe
Music City NewsWhisnant, Modernizing the Mountaineer:
25. Economy VIII: Federal Development Programs (2)
Chap. 2: The Tennessee Valley Authority, pp. 43-69
Dunn, Cade's Cove:
Chap. 9: Progressivism and Prohibition, pp. 221-40
Tennessee Valley Authority (1933-) [click "About Us" button]
The Blue Ridge Parkway virtual visitor's centerWhisnant, Modernizing the Mountaineer:
Chap. 4: Appalachia and the War on Poverty, pp. 92-125
Chaps. 5-6: The Appalachian Regional Commission, pp. 126-82
Recommended film: Appalachia: Rich Land, Poor People (1968; 59 min.; V1383)County profiles for NC counties (last 5 years)
26. Economy IX: Later Tourism
Appalachian Regional Commission poverty areas by census tract
Poverty in Appalachia in 1990 (map)
Unemployment in Appalachia in 1992 (map)
Distressed/Strong Counties in Appalachian Economy 1995
Facts and Statistics on Poverty in America (1993)
Draft #4 of Report on City/County due [See Instructions]
Dunn, Cade's Cove:
Chap. 10: Death by Eminent Domain, pp. 241-54
Epilogue, pp. 255-57Brief writing assignment:
27. Defining the Region V: Revisionist Paradigms
Go to the National Park Service "Enhanced Cade's Cove Pages":
Click on "Cultural History." Read this page carefully and compare the NPS interpretation of Cade's Cove and its history with what you have learned from Durwood Dunn's book and from this course. Write a 4-6 pp. paper presenting your observations and analysis.
Fisher, Fighting Back in Appalachia:
Glen, "Like a Flower Slowly Blooming: Highlander and the Nurturing of an Appalachian Movement," pp. 31-56
Banks, Billings, and Tice, "Appalachian Studies, Resistance, and Postmodernism," pp. 283-301
Fisher, "Conclusion: New Populist Theory and the Study of Dissent in Appalachia," pp. 317-38National Committee for the New River (New River News)
28. Population VI: "From Fussin' to Organizing": Individual vs.Organized Opposition
Western North Carolina Alliance [activist environmental group: nuclear waste and other issues]Fisher, Fighting Back in Appalachia:
29. Music V: Music of Opposition and Revitalization
Cable, "From Fussin' to Organizing: Individual and Collective Resistance on Yellow Creek," pp. 69-84
Sessions and Ansley, "Singing Across Dark Spaces: The . . . Takeover of Pittston's Moss 3," pp. 195-224
Anglin, "Engendering the Struggle: Women's Labor and Traditions of Resistance," pp. 263-282
Recommended film: Appalachian Film Workshop, Chemical Valley (1991)
This film draws a comparison between the disaster at Union Carbide's Bhopal, India plant and their plant at
Institute, WV, which manufactures the same chemical. Extensive interviews with Institute residents.Fisher, Fighting Back in Appalachia:
30. Cultural Politics III: Appalachia in Hollywood FilmsCarawan, "Sowing on the Mountain: Nurturing Cultural Roots . . . ," pp. 245-62
Foster, "Politics, Expressive Form, and Historical Knowledge," pp. 303-16
Williamson, Southern Mountaineers Filmography
The Internet Movie Database [searchable]Note on final examination
Some sample titles of hillbilly films:
The Scarlet Drop [a.k.a. Hill Billy] (1918)
The Hill Billy (1924)
Hillbilly Blitzkrieg (1942)
Hillbilly Hare (1950)
Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967)
The Las Vegas Hillbillys (1966)
The Legend of Hillbilly John (1973)
Copyright 1997 by David E. Whisnant