The Appalachian region and its people have historically been stereotyped by observers, with the basic perceptions of Appalachians painting them as backwards, rural, and anti-progressive. These widespread, limiting views of Appalachia and its people began to develop in the post-Civil War;[1] Those who "discovered" Appalachia found it to be a very strange environment, and depicted its "otherness" in their writing.[2] These depictions have persisted and are still present in common understandings of Appalachia today, with a particular increase of stereotypical imagery during the late 1950s and early 1960s in sitcoms.[3] Common Appalachian stereotypes include those concerning economics, appearance,[4] and the caricature of the "hillbilly."[3]
Perceived "otherness" was the driving force behind the early development of Appalachian stereotypes. When the "discoverers" of Appalachia encountered the region in the 1870s, they found what to them was a very strange environment. Many saw Appalachian otherness as a problem that needed an explanation. As groups like the missionaries worked to bring Appalachia into the mainstream, their writings and the writings of others generated a common view of Appalachia. The popular image of the region as an underdeveloped and exotic corner of America prompted a need to justify its otherness, and the rationalizations given for this image gave way to stereotypes of the region.[2]
While a general awareness of the Appalachia had existed, it was "discovered" by writers who helped form popularly accepted images of the region in the 1870s.[1][2] One of the earliest groups involved were missionaries who aimed to save Appalachians and introduce them into mainstream Protestantism. Their mission was formed from the ideals of Kentucky abolitionist John G. Fee—founder of Berea College—who developed the vision of the antislavery mountaineer. This vision spread, and was picked up by the American Missionary Association (AMA). Promotional literature emerged to support the AMA's missionaries and their operations such as churches and schools. While the writing called Appalachians Protestants, it depicted them as having different beliefs and values from mainstream Protestants. Missionaries saw them as worthy of being saved, but having critical faults such as poverty, excessive anger, and being without practical religion.[1]
The first inhabitants of the Appalachian region were Native Americans, such as the Powhatan, Saponi, Monacan, and Cherokee groups.[5] The people of Appalachia can trace their ancestral background from the large migration of Scotch-Irish where their ancestors used to live.[6]
The Scotch-Irish moved to the region, as well as the African-Americans who were set free from slavery.[7] The population kept on growing as more communities migrated to Appalachia. One of the biggest populations that the region ever recorded was around 1870 to 1950.[8]
Notably, the increased population growth resulting from the expansion of coal mining attracted various immigrants. [7] Despite there being hopes of providing a rich lifestyle to the coal mine workers, they lived under low life standards due to poverty.[7] Miners were paid by the ton of coal produced, instead of an hourly rate.[9] Due to this, the economy stayed poor and struggled to allow the region to prosper.
Pre–civil war era, the majority of the miners within the Appalachian region were of Irish, Scottish, or Welsh descent. As they struggled to deal with the low wage, workers started to create unions and benevolent societies. The Workingmen's Benevolent Society won some concessions regarding class tensions, insufficient wages, and poor living conditions, but none were enough to make significant differences. This generated violence from the miners. [9]
After the Civil War, violence arose between the people of the Appalachian region and the state militia, causing the deaths of hundreds.[9] Continued conflicts between the coal mine workers and the mine owners and operators caused massacres such as the Matewan massacre.
NPR describes the stereotypical portrayal of Appalachians as "children in sepia-toned clothes with dirt-smeared faces. Weathered, sunken-eyed women on trailer steps chain-smoking Camels. Teenagers clad in Carhartt and Mossy Oak loitering outside long-shuttered businesses."[7] Other common Appalachian stereotypes include inbreeding, poor dental hygiene, and wearing no shoes. [10]
According to Professor Roberta M. Campbell of Miami University Hamilton, the "stereotype of the backward, barefoot, poor white hillbilly" is the most common stereotype of Appalachian people.
The traditional Appalachian dialect and accent also comes with a slew of stereotypes and consequences for those who bear it. Those with Appalachian accents or who use Appalachian dialect are perceived to be less educated and less wealthy.[11] There is also the incorrect theory that Appalachian English is closely related to Elizabethan English, or that it has not progressed far past Elizabethan English.[12] These stereotypes harm the access to opportunities and impressions of Appalachian people outside of Appalachia. As a result of these negative stereotypes, thousands of people from the Appalachian region face judgment and intense scrutiny on a daily basis.[13]
During the appraisal called "Community Action in Appalachia" during the War on Poverty, it was found that the population of those who wanted a change in how they lived was split into two. The group helped provide community centers throughout Appalachia, with hopes of allowing individuals to become more educated and view other, newer technologies created by society. Some embraced the new ideals and modernism provided by the community centers, and others annexed them with the thought that government intervention was not needed within their area.[14] After the appraisal was finished, very little changed and development was recorded. Small instances across the counties, but nothing caused significant change.[14] This created a new view on Appalachia, and it caused many to believe that the Appalachians simply did not want to change and did not embrace new parts of modern society.
Most of these stereotypes come from things of the past. The rough look of those who live in the Appalachian region comes from times in the late 1800s when Appalachia was hit with a depression due to economic overexpansion, decrease in money supply, and a stock crash.[9] It also arises from the appearance of miners, who would come home looking very dirty and worn due to the conditions they were subjected to in the mines. After the appraisal "Community Action in Appalachia", the public started to view the region as underdeveloped and stuck in the past. Due to the fact that the region is heavily dependent on labor jobs, majority of people do not feel the need to go past a high school education, thus causing the stereotype that Appalachian individuals are uneducated.[15]
Discrimination against Appalachians is significant enough that some municipalities, such as Cincinnati, have enacted laws making it illegal to discriminate against peoples of Appalachian identity.[16] The Human Rights Ordinance policy was passed in 1992 by the City of Cincinnati, which explicitly proclaimed it forbidden to discriminate against characteristics such as race, national origin, sex and religion.[17][18] Before the policy was declared, the U.S. District Court declined the admission of Appalachians in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.[17]
Appalachia's social, cultural, and economic features establish an identity that consistently defines characteristics that infuse prejudices and distinguishes them from other minority groups. The Appalachians are often victims of locational prejudice, where people often discriminate against due to their location and where they identify as home. The people of Appalachia are stereotyped as the poor White minority, tending to fuse Appalachia into one community, one state, which would make Appalachia the third largest state in the nation due to population.[17]
Derogatory language against Appalachians includes the terms "Redneck" and "Hillbilly." These terms often come up in comedic use, stereotyped as the role of the "hillbilly fool".[19] The term "Hillbilly" was first coined in 1899, around the time coal industries made an appearance in the Appalachian communities.[20] In reference to Appalachia, the utilization of the word "Hillbilly" has become such a commonplace that the term is often used to characterize the sociological and geographical happenings of the area. A major example of this occurrence is the characterization of the emigration of residents of the Appalachian Mountains to industrial cities in northern, midwestern, and western states, primarily in the years following World War II as the "Hillbilly Highway". The term Redneck is often met with pride among mountain people.[20]
For many years, the term "Mountain Whites" existed as an official Library of Congress Subject Heading. Criticized for its false representation of Appalachia as a racially homogeneous region and because it was a term applied by outsiders to a group of people who do not necessarily identify as a specific ethnic group, it was replaced with the subject heading "Appalachians (people)".[21]
Within the region, discrimination against women is also a very big issue. Due to Appalachia being known for their coal mining industry it makes it difficult for women to find well-paying jobs. Many women have to settle for working "unskilled" labor.[22]