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In week one, we discussed the syllabus and premise of the class.

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Introductory Text

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Negative Outsider Depiction of Appalachia

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History

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Written By: Ben Cosgrove

The staggering range and sheer excellence of the late John Dominis' pictures-his Korean War coverage; his portraits of pop-culture icons like Sinatra, Redford and McQueen; his beautiful treatment of the "big cats" of Africa; his virile sports photography-place him firmly among the premier photojournalists of his day. But a lesser-known photo essay that Dominis shot for LIFE magazine, focusing on the plight of Appalachians in eastern Kentucky in the early 1960s, spotlights another aspect of the man's great talent: namely, an ability to portray the forgotten and the afflicted while never sacrificing the dignity of his subjects.

The extraordinary 12-page feature for the Jan. 31, 1964, issue of LIFE, titled "The Valley of Poverty" one of the very first substantive reports in any American publication on President Lyndon Johnson's nascent War on Poverty .

At the time, LIFE was arguably the most influential weekly magazine in the country, and without doubt the most widely read magazine anywhere to regularly publish major photo essays by the world's premier photojournalists. In that light, LIFE was in a unique position in the early days of Johnson's administration to not merely tell but to show its readers what was at stake, and what the challenges were, as the new president's "Great Society" got under way.

"The Valley of Poverty," illustrated with some of the most powerful and intimate photographs of Dominis' career, served (and still serves today) as an indictment of a wealthy nation's indifference.

As LIFE put it to the magazine's readers in January 1964:

In a lonely valley in eastern Kentucky, in the heart of the mountainous region called Appalachia, live an impoverished people whose plight has long been ignored by affluent America. Their homes are shacks without plumbing or sanitation. Their landscape is a man-made desolation of corrugated hills and hollows laced with polluted streams. The people, themselves often disease-ridden and unschooled are without jobs and even without hope. Government relief and handouts of surplus food have sustained them on a bare subsistence level for so many years that idleness and relief are now their accepted way of life. President Johnson, who has declared "unconditional war on poverty in America," has singled out Appalachia as a major target. . . . Appalachia stretches from northern Alabama to southern Pennsylvania, and the same disaster that struck eastern Kentucky hit the whole region the collapse of the coal industry 20 years ago, which left Appalachia a vast junkyard. It was no use for the jobless miners to try farming strip mining has wrecked much of the land and, in any case, the miners had lost contact with the soil generations ago. . . . Unless the grim chain [of unemployment and lack of education] can be broken, a second generation coming of age in Appalachia will fall into the same dismal life a life that protects them from starvation but deprives them of self-respect and hope.

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The War on Poverty in the Pages of LIFE: Appalachia Portraits, 1964

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Fifty years after LBJ declared a War on Poverty in America, LIFE presents a series of photos by John Dominis from eastern Kentucky in 1964.

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A graphic novel exploring the plight of the unionist coal miners in the early 20th century.

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Alumni and Retirees: Use your social media or email account. Emeriti, use “Employees/Students” above to log in.

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An interview where the current Vice President Vance (who wrote Hillbilly Elegy) discusses the book and his experience as a "hillbilly".

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Cosgrove, Ben. “The War on Poverty in the Pages of LIFE: Appalachia Portraits, 1964.” LIFE, 7 Jan. 2014, www.life.com/history/war-on-poverty-appalachia-portraits-1964/.

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“Shibboleth Authentication Request.” Proquest.com, 2025, ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/wvu/reader.action?docID=31224797&ppg=125&c=UERG. Accessed 8 Sept. 2025.

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C-SPAN. “Hillbilly and Elegy.” C-SPAN.org, C-SPAN, 17 July 2024, www.c-span.org/clip/qa/hillbilly-and-elegy/5124376. Accessed 8 Sept. 2025.

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During the second week of class, we discussed the geographical extent of Appalachia and worked to personally define our perspectives on Appalachia before delving into the class.

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In week three, we discussed the concepts of stereotypes and othering broadly, while also discussing how they influence Appalachian society and culture.

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In week four, we discussed the coal towns, and the union movement in Appalachia.

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Notes on Stereotyping (at large and specifically in Hillbilly Elegy) and Othering in general and within Appalachia.

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-an inherent and widespread issue that affects the entire system.

-EX: Crack v powder

-Systemic oppression, unjust treatment for unjust and arbitrary reasons

-Gov and culture perpetuate negative narratives about Appalachia to exploit paternalistic exploitation.

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Two general explanations

consequence of the structures we exist in

consequence of personal choice

Culture of Poverty Thesis by Oscar Lewis

resignation, fatalism, dependence, learned helplessness, powerlessness, difficulty in delaying gratification, present orientation

socially constructed by the poor to survive in impossible conditions

ignores nuance

Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Paulo Freire (1970)

norm is the banking method of passive learning

critical consciousness, the idea of being aware of what's happening to you, is an important takeaway from the work is You must have this to have an impact.

Privatization of resources (coal)

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-Coal companies built towns in a region that was isolated

-This made the residents dependent on the coal company

-Company store

-No competition leads to high prices

-Coal companies tried to balance local whites, local blacks, and immigrant families.

Organizing in coal company towns

-constant concern of owners

-low wages, scrips, etc lead to need for organizing

-Appalachians framed as other by mine owners, the mine owners depicted them as violent, uneducated, etc.

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-Traditionally, a union-dominated democratic region

-impacted by the industrial resources of the region

-weakening of United Mine Workers of America due to increased automation

-global rise of social conservatism

-move away from libertarian perspective

-focus on economic issues by republicans

ECONOMY

-decline of local industries to create jobs

ENVIRONMENT

-battle between extractive industries and preserving Appalachian nature

POVERTY

-disproportionate substance abuse and poverty in Appalachia

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 Deep and Deep & Wild: On Mountains, Opossums & Finding Your Way in West Virginia By Laura Jackson

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 Deep and Deep & Wild: On Mountains, Opossums & Finding Your Way in West Virginia By Laura Jackson

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Deep and Wild; Being West Virginian and Poor, Illiterate, and Strung Out (3)

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-Noticeably more Asians in urban areas and university towns.

-Many of the people being interviewed in the video had been adopted

-Many had experiences of being othered

-Some didn't feel like they understood the Asian experience compared to the Appalachian experience.

-Lonely experience

-Some had experiences of being bullied

-Covid opened up Asian Appalachians to racism

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UCLA Essay about Indigenous effect on Appalachian folklore

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UCLA Essay about Indigenous effect on Appalachian folklore

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Escholarship, escholarship.org/. Accessed 25 Sept. 2025.

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We discussed the Black and Asian experiences throughout Appalachia.

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Critique of Hillbilly Elegy

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My notes on the graphic novel Black Coal and Red Bandanas

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-Lewis H morgan argued that there were three stages of cultural evolution

-savagery to barbarism to civilization

-encouraged indigenous people to adopt aspects of white culture

-EX: Christianity, English Language, ETC

-Natives were forced to fit within ideas of the United States

-Jackson forced natives to be on federally managed land.

Indigenous Appalachia Today

Federal

-Seneca

-Cherokee of NC

-Choctaw of Mississippi

Being Indigenous

Self identifying as having Indigenous cultural identity

-Self identifying as having a familial cultural identity of an indigenous person

-tribal nation citizenship

-tribal membership

Settler Colonialism

-Involves large-scale settlement and establishment of a new society

- traditional colonialism focused on extraction of resources and labor

-system of elimination and dispossession with the goal of absorbing indigenous society

-replacement and permanence

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-Stories of UFOs, Men in Black, and “Indian curses” reflect indigenous and European folklore.

-Native history reframed as supernatural threats like Cornstalk’s Curse, perpetuating racism.

-Settler stories often erase humanity of Natives, reducing natives to a narrative tool.

-Mound builder myth used to deny Native accomplishments by inventing a lost white race.

-Indigenous "cryptids" like Thunderbird were turned into cryptids through cryptozoology.

-Mothman reflects a settler monster symbolizing guilt and fear of colonization and revenge taken by Natives.

-Men in Black around Point Pleasant are described with “Indian” features, showing how racism against natives still affects modern culture.

-Mythicized racism in Point Pleasant turned into tourism and profit.

-Myths in Appalachia can act as settler moves to innocence, easing guilt over Indigenous erasure.

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Copy of Guiding Question Sheet: LGBTQ+ Oral Histories in Appalachia

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Interview with Samuel Reid Gleaves, November 2, 2011

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Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries

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-Helen Compton said gays and lesbians "can't do what other people do."

-She started a gay bar using her life savings, it opened in 1969 in Bluefield, West Virginia.

-She also hosted first-ever drag show in Bluefield.

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M.S Reids "On the Study of Religion in Appalachia"

-explores how scholars interpret religion's roles in Appalachian life

-Religion is the most distinctly Appalachian social institution

-replaced extended family as a key institution post ww2

-most persistent social institution

-provides adaptation to modernization

Photiadis' structural-functional view

-argues that religion provides societal stability and that it's the social glue of society

Critiques of this perspective

-reduces religion to a tool of social stability

-ignores religions' spiritual and belief-based dimensions

-oversimplifies modern v traditionalist tension

subculture of poverty model

-earlier sociologists described Appalachia as a folk culture defined by puritanism, family feuds, and religion impeding progress

internal colonialism model

-An alternative model that focuses on Appalachia as a colony of the United States

-Outside interests exploit the region's people and resources'

-Religion can be viewed as an exploitive or resistant resource.

Takeaways

-Appalachian religion is complex

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We discussed race in Appalachia and it's effect on society.

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We discussed the influence of cryptids on Appalachian culture and how they resonate with the experience of Appalachian minorities, particularly natives.

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We discussed the LGBTQ+ community within Appalachia and used oral histories to draw conclusions about the broad experience of the community in Appalachia.

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We discussed the role of religion and Christian nationalism in Appalachia. Also discussed the experience of Muslims in Appalachia.

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-Kids relied on sports for entertainment in a poor town.

-Segregated schools, but kids of different races played together, residents claim no racial tension.

-Scotts run near Morgantown, which had a booming mine industry due to its proximity to Pittsburgh.

-Floods were very common; they would shut down the city, forcing the town to build a dam.

-Floods in 2009 and 1985.

-Kids would play in the creek.

-Only women teachers.

-Strong sense of community

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Discussion Guide on Christian Nationalism

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Discussion Guide on Christian Nationalism

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Discussion Guide "Christian nationalists set sights on tiny Jackson County, Tennessee"

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Medical

-Addiction is a chronic disease of the brain

-focuses on detox and medical treatment

-emphasizes evidence-based methods.

Faith Based

-Rooted in spiritual transformation and moral renewal

-Emphasizes surrender to a higher power and moral accountability

Community Based

-Centers on mutual support, storytelling, lived experience

-recovery seen as a collective journey

-community is central

Policy and systems approach

-focuses on making systems to shape recovery access

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We discussed addiction and systemic persecution against people who are addicted in Appalachia.

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-The U.S incarcerates more people per capita than any other nation, with 1.9 million locked up nationwide.

-In Appalachia, incarceration rates are often higher than the overall rate for the U.S.

-Jail is a local facility holding people awaiting trial, or serving sentences for less than a year.

-Prisons are state or federal and house those convicted of serious crimes.

-Not enough resources in prison and not enough housing in jail.

-Since 1980, 350 new prisons have been built in rural U.S.

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Art Brut

-Jean Dubuffet

-Direct and crude

-folk art

Outsider Appalachians

-Recycling overlap

-paternalism of captivity

-romanticization of isolation

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Folk Art

-Collective tradition

-community and heritage

-passed down over time

-functional

-shared cultural expression

-regional identity

outsider art

-vision of one person

-isolated

-both rely on self-taught creativity

-both uses found or recycled materials

-both are spiritual or visionary

Appalachian folk art specifically

-deep ties to place, faith, community

-diy aesthetic born from economic limitations

-oral and material tradition

-art as functional and expressive

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Prompt Responses to Two Chapters of Deep and Wild

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Prompt Responses to Two Chapters of Deep and Wild

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Prompt Three:

Focus on the language of labels (“poor,” “illiterate,” “strung out,” “West Virginian,” etc.)

How does the author describe the weight or consequences of these labels?

1. The author discusses the impact of these labels in depth, particularly in chapter one, when she discusses her college boyfriend from New York, and how his jokes about WV made her feel small and like she could never prove to him that a West Virginian could be as competent as someone from the North.

What nuance gets lost when outsiders use them?

2. When outsiders use pejorative stereotypes, the reason for the circumstances that create these stereotypes is lost. Decades of poverty and suppression are dumbed down to West Virginians being illiterate hicks.

Prompt Four

Consider how the author depicts community, family, or place.

1. The author depicts family, community, and place as essential facets of life. In terms of place, especially, she emphasizes the importance of regionality and also how the statewide community brings people together hundreds of miles away from the state.

How does this depiction differ from common media portrayals of Appalachia?

2. The author portrays West Virginia as being a state driven by one large sense of community, instead of the exceptionally common depiction that paints the state as being very tribalistic. I think that an example of this is the odd obsession with the Hatfield-McCoy feud out of state.

Prompt Five

Identify a story, perspective, or detail the author includes that you would not expect to see in mainstream representations of Appalachia.

1. I think the author's perspective of West Virginians being friendly and welcoming isn't something that is portrayed in the mainstream.

Why might that story remain invisible in public discourse?

2. People outside of Appalachia often present West Virginians in two ways: Disgruntled, angry coal miners or hostile and unwelcoming tribesmen. Therefore, portraying West Virginians as friendly, social, and welcoming people is something that falls outside of this narrative.

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In week eleven of class, we discussed incarceration, jail, and prison within Appalachia, partially by reading letters from inmates.

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In week twelve, we discussed outsider art, folk art, and how both manifest in Appalachia.

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In week Thirteen, we divided into groups to discuss our Appalachian exploration projects, offering feedback and critiques to each other.

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In week fourteen, we read a document that discussed state pride and the othering of West Virginians. We also prepared for and played a second round of the game we played earlier in the semester, this time focusing on the opioid epidemic.