Appalachian Images

In the U.S., “Appalachia” has long been associated with white people of Ulster Scots origin, English speakers from Northern Ireland. The area has the image of poverty, low-paying jobs, low levels of education, poor sanitation, the production of illegal “moonshine” (whisky), and fast-paced mountain music. The people who lived in this area referred to themselves as “just plain folk” but by the turn of the 20th century, outsiders began referring to them as “hillbillies.”

On the surface, the term “hillbilly” simply meant “a person who lives in the hills,” but gradually the term became a term of contempt, suggesting a lazy white who dresses in mismatched and worn-out clothing, acts anyway he or she wants, rarely works, spends days drinking whisky, hunting, carving wood, playing the fiddle, and generally has no sense of etiquette. This stereotype of the “hillbilly” was used to ridicule the native population of Appalachia as lazy and inept—barely one step above the broadly discriminated against black Americans.

 In reality, the people of Appalachia were hard-working; independent-minded, if not highly educated; skilled at making their own tools, houses, and clothing; and sharp in their dealings in the local bartering economy. And the people of Appalachia were not just whites from Scotland, Ireland and England. They included remaining members of Cherokee tribes, black people, Germans, Swiss, and a mixed-heritage group called Melungeons. While some locals did make moonshine, it was not for their own consumption but to be used to earn badly-needed cash to support their families.

(250 words)