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Missionaries to the Wilderness: a History of Land, Identity, and Moral Geography in Appalachia

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Missionaries to the Wilderness: a History of Land, Identity, and Moral Geography in Appalachia Washington and Lee University School of Law Washington & Lee University School of Law Scholarly Commons Scholarly Articles Faculty Scholarship Spring 2011 Missionaries to the Wilderness: A History of Land, Identity, and Moral Geography in Appalachia Jill M. Fraley Washington and Lee University School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/wlufac Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Jill M. Fraley, Missionaries in the Wilderness: A History of Land, Identity, and Moral Geography in Appalachia, 17 J. Appalachian Stud. 28 (2011). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Washington & Lee University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scholarly Articles by an authorized administrator of Washington & Lee University School of Law Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 28 MISSIONARIES TO THE WILDERNESS:AHISTORY OF LAND, IDENTITY, AND MORAL GEOGRAPHY IN APPALACHIA By Jill Fraley This article revisits the relationship between missionaries and Appalachian stereotypes, bringing to the discussion new developments in geographical theory and the intellectual history of ideas of wilderness. The article argues that missionary activities during the early twentieth century are best understood through their beliefs about wilderness and particularly about the moral climate of man within it. In this way the missionaries also contributed to the process of intermingling ideas about the land and the people and thereby contributed to the formation of a quasi-ethnic regional identity in the American public consciousness—and also substantially changed Appalachia by applying a set of hierarchical land values that stemmed from ideas about wilderness. Introduction 'XULQJ WKHHDUO\ VPLVVLRQDULHVIURPGR]HQVRIGHQRPLQDWLRQV DQGUHOLJLRXVJURXSVWUDYHOHGWR$SSDODFKLD³WRDQDUHDWKDWZDVYLUWXDOO\ KRPRJHQRXVO\&KULVWLDQDQGSURFHHGHGWRSURVHO\WL]HDQGEXLOGFKXUFKHV 6FKRODUV KDYH H[SODLQHG WKLV SKHQRPHQRQ E\ GHVFULELQJ D ´V\PELRWLF UHODWLRQVKLS EHWZHHQ PLVVLRQDULHV DQG SULYDWH GHYHORSHUVµ :KLVQDQW [Y 7KLV DUWLFOH VHHNV WR FRPSOHPHQW WKH H[LVWLQJ VWRU\ E\ XVLQJ UHFHQWZRUNLQWKHÀHOGVRILQWHOOHFWXDOKLVWRU\DQGJHRJUDSKLFDOWKHRU\ WRH[SODLQKRZDSDUWLFXODUPRUDOJHRJUDSK\PRWLYDWHGPLVVLRQDULHVZKR WUDYHOHGWR$SSDODFKLDGXULQJWKHHDUO\WZHQWLHWKFHQWXU\7KHLQWHQWLRQ LVQRWWRUHSODFHDUJXPHQWVUHJDUGLQJHFRQRPLFPRWLYDWLRQVEXWUDWKHUWR demonstrate how economic motivations were buttressed by a particular intellectual inheritance with respect to wilderness. %\ VKRZLQJ WKH VRFLDO KLVWRU\ RI LGHDV RI ZLOGHUQHVV WKLV DUWLFOH GHPRQVWUDWHV WKDW ORQJ EHIRUH PLVVLRQDULHV VHW RXW IRU $SSDODFKLD WKH $PHULFDQ SXEOLF FRQVFLRXVQHVV FRQWDLQHG VSHFLÀF QRWLRQV DERXW WKH wilderness and the moral state of humans when they found themselves WKHUH 1DVK :KLOHWKHVHQRWLRQVDERXWZLOGHUQHVVSHUVHYHUHGDVD Jill Fraley is currently Tutor in Law at Yale Law School where she is completing her J.S.D. She is joining the faculty of Washington & Lee University School of Law during the summer of 2011. 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