With Reference to Appalachia
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WITH REFERENCE TO APPALACHIA A Collection of Mid-Twentieth-Century Facts·and Viewpoints Selected on the Basis of Pertinence to Adult Education in Appalachia These data are assembled as a. basis for policy in the development of adult education in Appalachia, They may also prove useful for the study of other pol icy problems relating to Appalachia, The collection has been prepared as part of an evaluative and program-im provement study of the Appa 1a chi an Adult Basic Education Demonstration Center, Morehead State University, Morehead, Kentucky, Compiler Ruth H, Seay August 1970 Michigan InstituUonal Survey and Consulting SerNice 6330 Daly Road, Dexter, Michigan 48130 DEMONSTRATION, DEVELOPMENTAL AND RESEARCH PROJECT FOR PROGRAMS, MATERIALS, FACILITIES Al\l"D EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY FOR UNDEREDUCATED ADULTS Project No.: 9-3- S-2 - 017 Grant No.: O.E.G. -2-7-005077-5077 (324) THE APPALACHIAN ADULT BASIC EDUCATION DEMONSTRATION CENTER Research and Development MOREHEAD STATE UNIVERSITY Morehead, Kentucky WITH REFERENCE TO APPALACHIA Michigan Institutional Survey and Consulting Service 633 0 Daly Road, Dexter, Michigan September 30, 1970 The research reported herem was performed pursuant to a grant with the Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Contractors undertaking such projects under Govern ment sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their profession al judgment in the conduct of the project. Points of view or opin ions stated do not, therefore, necessarily represent official Office of Education position or policy. U.S . DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE Office of Education BUREAU OF ADULT, VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION Funded under the authority of Public Law: 89 -750, Title III Section 309 (b) Adult Basic Education "Special Projects" of THE ADULT EDUCATION ACT OF 19 66, AS AMENDED. TABLE OF CONTENTS l. Rediscovering Appalachia ••••••••••••••••••••• 11 Geographic Orientation ••••••••••••••••••••••• 19 111 Demographic Factors•·••••••••••••o••• 23 TV. Explaining a Way of Life ••••••••••••••••••••• 31 V. Economic Problems •••• ·•••••••••••••••••••••••• 46 Vl • coa.1 •••••• • .............................. 0 ••••• 63 Vl 1. Forests ....................................... 69 Vl 11 , Agriculture ............................. ., ••••• " 77 1 X. x. Tourism •• ••c.••····················'"'·········· 91 Xl • Xll. Government.•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••uld7 X111, .. Health ••••••• ~•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 116 X1V. Education ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ~ ••• 130 xv. Lo6king Toward the Future •••••••• , •••••••••• 159 ii Intr.oduction The bulletin, With Reference to Appalachia, has been prepared as the first step of an evaluative and program-improve ment study for the Appalachian Adult Basic Education Demonstrat.ion Center. Offices for the Center are located at Morehead State University, Morehead, Kentucky; and projects of the Center are located throughout Appalachia. Much of the work undertaken by the Center is financed with funds assigned for adult basic education research and development through the U.S. Office of Education. The evaluation and program-development study of the Center is also financed by the u. S. Office adult basic education funds under Grant OEG 2-7-005077-5077 ( 3211). · Periodic evaluations of programs in adult basic education funded through the U.S. Office of Education have been required over the years. The 1970 evaluation of the Appalachian demonstration center has been design ed tQ include a contribution to future program-development along with .its appraisal of present achievements. A rationale supports the preparation of this collection of information. The rationale holds that a program in adult educa tion can be significant only to the extent that it relates to the society in which it occurs. Consequently, evaluation and program suggestions for adult education in Appalachia must be based on a knowledge of Appalachia, Ap. evaluation of the Appalachian Demonstration Center must answer the question, "Are the demonstra tions sponsored by the Center significant?" Significance must be ) iii determined, in turn, by the answers to. such questions as ·11 Does this adult education project promise to meet one or more of the needs of Appalachian people?" A data collection which describes conditions, res:ources, def.iciencies, problems and potentialities. in.Appalachia seems essential. The collection of data was. desired, not .only as a necessary reference. .i'or the 1970 .evaluative and program-impr.ovement study,, but also as a useful tool to be turned over to the Appalachian Center for its. own program planni~g. For a reg.ion as much-studied as Appalachia, any collection of information .is unlikely to. include all the .useful data in existence somewhere •. Furthermore,. new data is constantly becom ing available as new topics are .studied or as information about old topics is br.ought. up-to.-date.. Hence, it has seemed important to devise a format .for the bullet.in wh.ich would invite constant addit:j.ons and up-dating. Within the body of this bulletin, con sequently, data items are interspersed with blank spaces for new data. If sect.ions_ become useful in expanded form, they. can be retyped and duplicated as r.evisions. As a reminder, in a period of rapid change, of the need for data to be perti'Aent to current conditions, a time-line heads each page •. Much of the information currently obtainable is of necessity a product of the 1960 federal census. Tp,e t:J,.me-lines· may encourage the sec.uring of 1970· .statistics on Appalachia as rapidly as new census figures are. released. iv The accuracy of data in this bulletin is a function of the accuracy of the sources used. The sources have not been subject ed to cri.tical analysis as to their methodologies in collecting or reporting data, but care has been taken to draw data from authoritative sources and to transcribe data so that intended relationships can be under.stood. Sources are indicated after each item, keyed by the fir.st word in the parenthetical note to a full bibliography at the end of the bulletin. Although With Reference to Appalachia has been prepared as part of a specific enquiry for an adult education agency, it will, perhaps, have utility among other groups of people interested in Appalachian areas. We know of no comparable collection of data, or q.esign for the accumulation of data, on broad aspects of bhe region. V REDISCOVERING APPALACHIA Oh March 9, 1965, the President of the United States s_igned into law the Appalachian Redevelopment Act which established the Appalachian R_egional Commission. The Act authorized a total of $1,092,400.,000. in federal funds to be spent over a six-year period and_ gave the Commis sion responsibility for developi_ng th'e economic potential of Appalachia. For a majority of the people of the United States,this Act marked the current rediscovery of Appalachia. Much s_ignificant activity, however, preceded 1965, A la_rge part . of this work was bei_ng done at the state and r_egional levels -- a fact which led to .the unusual federal-state structure of the Appalachian R_egional Commission. (See I .~-2~ The 1966 Annual Report of the Commis- sion mentions a few important steps: 1960 - The Conference of Appa·lachian Governors met in· 'Maryl and. 1961 - The Area Redevelopment Administration was formed to conduct liaison for the federal government with the Appalachian governors. 1963 -· The governors requested the Pre·s i dent to est.ablish a joint Federal-State Commission to provide working recommendations for bringing a regio'nal program Into action. The· Pres i den·t' s Appa I a·ch i an Reg i ona I Com miss I on was appointed. 1964 - This Commission recommended to the President a coordinated program of federal, sta~e, and local investment· to help solve the most· ur- . gent problems of the region. Conditions in Appalachia had indeed worsened during the decade of the fifties. Leaders of the reglon--buslness·men, church _men, un.lver sity specialists, state offlclals,·the medical professlon--local, state, Rediscoveri_ng Appalachia and area. leaders · rose to the eme_rgency. They demanded facts, and facts were provided .In the form of a comprehensive study started in 1956 ahd pub I ished in 1962: The Southern Appalachian Region: A Survey, edited by Thomas R. Fo.td. Adron Doran, President of Morehead State University, Morehead, Kentucky, tells of the appointment in 1957 of the Eastern Kentucky R1;gional Planni_ng Commission and describes its influence in encour_ag- i_ng Governor Tawas of Maryland to call the 1960 Conference of Appalachian Governors.· Harry Caudill wrote his Night Comes to the .Cumberlands in 1962 and awakened the entire nation to the pl_ight of th.e Kentucky coal miner. The. University of West Vi_rginia ·was o_rganizi_ng. remote counties thro,ugh its combined extension services. Special_ grants of private money were bei_ng made by philanthropic foundations in support of projects of the Council of the Southern Mountaies, the North Carol Ina Fund., the Eastern Ke~tucky Resource Development Project, and other programs of similar nature. Appalach'ia was acti_ng, calli_ng upon its own resources and aski_ng for outside help. The nation began to realize: that the economic crisis in Appalachia was, at last, so serious that Appalachia could no longer be _ignored. -The region had been discovered before--th-ree times according to Robert . ' - . ' Munn-~but this. time It was different. Some people In the nation w_ere no lo_nger seel,ng