"What You are Getting Wrong about Appalachia" by Elizabeth Catte

By Jennifer R. Hoffman

Appalachia. What does one think of when they hear the term, Appalachia? For those who've read J.D. Vance's best-seller, the term "hillbilly" may come to mind. If you know a little about the region, coal-mining might be at the top of your Appalachian facts list. That's something you'd be getting right about Appalachia.

Appalachia is a long, diagonal region that stretches across thirteen states from New York clear down to Alabama, spanning 206,000 square miles and encompassing 423 counties holding over 26 million people. It is not the Scots-Irish "hub of misery" Vance refers to, but an intricate, far-reaching region full of diverse individuals.

Often, journalists and photographers show a story of white poverty and the struggle of the working class individual of Appalachia, as done recently in Vance's "Hillbilly Elegy: a Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis." People from the "Appalachias" have been described as many things. "Primitive." "Other." "Barbaric mountaineers." In reality, these so-called hillbillies are as varied as anywhere else. As a result of biased journalism over the years, outsiders would seek to bring development to the poor and uncivilized people. Missionaries brought their religion to help those less fortunate. Eventually the outsiders would turn their backs on those that were "other." Some believed that help made the less-fortunate complacent, while others believed a plan needed to be in place to make it so the "other-ness" could not spread. Eugenics were a reality in the area until as recent as 1979 when it was made illegal to sterilize those that someone in power deemed unworthy of reproducing.

Author and historian Elizabeth Catte takes us into the region and how it was formed, where it lies, and who its people truly are. She tells how murder, unionization, slavery, and resistance in West Virginia coal country led to the creation of the term "rednecks" as those standing up for themselves fought for rights to safe working environments.

With factual accounts, historical information, and her own life experience, Catte provides an informational look into the region and its people. She speaks about race, class, gender and the cultural geographies that shape our lives. It's evident she loves the country that she grew up in as she fights to right injustices and misinformation and she wants to share her love and knowledge of Appalachia with everyone so that they might come to love it too.