Appalachian Heritage

As I said in the introduction to the previous article about Blaise Pascal, I recently dug up a box of old floppy discs and used a USB floppy drive to read them and save what I thought was worth saving for my own personal reasons or to pass some of it on either here in this blog or as ideas for writing to be published in more traditional formats.  Below, I have inserted a brief, less than 400 words, article I wrote many years ago about my thoughts of the importance of having native Appalachians acknowledge and believe in their heritage as Appalachians.  It is instructive to me both from the point of view of looking back on how my opinions and ideas have developed over time and from the point of view that it still ties in strongly with much of the other work on this blog about Appalachia and Appalachian Studies.  Here it is!  

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Appalachian Heritage

            For this little writing exercise, I will examine an issue that has been important to me for many years, Appalachia and Appalachian Heritage issues.  Many, if not most, of the students in Eastern Kentucky today are natives of Appalachia.  Yet the issues involved in living in the region and being of Appalachian Heritage mean little to most of these people.  They are not unique.  Most of the natives of Appalachia spend far more time forgetting than remembering their heritage.  Appalachians are a genuine American minority.  We have a unique culture, history, sociology, and lifestyle.  Yet we are ignored by mainstream society at best and ridiculed at worst.  The literature of the region is unique, as are the music, customs, art, and history.  Appalachian natives should seek to learn about, preserve, and promulgate our heritage.  There are several good museums, colleges, and community cultural centers in the area.  The Highlander Center in New Market, Tennessee, founded by Don West and Miles Horton is such a place.  The Appalachian Studies Program at Appalachian State University is another.  The graduate school there is named for Cratis D. Williams, a native of Louisa, Kentucky, and graduate of Morehead State University who has written several important Appalachian books and served as an educator and administrator at one of the best small universities in the region.  The Appalachian South Folklife Center in Pipestem, West Virginia, a second institution founded by Don West, is another fine center dedicated to the preservation of Appalachian culture.  All these institutions and several dozen more work on a daily basis to further the Appalachian way of life.  Writers such as Don West, James Still, Albert Stewart, Bob Snyder, P. J. Laska, Edwina Pendarvis, and Gurney Norman have all spent years writing about the Appalachian way of life.  I have studied and learned about Appalachia since I was in my early teens.  I work constantly to learn more and to pass that information on to other natives of the region.  Like any cultural minority, Appalachians must strive to avoid being assimilated out of existence.  We have many things to be proud of and we should show off that pride constantly.