"A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains" from the Perspective of an Appalachian
83Let me begin by saying that the town where I was raised (Paintsville, Kentucky) as well as the town where I currently live (Barbourville, Kentucky) were both featured in the ABC News documentary "A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains." This documentary was a 20/20 special report from Diane Sawyer.
I was anxious about watching is program because I could already taste the controversy that it was about to create. Even before the documentary aired, online community websites like MySpace and Facebook were inundated with Eastern Kentucky residents' premature opinions and preconceived notions about "Children of the Mountains" and how it was going to portray us as hillbillies. This stereotype is the the thorn in the side of Eastern Kentucky. It is one that paints a picture of a toothless, dirty, uneducated, illiterate, drug-dealing, poverty stricken, poor excuse for a human being who resides in a shack in the the woods spending the day playing "Dueling Banjos." The irony is that while this stereotype is by no means an accurate portrayal of the residents of Eastern Kentucky, the plagues of toothlessness, illiteracy, high school drop-outs, drugs, and poverty are very real, and too often overlooked.
Appalachians, and particularly Eastern Kentuckians don't want to be seen as charity cases. We understand that Eastern Kentucky holds practically no legitimate job prospects and that there aren't many opportunities for advancement, however, there is such pride in the history, the culture, and the traditions of this region that we too often than not don't realize what a poverty stricken niche of the country that we live in. We have become so desensitized to the trash on the sides of the roads, the homes without running water or electricity, and the drug use that we aren't shocked by it anymore. We understand it as a part of life, yet, if we witnessed the same conditions in a foreign country we would be shocked and appalled. We would probably even go so far as to sympathize with their condition; but when our neighbors are poverty stricken we shame and blame them. Therefore, when ABC displayed before a global audience portions of our region that are not glamorous or flattering, many Eastern Kentuckians were more than a little furious.
The general consensus was that "A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains" made us all out to be the very definition of the hillbilly stereotype, and that it was yet another example of how the media presents us to the world as a bunch of nobodies going nowhere. The vehement rejection of this documentary even spawned the creation of such Facebook groups as "I'm from Appalachia and 20/20 Can Kiss my Hardworking Ass," and "I am not TOOTHLESS, UNEDUCATED, or DIRTY but I DO live in and LOVE East KY." Does anyone else see the common thread here? The need for many Eastern Kentuckians to separate themselves from the stereotype, and from many people who are actually toothless, and uneducated (Kentucky's own brand of untouchables). They don't want to have to face the looks and the questions when they introduce themselves as Eastern Kentuckians. However, the "us" versus "them" mentality that many people display is what Eastern Kentuckians should be ashamed of, not those who live in poverty.
"A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains" clearly displayed the hardworking nature of Eastern Kentuckians with the depictions of the young coal miners risking their lives to support their families. The documentary was also clear to state that there are two versions of Appalachia, one version that looks like most of suburban America, and a second version that is hidden behind a veil of shame and secrecy for fear of embarrassing those who managed to move out of the hollows, or who were born into the suburban version of Appalachia.
I am one of the few who actually felt inspired by the documentary, and who thought that it was an accurate depiction of happenings that I often witness on a daily basis. I own where I am from. I accept the beauty, the culture, the tradition, and I rage against the poverty, not because I am ashamed, but because I want better lives for my neighbors. For the most part, Eastern Kentuckians don't want handouts, they want opportunity.
For those who watched the documentary I am happy to say that Shawn Grim, the featured high school football star, has been given a second chance at success and will be attending Union College in Barbourville, KY.
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I didn't see the documentary, but i enjoyed reading your insights about it. I really wasn't aware of the extreme poverty in eastern Kentucky.
Some of my family lives in West Virginia which gets a bad rap too, and the majority lives in the Blue Ridge mountains. For the most part, I focus on the culture, which is very unique and special, and laugh about the hillbilly stuff.
Very nice to geet a good perspective from one who knows.
I missed this documentary that you write about but I watched Good Morning America's airing about the many young children loosing their teeth to Mountain Dew.
Its good that you recognized where the real defenciencies lie in all of this. I beleive it should bring an unsurmountable amount of attention to the area, and hopefully bring a better economic environment to people who need it.
We all need that, no matter where we live.
I saw the Documentary and I know I will sound crazy, but I admired the moonshine guys who broke off from the government and sold their illegal hooch to survive. I thought they were rather brave souls who weren't going to be a part of something they did not believe in and would survive without them. I loved their anti-government attitude and they said today they make money selling their pot and showed the government once again coming in to bother them and take their livlihood and it pissed me off. All i could think of was the government is once again stealing from the poor...I just didn't see the Appalachian people as anything negative...alot of the people they spoke about could have lived anywhere. I grew up in New York and as a teenager walked around barefoot all the time because my father couldn't afford to buy me a pair of shoes. I stole most of what I needed. We were poor, not poverty stricken, but poor. So maybe I just didn't see them as being so different as I did their being similiar.
A very interesting hub - why do you think this area is so poor?
I have all of my family there and there beliefs are as long as you have a roof over your head and food in your belly, and your safe, the rest should come to you naturally. I was taken from my family in Eastern Kentucky when I was five, I had to hunt for my family when I turn the age of nineteen. I got to know my real family at first I didnt like what I saw, the out houses the way they washed there clothes the way they talked and every time you turn around the weman were popping out babys right and left. This is there culture it doesnt matter what you say about them or how many times the state takes there children away from them, they have there own culture in Eastern Kentucky, no one is going to take that away from them....If a war breaks out in this country , the only people that are going to servive are the people in Eastern Kentucky and or in the Mts. They teach there children at a young age how to live off the earth, children these days dont have any commen sence about them as far as tending to a garden or killing there own feed. I tought my girls how to make there own blankets and cook and do needle work, I tought them how to servive in the woods if they got lost, I told them to carry a pocket knif around along with matches or a lighter no matter what, I learn this from my reel family , Eastern Kentucky is so amazing to see god knew what he was doing when he created the mountains. So what ever is said about people in the mountains, is from people who dont have commen sence about them. that is just my toughts about that.
I missed the documentary. But I must mention that the Appalachian culture has alot to do with the poverty levels in Eastern Kentucky. Families born and raised there resist change.Even there children when they reach adulthood have a hard time moving on elsewhere for a better life. They are strong in their beliefs of right and wrong and do not trust strangers, Anyone who is not from their background! Believe me they are very resistant to change and have a very hard time living outside there own region.They also are very reluctant to authority.It is extremely tragic I agree upon that.I am married into a family from Eastern Kentucky and believe me,I can see very clearly about the way they live and feel. I have been trying to understand all this for 26 years.There is more opportunity within Kentucky within the bigger city areas, but even there is not acceptable. They choose to stay up within the hollows, one more thing, Paintsville , is a very different type of area from up in the eastern appalachian mountain region.
i personally didnt think it showed the other side at all! she made it look like coal mining was horrible, NOT the other side, not one time did they show a nice looking town, such as pikeville (where im from) i thought it was horrible, and did make us all look like charity cases! sure, there are drug problems...but my God, toothless, incest, uneducated?? dreaming of when all our children can have computers? get real people!
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C. C. Riter 3 years ago
I saw this documentary, I was not shocked or bothered, my mother was from there and was ashamed of it because of what the media has done. She despised the Beverly Hillbillies. Dad's family was better off, he had no worries about where he was from. Good hub dear, I love KY and wish I lived there.