Uneven Ground Daniel Fugitt

Chapter 4

 Throughout the War on Poverty during the 60s it became increasingly obvious that the social
division between Appalachia and the rest of America were far from minor. No one could agree
on the cause of poverty and therefore, no one could agree on the correct policy decisions to
reverse the trend.

 Liberals continued to believe in “human development” and that with the aid of the government,
poverty would cease. Conservatives continued to shy away from increasing federal power and
many in the middle class resented any transfer of wealth to blacks or “shiftless” rural whites.
The WoP was largely ineffective due to liberal complaints of the government not doing enough,
and conservative complaints of the government being too involved. Doubts about the
effectiveness of the programs were not often spoken of in the mountains, however, due to the
utter despair of the people in the region.

 The lack of doubt in Appalachia helped things as the effectiveness of community action spurred
people on and invited the government to bring on experts in human behavior to help shape the
different programs. Many volunteers went to the region to help build up the area.

 Cultural difference between the urban volunteers and rural Appalachians hindered progress
initially, but were eventually taken into the society as the two parties found common ground.
Many assumptions that were held by the volunteers soon vanished. Among the first was the
thought that poverty came from some inherent deficiency in mountain culture. These
volunteers began to look for other reasons as to the cause of poor housing, horrible health care,
and high unemployment. The general conclusion was that Appalachian poverty was less a
product of culture, but more of economic and political self interest.

 Harry Caudill of Kentucky attributes the economic problems in the region to years of
government neglect and corporate greed that turned the upper South and central Appalachia into
colonies of the North and Midwest. The area was heavily exploited and all of it resources were
robbed.

 The best example shown by Eller of the theft of resources comes from eastern Kentucky as the
broad form deed deals began to be enforced by the coal mining industry.

■ How did it get to this point where the region became so distant from the rest of the
country that it was in an economic position where it had to have its resources taken like
this?