A personal experience learning about underserved people.
Celtic Peoples: In my efforts to understand Appalachian people, it helped me to learn from history, particularly about the Celtic peoples and their migrations across Europe, Great Britain, and America. They were pushed to the northwestern parts of Europe and Great Britain by the “civilized” governments such as Rome, Germanic tribes, Normans, etc. On occasions these so called civilized governments massacred them rather than allow them to even pass through settled territories. Key figures in history such as Julius Caesar rose to power directly as a result of these abuses. Celtic peoples settled mostly in mountainous areas which later became Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and coastal western France. Their religious choices reflected their quiet rebellion against Catholicism and Lutheranism and also had other impacts.
Colonization: English peoples left England to gain power and wealth, hoping to return in great luxury to England. They settled the coastlands of American, but rarely ventured into the Appalachians. It was the Celtic peoples who breached the mountains, interacted with the native tribes, and settled the frontier. They were the ones who pushed the borders of America across the continent. The critical battles of the American Revolution bore the marks of people who understood tyranny and the need to fight for something beyond freedom, even survival itself.
Pre-Civil War Appalachia was fairly settled. Land had already been passed down through a few generations. Land that held grass that once was waist high or higher, ideal for those involved in herding and hunting, no longer supported the herds or the crops that once did well in mountain soils. Some moved on to greener pastures, others stayed. The literacy rate in Appalachia at this time was among the highest in the world. Women were taught to read so that they could understand the Bible and make their decision regarding Jesus Christ.
The Civil War had a devastating impact on the area. Much of the Civil War and some of the more bloody conflicts were held in Appalachia. Troops roamed the area from both sides to support their war efforts and sometimes meet the needs of troops desperate for provisions. Deserters and those who preyed on the misery of others during the chaos also roamed through the area (the recent Iraq war revealed how some take advantage of such times). Families were divided by the conflict with sons and fathers often on opposite sides. Home Guards patrolled towns and sought out the scouts who would escort recruits through southern territory to the recruitment stations in the North. Some returned to find their homes burned. Some homes were burned with relatives or sympathizers hidden away in attics or walls while families watched in horror and homelessness. After the war retaliations were made for such transgressions.
In some Appalachian counties even as far as Alabama, the union flag was raised throughout the civil war. Although the Alabama governor was forgiving, most southern governments retaliated in their own way for those living in counties in the western Carolinas and eastern Tennessee and all suffered even though many did not even support the North during the Civil War.
The high standard of education of the area deteriorated rapidly as states failed to return support for schools and government services in the area. Generations of Appalachian students received no formal education. Appalachia suffered perhaps the most significant consequences of the war, giving up land, sources of jobs, people, leaders, and education. Despite their sacrifices and a fair amount of support for the Union, they received little help during the Reconstruction and after.
In later decades changes in agricultural machinery and technology benefited those in the flatlands, while those in mountainous areas had to change to crops that needed more hand labor. Local labor worked tobacco and beans, later migrant workers came through for various crops that resisted mechanization. Tobacco allotments became important. Worldwide demand for tobacco, and particularly the fine grade of tobacco produced in the Appalachians, drove further economic and political efforts.
Reflections on the Bowmans and Appalachia: My family is Welsh with some English and German and some Iroquois. Bowman brothers moved out from northeastern Tennessee to Georgia and Texas. When I was in Johnson City, we visited Bowmantown and Bowman’s Creek. While in east Tennessee we did not have to spell out Bowman because it was a common name. Celtic-Appalachian traits also likely directed some Bowmans to become cowboys and move to Texas. My ancestors served in the Texas Rangers, the war for Texas independence, and the Civil War.
Bowmans also rode the Chisholm trail. Two died on the trail, one from appendicitis, another was murdered. The father of the murdered son would get a letter and then go out for weeks, only to return and wait for more information on the two who were with the son. After another few expeditions the father returned and got no more letters and never left again. Likely “justice” was done. My grandfather was a WWI pilot. He was the third one in alphabet order in his group of trainees. He was most disappointed to have to remain behind as every third trainee was ordered to remain and train subsequent trainees. Regardless of location, air travel was so hazardous that nearly all of his fellow pilots died in the war. The only time I saw tears in his eyes was when he described a close friend of his, a pilot, whose plane literally fell apart in flight. He set up a trucking business but was driven out of business by the railroads. He retreated to his own domain and set up cabins and apartments in Houston. Attempts to cheat him out of his labors by the former employer who owned the apartment house next door failed and he remained there for some 40 years. My grandmother managed to make him restrain his daily whiskey consumption to tolerable levels. This two ounces in the morning and evening (good for HDL) plus the large quantity of water that he drank plus daily physical labor likely contributed to a long life free from circulatory disease. He died at age 95
My grandfather’s dream was to become a doctor. He had 3 years of college at the University of Texas, but the war interrupted college and medical school. He also had training in geology and prospected lignite in central Texas. His half-brother was a geologist who settled in Houston and worked for oil companies. I remember the look of pride on my grandfather when I graduated from Baylor College of Medicine. In some ways I was the fulfillment of his dream although he never discussed it. Visits to his family in rural central Texas likely had some influence on me. After residency in Waco, I did 4 years of rural practice in Nowata OK. I then returned to Houston as a faculty with Bob Rakel at Baylor. Four months after my arrival, St. Lukes decided not to pass on GME money to the FP program, and I was again looking for work.
Return to Appalachia: I had met Forrest Lang at rural conferences and I signed up for a conference at Charlotte NC. I left Charlotte in a rental to interview for a job at East Tennessee State across the mountains in Johnson City. By the time I arrived I was already ready to sign, the impact of the mountains and the people on the journey over was that powerful. I stacked the deck by bringing my wife to a bed and breakfast in Jonesboro when we returned for a second interview and house hunting. I was off to East Tennessee to develop a rural fellowship. Our cedar house stood 1 mile from the beautiful campus at the base of the nearest mountains. We were frequent visitors to the Appalachian Trail in about 4 areas, all within 30 min of our house. Our vacations and camping expeditions ranged across TN, NC, KY, and VA. My work involved the Tennessee and Virginia Primary Care Associations and the nearby Community Health Center networks in Southwest Virginia and Northeast TN. Forrest was on the nearby CHC board. I set up the Harmony Grocery recruitment fair to acquaint residents with opportunities at these CHCs. I helped start the development of the Mountain City site. During my stay in JC for 4 years I accompanied M-4 medical students on the Appalachian preceptorship to Boone NC and Appalachian State where we spent time with those who made a living by studying Appalachians and their culture and religion. We also brought in others who represented Applachian cultures, native and white, to interact with these senior medical students from all over the nation. Fellow ETSU faculty did anthropological visits in Mountain City and surrounding areas for research on health practices and health assessment. I watched as the work changed these faculty and made them more humble and appreciative of others. For some it was a dramatic change. I also saw how physicians, those from Appalachia, and those not from there, related in many ways to the people of the area. I saw how CHC staff adopted physicians, defended them, and even helped some doctors raise their families. I heard about the best recruitment experiences possible when rural administrators who knew their town used this to match these resources with new recruits. I did research studies working with Appalachian medical students to help me gather information from family medicine residents who were looking at rural practices in the area. I got to know some rather well.
A faculty development grant allowed me to do more rural work. We set up a rural high school health career fair and recruitment fairs. I visited North Carolina sites across the mountains in Asheville and Tom Ricketts at UNC Chapel Hill, and other North Carolina rural health experts who had spent their lives trying to improve health in Applachia. I also visited Marshall and talked to Bob Walker and others there. My Virginia influences were Bruce Behringer and John Cafazza at the Virginia Primary Care Association. When we developed the Minifellowship at ETSU we worked with Joe Florence who began his medical career in Hazard KY with the NHSC and continued on to develop their RTT. Bruce and Joe are at ETSU and John is in Washington DC.
My children began school at South Side elementary, just a block from the house where the notorious Al Capone spent many of his summers. It was my privilege to work with the Mountain Home VA, one of the best veterans facilities in the nation. Perhaps this was reflection of the respect for veterans as well as the efforts of long term Congressman Jimmy Quillen who had had more than a few employees replaced at the VA and other government jobs. The Congressman also was instrumental in the origins of 6 of the newer allopathic medical schools, including the one that bears his name.
What I have learned from Appalachia: Appalachia first made me aware of the problems of indigenous peoples, displaced peoples, and the aftermath of war, particularly civil war. If we had only understood our own American Revolution and our Civil War, we would have had a different approach to Viet Nam. Clearly we have not addressed the needs of such peoples and continue to ignore them. Our efforts in African nations, Bosnia, and Afghanistan continue to suffer because we continue to fail to deal with poverty, education, and health problems in Appalachia, native reservations, and inner city areas. Many rural areas have begun to join these ranks. People that are fighting for survival have difficulty contributing consistently to broader efforts. This does not mean that they would not give the shirt off their back to someone in need or extend great hospitality to a stranger.
I do believe that one of the key factors in working through such conditions is identifying potential young professionals from these areas to return them for service, jobs, economics, leadership, and improved conditions. I believe this applies to smaller areas such as these, or to entire nations. All of these areas will require efforts to span many generations and many political administrations.
A Final Comment - I will never know as much as a native-born Appalachian, but I have had more than the usual family and teaching and service connections. My learning was active and aggressive, not passive. I remain willing to learn even more.
Hi,
I was just reading your article on "learning from Appalachia" very interesting and informative.
I live in Appalachia, the heart of Appalachia, Summersville, West Virginia on top of a mountain of the southern Appalachian coalfields. Even though I am a life-long resident of Appalachia, I too am learning from the Appalachians.
They have many lessons to teach. I especially am enamored by the spirit of the people and then for those few who come in to devote their lives to the study and understanding of the Appalachians, I have great admiration. One such man was Dr. Donald Rasmussen, a doctor who has devoted his life to defeating black lung. He has worked tirelessy and continues to work even today, ridden with cancer but attending to duties from a newly installed countertop which replaced the desk. It is easier for his wheelchair to fit underneath.
I feel all who have discovered Appalachia whether as a life-long resident or a new comer , you are likely to fall under a spell, trying to discover ways of erasing the proverty and address the health issues, hating the sterotyping but desparaterly wanting to keep the beauty, the humility and the close knitness of the communties intact. It is easy to see many of these traditions were not dreamed up over night but handed down from one generation to the next and on and on. It would take decades of isolation and determination to instill the same or similiar traditions in a new group of people. Who else has the unique Civil War history, so poignant, as that of Appalachia, "brother against brother."
I think I got all caught up in your journey because in a sense I am on a journey myself. My website,
www.AppalachianPower.com has numerous oral histories from the very people you refer to. I have met them and collected these stories. Now, they are almost gathered into book form (if I can outlast a publisher in getting "Appalachia, Spirit Triumphant" to press) and then on to Japan to speak to the world about Appalachia at the 6th International Coal Mine History Congress.Somehow, I feel my journey is just beginning.
take care,
Betty Louise Dotson-Lewis,
webmaster@www.AppalachianPower.comNicholas County Schools
400 Old Main Drive
Summersville, West Virginia 26651
304-872-3611 ext. 121
Education - the entire pipeline