Remember Your Roots, New Appalachian
By: Ethan Chase
Tags: Activism, Social Justice, Appalachia, Racial Justice

“Untitled. (Shooting craps by company store Osage West Virginia. 1938.)” Photo by Marion Post Wolcott/Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information Photograph Collection Library of Congress.

Recently, I read a thoughtful article by Emily Allen titled “Will Hate Leave Our Holler?”. Emily and I have a lot in common: our Appalachian roots, rural upbringing, and politically disparate households. We do, however, have one big disagreement.

Emily posits that there is a New Appalachian. One that embraces environmentalism, labor rights, racial justice, and queer liberation. To me, however, this sounds a lot like an Old Appalachian.

I understand she “yearn[s] for the day when all of Appalachia can recognize the tragedies happening across America.” Though Appalachia has its problems, we Appalachians have been recognizing these systems of oppression, and calling them out, for much longer than many New Appalachians may realize.

A few prominent examples come to mind. Recall the Battle of Blair Mountain, which gave birth to the modern labor movement. Or Appalachian women who, like Wilma Dykeman, have offered a critical race and environmentalist lens through which to understand and protect Appalachian ecosystems; or who, like Eula Hall, have spent their lives fighting to make sure that all Appalachians have access to healthcare and other basic services. And Berea College, which fought the Day Law — barring integrated education throughout the Commonwealth — all the way to the United States Supreme Court in an effort to continue its founding mission of interracial coeducation. Black Appalachians, and their struggle for justice, have marched on for centuries.

The examples abound, making one fact irrefutable: Appalachians have been showing up and acting out for these issues much longer than either my or Emily’s collective memory. These are the fundamental principles in which many people in the region believe. It’s critical that we not forget their stories, and their struggles, when we look to the future with renewed optimism, and confront the eternal stain of hatred, racism, and bigotry.

All that to say: the movement has been here. We should reflect on what we have inherited. Predecessor Appalachian seekers of justice have left a legacy that we have amplified through the law, social media, and our own communities. It isn’t fair to the past or the present say that this is a new movement, or a New Appalachian. It’s merely a movement with a long, and often troubling, past that’s been reinvigorated. This “new energy, old movement” is best evidenced by the countless protests popping up across the region that are reminiscent of those fighting against mountaintop removal, and for rural healthcare. Though the urgency and issues are different, Appalachians are engaged and seeking justice for the marginalized and oppressed, as we have been throughout our history.

Where does that leave us? Hate will never leave the holler, just as it never really leaves any place. But, so long as there have been Appalachians in the eastern hills, we have been there to confront it, and will continue to seek justice in the face of it. We will continue to say Black Lives Matter. We will show up for adequate healthcare, internet services, food, and water. And we will find allies in places we didn’t suspect, like our well-intentioned, but misguided, families.

To that end, I join Emily’s call to reimagine the role Appalachia and its people play as the moral arc of the universe bends our society toward justice, and I hope that this new imagination includes the work of our ancestors.