.Appalachian Resources.

I'm putting the final touches on the Appalachian class I've been building this quarter (I'm sure some of you are as ready as I am for it to be finished just so I'll stop talking about it on here..haha!).  Anyway, it's been one of those projects you feel like it's your baby so I'm glad the 'pregnancy' is over.  With that said, I wanted to share some of the resources my students will/would explore and discover during the course. I'm pretty excited about finding and exploring these myself so I hope they appeal to working-class/Appalachian (or even non-Appalachian) high school/college freshmen.


Part of the class is focused on the controversial topic, Mountaintop Removal (MTR) since it's such a large part of the culture in Appalachia (the other subtopic is technology and modern media's impact on place and heritage - might blog it soon).  I'm not having students argue or debate the MTR issue; (since it is so controversial and many might bring personal baggage to this issue) but rather they'll be looking at how different groups (coal companies, workers, environmentalists, church activists) depict, represent, and discuss the issue, people, the mountains, etc. Here are a few of the resources for the MTR unit that I'm pretty excited about - -


Thorney Lieberman’s Honoring America’s Coal Miners: A Photographic Project  - - This online book provides pictures taken for Lieberman’s traveling photographic exhibit honoring coal miners.  


I've talked about this next one on my blog before...The Bee Hive Collective’s “The True Cost of Coal” graphic concept booklet (excerpt) - - The Bee Hive Collective, an organization of artists and environmental activists, travel and raise awareness about environmental issues, including MTR.  This graphic concept booklet describes some of the specific illustrations in their mural, “The True Cost of Coal.”  Though they are discussing the consequences of MTR, they do so through visual narratives, depicting the stories of the different groups involved by portraying them as animals of the forest.  For example, the excerpt “The Dance of Hard Choices,” (pictured below) describes the broken-down miners (frogs) continuing a dangerous cycle – they work, they hurt, they buy addictive pills from pharmaceutical companies (depicted as an Ass in a well-endorsed lab coat), they work to buy more pills. 

Source: beehivecollective.org via Jade on Pinterest

Coal: A Love Story - - Very excited to find this resource! An interactive site produced by Powering A Nation includes small video vignettes about different aspects of the coal industry.  It also includes a tool to calculate one’s daily use of coal, which will be a fun interactive activity for them.   


Video Clips from SpikeTV series Coal: “Life of a Coal Miner” and “Economy of Coal” - - These clips provide a brief overview of coal miners in West Virginia.  Students will get to hear from the workers, listening to their ‘voices’ and views of the issue.


We'll also be watching an episode ('The Spoil') from the FX original series Justified.  The characters represent different groups involved in MTR - Carol from Black Pike Mining Company; Boyd Crowder a Harlan man hired out by the company to persuade families to sell out; and Mags Bennett, an Appalachian woman and leader of the 'Bennett clan.'  Carol makes her argument that “we can bring prosperity back to this land; God put coal in these hills for just that purpose,” while Mags argues “the story’s always been the same – big money men come in and take the timber and the coal and the strength of our people, and what do they leave behind? Poundments full of poisonous slurry and valleys full of toxic trash.” In this interaction, both women argue within the conventions of the specific groups they’re a part of – both are trying to put their arguments into language patterns that will appeal to the Appalachian community members – Carol mentioning God’s plan of coal in the mountains and Mags’ assertion that only dangerous leftovers will be produced.

Mags Bennett

Source: google.com via Jade on Pinterest

Carol of Black Pike Mining Company and Boyd Crowder
Source: google.com via Jade on Pinterest

I hope you enjoyed exploring as much as I have.  If you find any other resources about Appalachia that might be helpful for this future class feel free to share! (Thanks Chelsea for telling me about the Snakeman show on Discovery; didn't get to work it in but I definitely think there's a place for it in a larger course design!)


P.S. It's Appalachia Awareness Week at Scott's school, University of Dayton - - interesting!