Summary Of The Black South And White Appalachia

Critical Review: The Black South and White Appalachia

The evidence within The Black South and White Appalachia argues that African-Americans and Appalachians were believed to share many of the same traits. They were both said to be lazy, superstitious, and stubborn in their ways. The Black South and White Appalachia objectively explains that African-Americans and Appalachians have historically been seen as having many aspects of their lives in common. The dwellings of both groups are claimed to have been hovel like with few rooms, filthy, and crowded. Importance is placed, however, upon the behavioral and personality traits that they are said to share. Both African-Americans and Appalachians have been described

Klotters essay puts great emphasis upon the difference in education they received. Berea College of Kentucky is the primary example used within the essay. It, from the beginning of its life in the 1850’s, was “devoted to interracial education” and despite numerous verbal attacks against it, the school continued to cater to Americans and African-Americans. 1873 found the school catering to the educational needs of the Appalachians as well. The Appalachians, once added to the mix, slowly became the primary focus of the school. William Frost, the director of Berea at the time, admitted later in his life that “We frankly shifted emphasis, appealing more for the mountaineers.” In 1904, a bill was introduced that prohibited biracial education, and the Berea college was forced to comply with the bill, thus ending their stint in interracial education. Frost tried, as Klotters essay points out, to oppose the bill with no success. The legislature of Kentucky, just like the majority of America at the time, favored educating their white kin more than the “Sambo” like African-Americans. It is important to note that though the United States favored educating Appalachians, African-Americans still received education and aid from Northerners, just never nearly as much as the Appalachians did. It is sad that despite the Appalachians and African-Americans “ironically similar” needs, America chose their similarly colored fellows to receive aid, a sentiment Klotters essay seems to express in its description of the diversion of resources from their original recipients to Appalachian