Appalachia

Appalachia is a partly rural, partly urbanized and industrialized region in and around the Appalachian Mountains in the Eastern U.S., extending through parts of Tennessee, Kentucky, the Carolinas, western Virginia, and West Virginia, through central Pennsylvania to southwestern New York. The Eastern Townships of southeastern Quebec exhibit some similarities to Appalachia.

Culture

Prior to the 20th century the people of Appalachia were geographically isolated from the rest of the country. As a result, they preserved the culture of their ancestors (many of them English and Irish Protestants) who settled the region in the late 18th century and early 19th century, a culture of simple technology, self-sufficiency, and strong religious faith.

Long characterized as backward, Appalachia has received more sympathetic treatment by historians and anthropologists in recent decades. The Foxfire books were a popular, somewhat romantic effort to document the Appalachian culture. A long-running series of documentary films by Appalachian Film Workshop take a more historical and critical view of the region, including especially such endemic and pervasive problems as those associated with coal mining, strip mining, and related social and economic issues.

Popular portrayals

Al Capp caricatured Appalachia/Ozark culture with hillbilly Li'l Abner in his cartoon strip Dogpatch. The Dukes of Hazzard and The Beverly Hillbillies were caricature television programs. The movies Coal Miner's Daughter and The Incredible Journey of Doctor Meg Laurel give a more sensitive and accurate portrayal of life in Appalachia. The Waltons, a long running family TV serial, was sited in western Virginia.