Uncovering the Trail of Ethnic Denial: Ethnicity in Appalachia

An Excerpt From

Diversity in the U.S. South

Carol D. Hill and Patricia E. Beaver, Editors
Southern Anthropological Society

There is a pervasive idea that Appalachia is inhabited by white people of northern European ancestry. While social scientists, journalist and novelist all acknowledge the presence of the occasional "other," white ethnic homogeneity is an assumption underlying most references to the region. The story may include a few black people in the towns, still fewer Indians localized on the Cherokee reservation, and a sprinkling of new ethnicities like Asians and Hispanics, but they don't really figure into regional history. Cultural analysis has consistently begun with Anglo-Saxon/Scotch Irish cultural domination.

To continue reading: Click Here.