guthriedm15's blog

People from the Appalachian area are often forced to be ashamed and to hide their cultural identity because the Appalachian group of people are made the butts of so many jokes. They are looked down upon, considered different because they group up in a place where “hillbillies” and rednecks come from. A particularly interesting story of this occurring is told in “One Affrilachian Woman’s Return Home” by Crystal E. Wilkinson.

This is a story about a black female that grew up in Kentucky, where she lived on a farm, was surrounded by dirt roads, and called herself country. She details some of the criticisms that she received as a result of the dialect that she spoke with.  Presumably, she had what many would call a “country” accent that was the source of much of the ridicule that she suffered when she went out to travel. To stop the jokes and ridicule, she attempted to do things to change the way that she acted: she copied TV personalities, she learned to speak with a different dialect, and she controlled her conversation so that home was never brought up.

Unfortunately, people are often driven to do unfair things because of the ridicule that they receive as a result of being from a different culture. I have experienced some ridicule that was similar in nature to Wilkinson. I grew up in the relatively large area, called Franklin County, VA. I was born in that area, and I spent most of my life (from birth until 15) there. After the 8^th grade, my family moved to Salem, VA (just a country over). In this area, the people considered themselves to be of higher class than those from Franklin Country. People from Franklin Country were “country and poor”, while people from Salem were better. Rejection is a terrible thing to endure, especially if it’s because of something that is beyond your control.