As shown throughout most of human history, to be able to subjugate, abuse, or take advantage of another group of people, you must feel superior to them. So why would people degrade the Appalachian peoples? Who would it be serving to make a whole group of hard working people seem inferior to yourself? The answer would be large industry. Industries, particularly coal mining industries, are largely to blame for the creation of these stereotypes. Several of our first readings, mainly the one’s that seemed to degrade Appalachians, were written by leaders in the mining world. They purposefully set in to motion a political movement to gain the high ground over these people, so that they could give them unfair treatment. For example, since they were inferior, the miners could be given unfair pay, terrible working conditions, and lethal hours. This allowed for an immense amount of work to be done for a fraction of the price it would have normally taken, and in a smaller amount of time. Also, this allowed for “advanced” or “progressive” people to be able to buy Appalachian products for less money as well. So overall, the degredation of the Appalachian status led to their abuse from mining industries and merchants.