The media has already and long ago, for more than a century, defined who we are by portraying us to the whole world as ignorant, genetically deformed, immoral TOBACCO ROAD characters (if you have not read the book or seen this culture-defining film, please do so), as well as lazy Snuffy… Read full post »

I remember distinctly about 1950 when I heard my family discussing the book and film, TOBACCO ROAD, with abject sadness that our culture was so misrepresented by the national media. That was my first inkling that the rest of the country did not see us as we saw ourselves.

The… Read full post »

Bill O’Reilly’s recent contemptible rant against Appalachian Americans is only the latest example of the widespread and multigenerational problem of Appalachian hillbilly stereotypes.  Quite simply, O’Reilly reminded the world once again that people of the Appalachian Mountai/… Read full post »