Posts Tagged ‘Appalachian Culture’
Reinventing Museum Offerings During COVID
Museums throughout the region have found creative ways to connect with the public during COVID, both online and offline. And as many museums resume in-person operations, some are planning to keep these popular new programs.
Read MoreOver 100 Miners Heading to Washington to Advocate for Black Lung Benefits
Over 100 miners from across the Appalachian region are traveling to Washington D.C. this week to lobby lawmakers on a number of issues related to black lung disease, a fatal respiratory condition caused by continuous exposure to harmful dust and rock particles in and around coal mines.
Read MoreMaking sense of crisis: The West Virginia floods
In this guest post, West Virginia resident and former coordinator of The Alliance for Appalachia Katey Lauer shares her perspective on the aftermath of the storms and the humanity she witnessed as communities come together and begin to rebuild.
Read MoreFrom inside Appalachia, a look at WGN’s “Outsiders”
Exclusive to the Front Porch: WGN’s television series “Outsiders” doesn’t leave a single stereotype of Appalachia unturned. In this essay exclusive to the Front Porch Blog, award-winning author Ron Rash reflects on how stereotypes cloak harms much more profound than cultural misperceptions: “The region is diverse, and many areas are doing well, but for those that are not, might a show focused on “retard hillbilly animals” make it easier for America to ignore the region’s needs?”
Read MoreNew Program Makes Learning Cherokee Easier
Cherokee is “the original language of the Appalachians,” and a new online program is making this difficult language easier to learn.
Read MoreOut of Frame: Regional Stereotypes in Photography
By Lou Murrey Earlier this year, a photo essay published by Vice Magazine titled “Two Days in Appalachia” provoked controversy over the portrayal of the region in the media. The images were made in the photographer Bruce Gilden’s signature style, using a harsh flash and zooming in on his subject to an almost-uncomfortable and unflattering…
Read MoreDocumenting Appalachia
Filmmakers Discuss Their Work in the Region By Elizabeth E. Payne It has been almost forty years since “Harlan County, USA” (1976) brought attention to the miners’ strike at the Brookside Mine in southeast Kentucky. Since then, dozens of films, including “Justice in the Coalfields” (1995), “Sludge” (2005) and “The Last Mountain” (2011), have explored…
Read More“After Coal,” Beyond the Big Screen
By Samantha Eubanks Appalachia has long been misrepresented in media. As a result, many filmmakers working in the region have made a push to ensure accurate portrayals of community members. One way the filmmakers are doing this is by including the input and feedback of documentary participants. In “Hollow,” a 2013 Peabody award winning interactive…
Read MoreLand through the Lens
Photographs of Appalachia’s wild wonders have shaped our relationship with the mountains since the early 20th century, and witnessing the destruction of the region’s land and waters has long stirred residents to defend our natural heritage. – Compiled by Molly Moore George Masa’s stunning landscape images from the 1920s and ‘30s are credited with raising…
Read MorePeter Givens
Countering Stereotypes in the Classroom and on the Parkway By Dan Radmacher Peter Givens has made a career out of dispelling Appalachian myths and stereotypes, first as a ranger for the National Park Service and now as a faculty member in Virginia Western Community College’s history department. The driver behind it all? A deep and…
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