Appalachian stereotypes
[2] These depictions have persisted and are still present in common understandings of Appalachia today, with a particular increase of stereotypical imagery during the late 1950s and early 1960s in sitcoms.
[2] While a general awareness of the Appalachia had existed, it was "discovered" by writers who helped form popularly accepted images of the region in the 1870s.
[7] Despite there being hopes of providing a rich lifestyle to the coal mine workers, they lived under low life standards due to poverty.
The Workingmen's Benevolent Society won some concessions regarding class tensions, insufficient wages, and poor living conditions, but none were enough to make significant differences.
[9] After the Civil War, violence arose between the people of the Appalachian region and the state militia, causing the deaths of hundreds.
As a result of these negative stereotypes, thousands of people from the Appalachian region face judgment and intense scrutiny on a daily basis.
[13] During the appraisal called "Community Action in Appalachia" during the War on Poverty, it was found that the population of those who wanted a change in how they lived was split into two.
The group helped provide community centers throughout Appalachia, with hopes of allowing individuals to become more educated and view other, newer technologies created by society.
Some embraced the new ideals and modernism provided by the community centers, and others annexed them with the thought that government intervention was not needed within their area.
The rough look of those who live in the Appalachian region comes from times in the late 1800s when Appalachia was hit with a depression due to economic overexpansion, decrease in money supply, and a stock crash.
Due to the fact that the region is heavily dependent on labor jobs, majority of people do not feel the need to go past a high school education, thus causing the stereotype that Appalachian individuals are uneducated.
[16] The Human Rights Ordinance policy was passed in 1992 by the City of Cincinnati, which explicitly proclaimed it forbidden to discriminate against characteristics such as race, national origin, sex and religion.
[17] Appalachia's social, cultural, and economic features establish an identity that consistently defines characteristics that infuse prejudices and distinguishes them from other minority groups.
A major example of this occurrence is the characterization of the emigration of residents of the Appalachian Mountains to industrial cities in northern, midwestern, and western states, primarily in the years following World War II as the "Hillbilly Highway".
