Many of these Appalachian migrants went to major industrial centers such as Detroit, Chicago,[2] Cleveland,[3] Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Milwaukee, Toledo, and Muncie,[4] while others traveled west to California.
The migration was not a finite process, as it is continuing today and the migrants commonly moved back to their home states in retirement, or relocated only temporarily.
[17] Some of these towns were described by the U.S. Coal Commission in 1922 as being in a state of disrepair "beyond the power of verbal description or even photographic illustration, since neither words nor pictures can portray the atmosphere of abandoned dejection or reproduce the smells.
Given the instability of coal prices, particularly after World War I ended, and the ongoing union fights, many miners chose to leave the industry and migrate north for jobs.
With the added friction in coal mining, and prohibition taking full effect, many so called mountain people carried on selling moonshine since that was one of the prime sources of income at the time.
[24] Industrial towns in Southern Ohio, including Dayton and Cincinnati, were favorites for migrants from Eastern Kentucky because they remained close to home.
[25] In a 1935 article in The Nation, Louis Adamic writes that the "hill-billies" were believed by Detroit auto manufacturing employers to be "safe" – that is, not inclined to unionize.
[citation needed] The article goes on to report that the hill-billies were looked down upon by almost everyone, due to their extremely low standard of living and lack of familiarity with modern plumbing, and because they were seen as taking away jobs from the old-time automotive workers.
The Appalachian people who migrated to Detroit (and in smaller numbers to Flint) in order to work in the automotive plants gained an identity distinct from the one that they possessed in their home state.
[citation needed] Because the Appalachian migrants had no cultural context for situations they encountered in northern industrial cities, their reactions were dictated by their rural southern lives and attitudes.
[citation needed] Country singer Bobby Bare's 1963 hit single "Detroit City", written by Danny Dill and Mel Tillis, describes the homesickness and culture shock commonly experienced by Southern migrants.
Also released as a single, "Hillbilly Highway" recounts the story of three generations of Appalachian men who leave their homes to find work elsewhere.
23" from his 1987 album "Hillbilly Deluxe" describes how, for the children of coal miners south of Prestonsburg, Kentucky, the most important things that they learn are reading, writing, and to take U.S. Route 23 out of the area to find factory jobs in the industrial cities north of Appalachia.