It was not until the period following World War II, however, that large-scale migration to urban areas became common due to the decline of coal mining and the increase in industrial jobs available in the Midwest and Northeast.
Most of the Appalachian migrants settled in industrial centers in the Midwest and Northeast, with Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Toledo, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh being known for particularly large populations.
Others moved to urban areas in the South, such as Atlanta and Louisville; other cities that have smaller but significant populations are Columbus, Fort Wayne, Lansing, Flint and Dayton.
A related phenomenon to the exodus of white Appalachians on the Hillbilly Highway is the Great Migration of black southerners, including some from Appalachia.
Many came from coal camp villages in the Cumberland Plateau or Allegheny Mountains; others came from cities such as Knoxville, Charleston, West Virginia, or the Huntington-Ashland area.
[1] The decline of industry in the Rust Belt starting in the 1970s had a negative effect on blue-collar workers of Appalachian backgrounds, and many returned home.
[2] [3] For many Appalachians, factory work was what attracted them to urban areas, for firms such as Wright Aeronautical (later General Electric), Armco (later AK Steel), U.S. Shoe, General Motors, Chrysler, Frigidaire, Ford, Champion Paper, Nutone, National Cash Register (now NCR Corporation), Delco, and Newport Steel, to name a few.
Banks did not always want to make mortgage loans to Appalachian families in certain areas, and insurance companies often refused them coverage through the practice of redlining.
As neighborhoods became heavily Appalachian, churches, stores, bars, restaurants, and social clubs were established to serve this population.
Kinship systems and a set of experiences first in the mountains and now in working-class neighborhoods in the city are the core concepts in understanding urban Appalachian social structure.
everyday practices - caring for children and the elderly, providing work, helping in times of crisis, granting favors, passing along information or lending support."
Halperin identifies the strengths of an integrated working-class neighborhood as strong intergenerational ties, informal educational processes through which adults instruct the young, intricate patterns of exchange that provide food, shelter, and care of dependents, longevity of families in the neighborhood, householding (provisioning) practices, and the gifts of oratory, storytelling, and writing skills.
[10] A balanced view of urban Appalachians needs to include the ravages that decades of industrialization, out-migration, deindustrialization, and deterioration of core city neighborhoods have wreaked on some.
Every large group which has migrated to American cities has had similar experiences of facing put-downs, prejudice and outright discrimination.
The rest depends on urban Appalachians' ability to use the strengths of their heritage and adapt once again to economic shifts such as production jobs going overseas.
Appalachians have contributed to the civic, economic and cultural life of their communities serving as ministers, elected officials, union leaders, and in thousands of small businesses.
The influx of Appalachians helped to influence the life and culture of Midwestern and Northeastern American cities in the last half of this century.
This compilation also contains references to newspapers, magazines, and serials featuring special issues on urban Appalachians, as well as related audio tapes, films, videos, and DVDs.