Hillbilly Highway
Encyclopedia
Hillbilly Highway is an American metaphoric term referring to the out-migration of residents of the Appalachian Mountains
to industrial cities in northern, midwestern, and western states, primarily in the years following World War II. Many went to major industrial centers such as Detroit, Cleveland or Chicago
, while others traveled west to California
. While most often used in this metaphoric sense, the term is sometimes used to refer to specific stretches of roadway, such as U.S. Route 23, or Interstate 75
.
includes the whole of West Virginia
, and parts of Alabama
, Georgia
, Kentucky
, Maryland
, Mississippi
, New York
, North Carolina
, Ohio
, Pennsylvania
, South Carolina
, Tennessee
, and Virginia
. The Appalachian Regional Commission
, a federal-state partnership that currently focuses on economic and infrastructure development, was created in the 1960s to address poverty and unemployment in the region. In FY 2007, the Appalachian Regional Commission
designated 78 counties in 9 states as distressed, based on low per-capita income and high rates of poverty and unemployment ≠ (of 410 counties in 13 states included as Appalachian). The ARC notes that some severely distressed areas still lack basic infrastructure, such as water and sewer systems. The 1990 Census indicated that the poverty rate in central rural Appalachia was 27 percent. In West Virginia, the 2000 poverty rate statewide was 17.9%; in nine counties more than a quarter of the population lived below the poverty line, with percentages as high as 37.7%. Un- and under-employment rates are higher than the nation’s average. Breathitt County, Kentucky had a 9.9% unemployment rate averaged over 2001-2003, a 33.2% poverty rate in 2000 (down from a twenty-year high of 39.5% in 1990), and only 57.5% of adults had high school diplomas in 2000.
has been integral to the region and its economy. One feature of the Appalachian coal mines was the existence of company towns. In the company towns, the coal companies provided the “municipal” services, owned the homes and the stores, where the accepted currency was usually company scrip (despite laws in some states against it ) and the prices were excessive. 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.” Eventually union struggles occurred in these towns; in central Appalachia miners battled to unionize the mines from the 1890s to the 1940s and fought again from the late 1970s to 1999. Some company towns tried to become models of social welfare, in order to dissuade workers from unionizing. Nonetheless, “mine wars” erupted, strikes that turned into deadly battles when the company tried to protect strikebreakers, including in Matewan
, West Virginia on May 19, 1920. The unionization of the Appalachian coal mines is a long, complex story, spanning decades.
wrote a song titled "Hillbilly Highway", recorded on his 1986 album Guitar Town
.
Many West Virginians and Kentuckians (e.g., from Magoffin County) migrated to the industrial cities of Ohio, for jobs in rubber and steel. Industrial towns in Southern Ohio, including Dayton and Cincinnati, were favorites for migrants from Eastern Kentucky because they remained close to home. Some Ohio companies (including Champion Paper Company, Lorillard Tobacco Company, and Armco Steel) reportedly recruited their labor force from specific counties in the mountains, and gave preference to employee’s family members when hiring new workers, making out-migration from rural Appalachia easier.
, Louis Adamic writes that the “hill-billies” were believed by Detroit auto manufacturing employers to be “safe” – that is, not inclined to unionize. Adamic reports that auto companies were recruiting during the early 30s with the belief that these rural people had not been poisoned by ideas of unionism. 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 advent of manufacturing meant that unskilled workers could perform ably on the assembly lines, so these unskilled mountain folk were adequate employees.
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
to industrial cities in northern, midwestern, and western states, primarily in the years following World War II. Many went to major industrial centers such as Detroit, Cleveland or Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, while others traveled west to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. While most often used in this metaphoric sense, the term is sometimes used to refer to specific stretches of roadway, such as U.S. Route 23, or Interstate 75
Interstate 75
Interstate 75 is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. It travels from State Road 826 and State Road 924 in Hialeah, Florida to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, at the Ontario, Canada, border...
.
Appalachia
AppalachiaAppalachia
Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S...
includes the whole of West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
, and parts of Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, and Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. The Appalachian Regional Commission
Appalachian Regional Commission
The Appalachian Regional Commission is a United States federal-state partnership that works with the people of Appalachia to create opportunities for self-sustaining economic development and improved quality of life...
, a federal-state partnership that currently focuses on economic and infrastructure development, was created in the 1960s to address poverty and unemployment in the region. In FY 2007, the Appalachian Regional Commission
Appalachian Regional Commission
The Appalachian Regional Commission is a United States federal-state partnership that works with the people of Appalachia to create opportunities for self-sustaining economic development and improved quality of life...
designated 78 counties in 9 states as distressed, based on low per-capita income and high rates of poverty and unemployment ≠ (of 410 counties in 13 states included as Appalachian). The ARC notes that some severely distressed areas still lack basic infrastructure, such as water and sewer systems. The 1990 Census indicated that the poverty rate in central rural Appalachia was 27 percent. In West Virginia, the 2000 poverty rate statewide was 17.9%; in nine counties more than a quarter of the population lived below the poverty line, with percentages as high as 37.7%. Un- and under-employment rates are higher than the nation’s average. Breathitt County, Kentucky had a 9.9% unemployment rate averaged over 2001-2003, a 33.2% poverty rate in 2000 (down from a twenty-year high of 39.5% in 1990), and only 57.5% of adults had high school diplomas in 2000.
Coal mining
Coal miningCoal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
has been integral to the region and its economy. One feature of the Appalachian coal mines was the existence of company towns. In the company towns, the coal companies provided the “municipal” services, owned the homes and the stores, where the accepted currency was usually company scrip (despite laws in some states against it ) and the prices were excessive. 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.” Eventually union struggles occurred in these towns; in central Appalachia miners battled to unionize the mines from the 1890s to the 1940s and fought again from the late 1970s to 1999. Some company towns tried to become models of social welfare, in order to dissuade workers from unionizing. Nonetheless, “mine wars” erupted, strikes that turned into deadly battles when the company tried to protect strikebreakers, including in Matewan
Matewan
Matewan is an American drama film written and directed by John Sayles, illustrating the events of a coal mine-workers' strike and attempt to unionize in 1920 in Matewan, a small town in the hills of West Virginia....
, West Virginia on May 19, 1920. The unionization of the Appalachian coal mines is a long, complex story, spanning decades.
The decline of mining and the move north
Given the instability of coal prices, particularly after WWI ended, and the ongoing union fights, many miners chose to leave the industry and migrate north for jobs, a migration that has come to be known as the Hillbilly Highway. Singer Steve EarleSteve Earle
Stephen Fain "Steve" Earle is an American singer-songwriter known for his rock and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play....
wrote a song titled "Hillbilly Highway", recorded on his 1986 album Guitar Town
Guitar Town
Guitar Town is the debut album from singer-songwriter Steve Earle, released on March 5, 1986. It topped the Billboard country album charts, and the title song reached #7 on the country singles charts...
.
Appalachian migration
As much so as coal mining, migration has been an important part of the Appalachian experience. Huge numbers of people migrated out of Appalachia. Between 1910 and 1960, millions of Southerners left their home states of Tennessee, Kentucky, the Carolinas, Virginia and West Virginia. A large percentage of those leaving Kentucky, West Virginia, and Tennessee went north for jobs in the industrial sector.Many West Virginians and Kentuckians (e.g., from Magoffin County) migrated to the industrial cities of Ohio, for jobs in rubber and steel. Industrial towns in Southern Ohio, including Dayton and Cincinnati, were favorites for migrants from Eastern Kentucky because they remained close to home. Some Ohio companies (including Champion Paper Company, Lorillard Tobacco Company, and Armco Steel) reportedly recruited their labor force from specific counties in the mountains, and gave preference to employee’s family members when hiring new workers, making out-migration from rural Appalachia easier.
Detroit
In a 1935 article in The NationThe Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.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. Adamic reports that auto companies were recruiting during the early 30s with the belief that these rural people had not been poisoned by ideas of unionism. 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 advent of manufacturing meant that unskilled workers could perform ably on the assembly lines, so these unskilled mountain folk were adequate employees.