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The Appalachian Voice
| Article
# : |
13245 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
10 / 1987 |
5,249 Words |
| Author
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Eli Flam
Eli Flam is a free-lance writer who has traveled widely in
Appalachia and is a son of immigrants. |
Shoals of immigrants continue to settle in the United States, well into its third century as a nation, and many who are long here still seek to home in on their heritage. How do people from elsewhere become Americans while dealing with voices and values they bring with them? Until the middle of the twentieth century, the melting-pot theory held sway. It postulated that individuals and groups from all over the globe should largely give up their languages and ways to become assimilated in a homogeneous mass. But in recent decades, the notion of an American "stew" has gained favor, by which constituent tongues and cultures keep their identities and so add to the flavor and substance of the nation.
Appalachia was settled by the nation's earliest immigrants, and its residents are one of its most misunderstood groups. Mostly of Scots-Irish stock, they first settled the extensive mountainous region from Pennsylvania to Alabama well before the Revolutionary War. They represent a rock-ribbed past, a rugged heritage.
"My people have always been teachers on my mother's side,' said Laura Milton Hodges. "The first ones came to Appalachia way before the Revolutionary War....The books on our shelves were by philosophers, and on history, and even Greek plays, and English literature.
"We're also farmers, and that's real important. The main thing is, though, you have to value your own culture. Then you can go anywhere, fit in anywhere."
Hodges teaches remedial English and reading at Watauga High School in the northwest corner of North Carolina. She lives
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