Urban Appalachians - Forming Communities

Forming Communities

For many Appalachians, factory work was what attracted them to urban areas — 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. These and many other factories large and small drew people to the cities from Appalachia. The location of these factories often determined the location of Appalachian neighborhoods. Concentrations of low cost housing became temporary "ports of entry" for some families and long term homes for others. Layoffs, changeovers, plant shutdowns and long stretches of unemployment were common experiences. Some faced discrimination in hiring or in their search for housing. For some black or white Appalachians, doors to good jobs or good neighborhoods were closed. 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.

Newcomers would often stay with relatives or friends until they got settled. When the layoffs came people might have to go back to the mountains for a time or "double up" with relatives in the city. Networks of family and friends were their main support. Soon churches were organized, becoming an additional means of spiritual and material sustenance. As neighborhoods became heavily Appalachian, churches, stores, bars, restaurants, and social clubs were established to serve this population. Promoted by the radio and recording industries, urban Appalachian musicians and singers flourished,. Today, Appalachian festivals in Dayton and Cincinnati draw over 40,000 people annually to celebrate their heritage.

As more members of a family migrated and more children were born, family networks with rural roots and urban branches became larger and stronger than before migration. These family networks were flexible and often included non-kin in a network of mutual support, informal education and nurture. 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. And now that nearly every Appalachian family has members in both rural and urban areas, there is very little difference between rural and urban Appalachians. The major differences among Appalachians are now most likely to appear along class lines.