Appalachia: The Dismal Land

In the fall of 1963 Homer Bigart came to eastern Kentucky and wrote an article for the New York Times that described the ragged, undernourished people with whom he talked, and the flimsy shacks in which they lived. He told of children so hungry they ate dry mud gouged out between chimney stones. An image-conscious President had issued an executive order creating PARC, the President’s Appalachian Regional Commission. In due time the commission made its report to President Johnson and to Congress, and in 1964 its recommendations became law. Most Americans now comfortably assume that the problems of Appalachia have been fairly faced and are well on the road to being solved. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

A great deal ...