In Her Own Words: "I'm an Appalachian"

By Kathi Albertson

Kathi Albertson

"The Women of Appalachia: Their Heritage and Accomplishments" conference will host over 150 participants from more than 12 states and Canada at the Zanesville campus, Oct. 24 to 26. I am the conference director. What began as an administrative assignment has become a journey of self-discovery and a personal passion.

Four years ago I was asked to plan an event highlighting the positive aspects of the Appalachian region and dispel the myth that the term 'Appalachian' is synonymous with poverty and cultural deprivation. One of the objectives was to add significantly to the body of literature describing the heritage and accomplishments of the women of the region, since little existed, despite the fact that their influence has been considerable.

One of my first tasks was to identify what the Appalachian heritage encompassed. I soon found that it wasn't enough to look merely at the life and culture in the Appalachian region, but I had to look back to the heritage that came from western Europe, including the highlands of Ireland and Scotland, and also France. Suddenly it sounded like I was talking about the memories shared by the older folks at our family reunion. They had migrated to the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania from Brittany, the most rugged area of western France. Although many of my uncles remained in the mountains to raise their large families, my mother and her parents moved to Ohio. Because I grew up in the Akron area, I therefore considered my childhood to be that of a flat-lander even though our family made annual pilgrimages to the Alleghenies to participate in the "clan reunion."

Then came the enlightenment from Joyce Dyer of Hiram College and editor of "Bloodroot: Reflections on Place by Appalachian Women Writers," who presented a paper on the migration of Appalachians to urban industrial centers. She described how the large tire companies, including Goodyear Tire and Rubber where my father worked for over forty years, attempted to attract miners from the coal fields to the factories by creating communities similar to the company towns built by the coal companies in the mountains. What a shock! Goodyear Heights in Akron, Ohio had a lot in common with Emeigh Run, Pa., where my mother grew up and watched her father and brothers trudge to the mines each morning with their lunch buckets and coal picks. Visitors to Emeigh Run can still see the company houses and the building that was once the company store where miners bought most of their essentials.

Why did I not see the connection before? The founders of Goodyear provided affordable housing to attract workers. There is a Goodyear store and a company theater as well as other company buildings providing services to the employees and their families. We still go the Goodyear pharmacy to pick up my Mom's prescriptions and go to the Goodyear Employee Park for family outings. In doing so we are participating in a way of life deeply influenced by life in the coal fields of the mountains. I have become aware that my mother was an Appalachian migrant and her heritage is really mine! I am not an outsider to this group.

The Reel World String Band, five talented female musicians who perform in concert on the first evening of the conference, sets the tone for the interaction during the remaining two days. They generate excitement and create fun while also delivering a message and a call to activism. Equally important, their on-stage chatter reveals that they all have professional careers in addition to their lives as musicians; they are intelligent and articulate and a good example of the Appalachian women with accomplishments that we want to highlight. It was exciting to see a piece of art submitted to our Ohio Appalachian Art Exhibit that was inspired by one of the songs performed by the band. "Why Do My Cows Glow Home" by Jan Fassinger was a sculpture depicting the result of hazardous waste being dumped and then buried in areas where surface mining has occurred.

Although I have learned from many of the presenters, one of the most important comments came from Sharon McCrumb, our featured author in 2000. She was asked what her most important advice to the women of Appalachia was. Her answer: It is our responsibility to keep our Appalachian family stories and traditions alive; to make certain that we pass our heritage on to our children and grandchildren. Her advice has meant a lot to me and I remember her words when I take walks with our sons and their wives in our Appalachian Ohio woods. I show them Ginseng, Goldenseal and Bloodroot and tell them how their great-grandfather supplemented his income during the Depression by harvesting and selling the roots. We then cover the plants with leaves to hide them from modem hunters, grateful that we can afford to do so.

The program for this year's conference is dynamic. The list of plenary session presenters includes Lenore McComas Coberly, whose book, "The Handy Woman Stories," was recently published by the Ohio University Press; Marilou Awiakta, author of "Selu: Seeking the Corn Mothers Wisdom" and other books; Anne Lewis, producer and director of multiple Appalshop films; Joy Padgett from the Governor's Office on Appalachia; and the Reel World String Band.

As for what the conference has done for me, I can now say with pride "Hello, my name is Kathi, and I'm an Appalachian."

Kathi Albertson is director of continuing education at Ohio Univesity-Zanesville campus. She also is the director of the Women of Appalachia conference.