Work and Community

Exploring West Virginia's communities

West Virginia’s heritage and history are rooted in community values and a sense of work ethic, but so are stereotypes about the region. The earliest communities in the state centered around work and industry: railways, logging camps of itinerant workers (mostly able-bodied men), and coal camps, where families lived in company houses, used company scrip at the company store, and found themselves bound economically to place by the inequities that played out in their work. These situations led not just to a deepened sense of community as people worked together to counter tragedy in dangerous work or to fight for better pay and working conditions. Small family and subsistence farms were common well into the mid-twentieth century in more rural parts of the state, as well. City centers like Morgantown, Charleston, Wheeling, and Parkersburg were hubs of small industry, trade, transportation, and culture, as well as centers of government, arts, and academic life. Still, much of the state was–and remains–more rural.

In stereotype but also in reality, West Virginian values translate as “American” values, distilled to a sense of hard work, self-sufficiency, and mountaineer spirit. This rhetoric has become part of West Virginians’ place-identity over time. Even our state songs incorporate the sense of community and hard work as integral to the state.

In 1975, Loyal Jones defined “mountain values” particular to Appalachia, including neighborliness and hospitality; familism; personalism (which includes tolerance instead of agreement); love of place; and sense of beauty. Jones cites tolerance and “live and let live” attitudes, along with a belief in good intentions and allowance for imperfections as a hallmark of Appalachian culture. 

Torn by history and politics and held together by relationships and community, West Virginians live in close proximity to others who may not share the same political or religious affiliations. Interestingly, we believe we are accepting of differences, even when legislation and public policy suggest otherwise, and this sense of acceptance surfaces in the way West Virginians connect to place and community. Even those who have left the region and state maintain strong ties to the community. Longing for return, even temporary, is evidenced by the number of shuttle migrants who maintain part-time homes in the state, who return for sports and other events, and who proudly declare their state of origin, even years after having left. West Virginians, at least in principle, continue to carry these beliefs, as evidenced in the way we respond to crises like floods and natural disasters, stand in labor movements, raise funds, and recently, take a stand to protect education within the state at both the public and university levels. Communities in West Virginia often come together through hardship and tragedy as well as in times of hope and change. 

West Virginia Writers and Artists

Writing prompt 

Communities in West Virginia often come together through hardship and tragedy as well as in times of hope and change. This nuanced sense of togetherness is not always recognized or is subsumed by stereotypes about West Virginia as a cultural and political monolith, characterized by poverty and narrow-mindedness (as in the hillbilly) or by friendliness, acceptance, and hard work (as in the mountaineer). This polarization of a state’s people through two contrasting images oversimplifies complexity—as is common of all stereotypes. Write about a time you’ve seen stereotypes–positive or negative, or both–obscure reality, either for yourself or someone else. What might we do in such a situation? How might we counter such situations for ourselves and our students?