Faith Ralph
Anthro 205-508
4/26/2012

Putting Anthropology to Work to Preserve Appalachian Heritage

Thought Question: The Appalachian coal miners represent a vanished way of life. Why should we, in the modern world, care about understanding and preserving knowledge about this lifestyle?

In the early 1900’s coal mining was the main resource that drove the economy throughout The Appalachian Mountains. Coal mining was a way of life for most everyone in this area. These coal miners were a close knit group of people that all contributed to this way of life. While coal mining is still a way a life, it had major declines between the 30s and 50s and was virtually diminished by 1970.
Sadly this way of life is often times forgotten about but thanks to efforts from many, many people this heritage is being preserved. Undergraduate students at Radford University have recently worked with The Appalachian community and created The “New River Valley Coal Mining Heritage Project”. This project is a collection of elders’ memories from their coal mining pasts. The university also did a second project named the “Coal Mining Heritage Park Project” that has developed plans for a park that will commemorate the mining heritage.
I strongly believe that we too should care and understand this lifestyle and help preserve the past. Thomas Monson once said “The past is behind, learn from it.” Which is something I really believe in. Although I may not know a lot about coal mining, other than what I have read in this article, I do know that we can always learn from people before us. Since coal mining was such a dominant part of these peoples lives it isn’t something that should just be forgotten so easily and it would be beneficial to everyone involved to learn about their past culture.
I also think we should care about this lifestyle just out of respect. I know lots of people could probably care a less about some coal miners they have never heard of from a hundred years ago. At first when I read the question, I actually felt the same way. Then I started to think about how if something like this happened in my community how I would want it preserved just out of pure respect for everyone that was involved and to pay tribute to my elders because after all coal mining was their life.
The coal mining lifestyle in The Appalachian Mountains was everything to these people not that long ago but majority declined some years ago. Luckily for the people of this region, lots of people appreciate this culture and have decided to preserve it for them, just in time. It is great for The Appalachian People that their memories will be there for years to come now. Now people will be able to learn from their past and pay tribute to this lifestyle.