Ohio’s Silent Minority…They Love Babies
May 19, 2009 Alternative Assignment
The people who settled the Appalachian Mountains had to be rugged to endure the lifestyle. Settlers included (in this order): Native Americans, Germans, English, French, and Scotch-Irish. Forty percent of Dayton’s population have roots to Appalachia. Coal, which was known as the “life blood” of the region, was the popular power at the time. It needed hundreds of thousands of workers. The job was long, hard, and demanding, but one could easily make a living. The massive migration of these numerous coal miners occurred after the coal industry mechanized in the 1940s. Manpower was cut back drastically, and the out of work miners moved to midwest cities. Appalachia lost forty million people between 1940-1970. Dayton received many Eastern-Kentuckians. Some family members had already settled in the city. They told their relatives that work was to be found on assembly lines. Appalachians had a reputation of being hard workers, and factory work was like a “holiday” compared to mining.
The documentary argues that the current situation of Appalachians in Dayton is an ignored problem. The community in East Dayton sees low graduation rates, high unemployment, and poverty. They are called the “invisible minority” because they are a largely white population, and many are too proud to seek help. Their social problems include: drug abuse, alcoholism, and teen pregnancy. The latter is of greatest concern. According to the movie, Appalachians “like babies” more than most groups. Many of these teen mothers drop out of school or attend infrequently. This is due to lack of child care and the idea that many Appalachian students have poor records of class attendance anyways. Additionally, forty percent of teen mothers than have a second child within two years of their first delivery.
I have to criticize that these problems are not unique to Appalachians alone. The social problems listed above are commonly found in any group living on the poverty line. Also, the notion that Appalachians “like babies” more than other groups is an unfounded argument. Most cultures like babies, the problem is ignorance about birth control.
Reference: Dayton’s Silent Minority. Dir. Roy Flynn. Streamed Video. Ohio Think TV, 1996 http://www.thinktv.org/demand/dema_demand.html .
- You might be an Appalachian if…you like this baby.
