Chapter 14 Quiz: The "Discovery" of Appalachia
Multiple Choice
1. The "local color movement" of the 1870s–1890s primarily involved:
a) Mountain painters creating landscape art b) Writers producing fiction and travel writing about distinctive American regions for magazine audiences c) Scientists classifying the plant life of the Appalachian mountains d) Political activists fighting for Appalachian rights
2. William Goodell Frost's 1899 essay "Our Contemporary Ancestors" argued that:
a) Mountain people were genetically distinct from the rest of the American population b) Mountain people were living relics of colonial-era America, preserved by geographic isolation c) Mountain people were more intelligent than urban Americans d) Mountain people should be left alone and not disturbed by outsiders
3. Frost wrote "Our Contemporary Ancestors" primarily to:
a) Apply for a federal government grant b) Secure a faculty position at Harvard University c) Raise money for Berea College from wealthy Northern donors d) Publish a scholarly paper in a scientific journal
4. The Hindman Settlement School, founded in 1902, was:
a) A school for Cherokee children in western North Carolina b) The first rural settlement school in America, located in Knott County, Kentucky c) A mining school run by the Norfolk and Western Railway d) A school exclusively for African American children in Appalachia
5. The settlement school movement's most significant cultural problem was its assumption that:
a) Mountain children were incapable of learning b) Mountain culture was deficient and needed to be replaced with middle-class Northern norms c) Education was unnecessary for rural communities d) Only boys should receive education
6. Henry Shapiro's Appalachia on Our Mind (1978) argued that:
a) Appalachia was the most important region in American history b) "Appalachia" was a social construction — a concept created by outsiders, not a natural category discovered by observation c) The settlement schools were entirely beneficial and should be restored d) Mountain culture was genuinely Elizabethan in origin
7. The "culture of poverty" thesis, as applied to Appalachia by Jack Weller in Yesterday's People (1965), argued that:
a) Mountain poverty was caused by geographic isolation alone b) Mountain poverty was caused by cultural characteristics — fatalism, individualism, fear of change — rather than economic exploitation c) Mountain poverty could be eliminated by coal mining d) Mountain poverty was a myth invented by journalists
8. John Fox Jr.'s novel The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1908) portrays the arrival of industrial development in the mountains as:
a) A catastrophe that destroys mountain communities b) An irrelevant background to the love story c) An unambiguously positive force that civilizes backward mountain people d) A complex process with both benefits and costs
9. The concept of the "outsider gaze," as applied in this chapter, refers to:
a) The military surveillance of mountain communities b) The way outsiders observe, interpret, and represent a community through their own cultural assumptions c) The practice of watching television about Appalachia d) Scientific observation of geological formations
10. The practice of "selective documentation" in Appalachian photography refers to:
a) Photographing only buildings, never people b) Using only black-and-white film rather than color c) Choosing subjects and framing that emphasize poverty and exoticism while ignoring prosperity and normalcy d) Documenting historical events in chronological order
Short Answer
11. In two to three sentences, explain the difference between saying that Appalachia was "discovered" by outsiders and saying that Appalachia was "invented" by outsiders. Why does Henry Shapiro's framing matter?
12. The settlement schools provided genuine educational benefits while also imposing cultural colonization. Give one specific example of each from this chapter, and explain why both can be true simultaneously.
Essay Question
13. This chapter traces a line from William Goodell Frost's "Our Contemporary Ancestors" (1899) through the settlement school movement to Jack Weller's "culture of poverty" thesis (1965). In a well-organized essay (500–750 words), explain how each of these developments built on the one before it, and argue for or against the claim that this intellectual lineage continues to shape perceptions of Appalachia today. Use specific evidence from the chapter and, if possible, a contemporary example of your own.