PUBLICATIONS RELATED 1956 Roscoe Giffin When Families Move From Cinder Hollow to Cincinnati

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 18: PUBLICATIONS RELATED
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY
Roscoe Giffin (1914-1962)
“When Families Move … From Cinder Hollow to Cincinnati ”
1956

TAGS: Roscoe Giffin, From Cinder Hollow to Cincinnati, migrants, Berea College, National Federation of Settlements, Midwestern urban centers, Appalachian South, new job formation, population growth, cultural traditions, social organization system, family-kinship relations, churches, schools, voluntary segregation, children, religious beliefs, health, individualism, group discipline, characteristics of the mountain people, urban adjustment

STUDIES SURVEYS REPORTS 1956 Roscoe Giffin
When Families Move …From Cinder Hollow to Cincinnati

Giffin, Roscoe. “When Families Move … From Cinder Hollow to Cincinnati,” Reprinted from Mountain Life and Work, Fall 1956.

Dr. Roscoe Giffin, the author of the 1956 study, “From Cinder Hollow to Cincinnati,” served as the head of the Department of Sociology at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, from 1949 until his death in 1962.

Giffin’s studies and writings primarily focused on race relations, post WWII peace, and disarmament efforts. A collection of his papers are currently stored in the Berea College Special Collections and Archives Catalog, located in the Hutchins Library.

When the Pine Mountain Settlement School’s boarding student years ended in 1949 the School put together an education program known as the Community or Cooperative School. It was a cooperative program with the Harlan County Board of Education and it persisted in a variety of forms until 1972. At that time, the programs were moved from Pine Mountain to the new Green Hills Elementary School created by the Harlan County Board of Education to serve the valley’s student population.

The then-president of Berea College and PMSS trustee, Francis Hutchins felt that a socio-economic study of the area would be useful in light of expected changes produced by county school consolidation. The Berea professor and sociologist Roscoe Giffin was appointed to conduct the study, which analyzed the effects of family size, income, mobility, social values, and educational attainment. A series of articles concerning the study appeared in Mountain Life & Work in the 1950s.

Giffin’s appointment to conduct the study followed the extensive work Giffin had completed in his PUBLICATIONS RELATED 1950 Roscoe Giffin People of the PMS School District Part 1-4 (001-050)

Sources:

“Berea’s Appalachian Commitment Timeline: Francis S. Hutchins: President 1939-1967.” Hutchins Library, Berea College, Berea, KY. Internet resource, accessed 2023-02-20.

“Roscoe Giffin Papers, 1929-1963,” RG 9/9.23: Roscoe Giffin Papers. Berea College Special Collections and Archives, Berea, KY. Internet resource, accessed 2023-02-20.

“American Friends Service Committee.” en.Wikipedia.org. Internet resource, accessed 2023-02-20.

CONTENTS: ROSCOE GIFFIN 1956 From Cinder Hollow to Cincinnati

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WHEN FAMILIES MOVE …FROM CINDER HOLLOW TO CINCINNATI

By Roscoe Giffin
Reprinted from MOUNTAIN LIFE & WORK

Many northern cities are suddenly awakening to the problem of masses of migrants from the Appalachian South who have come North to work. What is involved in this migration is graphically described by the Head of the Department of Sociology, Berea College. This article is an expanded version of an address he gave at the annual meeting of the National Federation of Settlements at St. Louis in May of 1956.

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NO PROOF IS NECESSARY to document the presence of large numbers of migrants from the Appalachian South in cities of the Ohio Valley and Midwest. Their presence is well recognized by other residents of these cities, so much so in fact that they are frequently referred to with words which convey not a little hostility and prejudice.

The migration of these people is not, however, a phenomenon of only the last few decades. Since 1870 at least, the states in the East South Central region have been an important source of people moving to such midwestern states as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. In 1950 these four midwestern states had 707,000 residents born in Kentucky, 312,000 born in Tennessee, and 244,000 from West Virginia. In the decade of 1940-1950 the population expansion of these three southern states was less than the national average of 14.5 percent: Kentucky, 3.5; West Virginia, 5.4; Tennessee, 12.9. To bring a portion of this record up to date it is worth noting that in the period 1950-1955 over 210,000 persons left Kentucky. Ninety-four percent of these migrants were from the Appalachian mountain counties in the eastern section of the state.

This migration, both recently and in the past, is primarily a response to the combined influence of a high rate of new job formation in the other states plus the high rate of population growth within the Appalachian South. In the southern mountains, the rate of new job formation is low but the birth rate is high. In the midwestern urban centers the rate of new job formation is high but the birth rate is low. The migration of people serves to bring these forces of supply and demand together in the same labor market.

To document these conclusions statistically I call your attention to the following data. For the state of Kentucky the 1950 net reproduction rate was 671. For the 43 counties in the eastern mountain area this rate was about 850; and in seven counties it exceeded 1,000. The net reproduction rate is based on the ratio of children under five years of age per 1,000 females of age 20-44. Demographers regard a rate of 500 as sufficient to maintain a population at a constant level. As of 1950 midwestern urban areas had rates of about 400, insufficient to maintain their own population to say nothing of expanding in response to growing employment opportunities. Thus the Kentucky mountain counties have a rate 70 percent in excess of that

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needed for replacement whereas in the urban areas of the Midwest was about a 20 percent deficit.

New job formation in the Kentucky mountains has been generally in reverse gear since somewhat before 1950. Since about 1920 the development of the eastern Kentucky coal fields has absorbed a large portion of the natural population increase of the region. However, since about 1948 the demand for coal from these fields has declined sharply and with it employment. Between 1950 and 1955 employment in the coal mines of the eastern section of the state dropped from over 47,000 to just over 25,000, a decline of 47 percent. It is no surprise that the 272,000 people who left the state in the first half of this decade, 50 percent of them came from the coal counties in the mountain region.

The other mountain counties are characterized by the depletion of forest resources, the lack of new industries, and already over-populated agricultural lands. Though less rapid than that from the coal counties the exodus has been substantial. The growth of new employment opportunities in the non-mountain counties of the state has been far less than enough to absorb the labor supply available in the mountains. Thus attracted by the growing pace of industrial development in the Midwest and propelled by the economic disorganization of their home counties, mountaineers have migrated to the North of the Ohio River in great numbers. Although the data and interpretation have been restricted to developments in Kentucky, much the same pattern has occurred in West Virginia as well as in sections of Tennessee. However, it must be emphasized that the Kentucky exodus is by all odds the largest.

People who migrate from the Appalachian South to the urban centers of the Midwest bring with them already established patterns of culture and behavior. These patterns are basically rural but modified by the influence of the culture of the southeastern United States.

The social organization system familiar to these people is probably dominated by family-kinship relations. Formal organizations are limited largely to labor unions and churches. However, the churches of this area are marked by an extreme degree of informality compared to those of our contemporary cities. Paid ministers, printed programs, specially scheduled services, and elaborate physical plants are certainly less than common in the region except in its few urban centers. The one-room school is yet a common sight in rural areas although rapid development of consolidated rural schools is evident.

People who derive much of their social experience from their kinship system are obviously going to attempt to continue such practices when they move to the city. Thus the evidence of voluntary segregation in places of residence, the frequent presence of relatives in households, and the apparent though undocumented tendency of people from a given region to migrate to particular urban centers is understandable. Personnel people have on numerous occasions pointed out to the writer their practice of hiring new employees by asking workers from the mountains to bring in some of their relatives.

The lack of much experience in formal organizations means that most of these migrants will be lacking in the skills either of leadership or membership for organized group processes. Much educating

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and orienting will be required if their adjustment to this new form of participation is not to be extremely slow.

Efforts of these migrants to establish their own churches in the city and to be unattracted to the standard urban variety are quite normal, then, viewed in the light of their own experience worlds. Perhaps this is a field for a special kind of urban ministry.

Children from the mountains who have had some school experience may find assimilation into the large schools of the cities very disturbing. The very physical size, the multitudes of other children, the impersonality will all play havoc with what little emotional security they may have left after entering the strange world of the city. The effect of such influences will likely accentuate the already rather pronounced tendencies of shyness and reticence so apparent among rural mountain children.

Among the prominent cultural traditions of the Appalachian South of importance for urban adjustment are those relating to formal education, religious beliefs, bodily health, individualism, success criteria and standards of housing. Each of these will be commented upon briefly in terms of their urban significance.

Historically the environment of the mountains has not required emphasis upon formal education. Consequently, both the adults and their children will–by urban standards–be considerably retarded. Scores on I.Q. tests can be expected to be surprisingly low. A readiness to drop out of school as soon as possible is to be expected for perhaps a majority. On the average at present only about 15 percent of the children of eastern Kentucky who enter the first grade graduate from high school. Back of these patterns are, of course, generations of parents, other relatives, and neighbors to whom formal education is not important. Consequently, city teachers can hardly expect to have these same persons exert much pressure on the children to continue in school and to endeavor to succeed.

Religious beliefs of a fundamentalist variety are generally common. Literal interpretation of the Bible is accepted. Salvation is generally thought of strictly in “other-worldly” terms. Thus the social gospel versions of the scriptures, common to so many urban churches, will hardly appeal to mountain people nor will it motivate their present conduct.

To this observer the high incidence of tuberculosis, malnutrition, and poor teeth reflects more than the absence of physicians, dentists, hospitals, and lack of income. It may also testify to a general tendency to disregard health factors, to accept illness as unavoidable. It may thus take some time for public health workers, school nurses, and doctors to accustom adults and children to reliance upon the abundant facilities for the treatment of disease in urban areas.

The novels and stories about mountain people which have flowed in such abundance from the pens of numerous writers generally emphasize individualism as characteristic of Appalachian people. Unfortunately, I am not acquainted with any studies which give us both careful definition of the concept of individualism as well as factual documentation in terms of behavior patterns. I think that the behavioral symptoms which the novelists identify as “individualistic” are those

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which indicate sensitivity and resistance to the criticism of others, independence of belief and action, and a strong tendency to settle interpersonal conflicts without recourse to legal or other authorities.

But one should not infer from such behavior that these people are for reasons of culture and temperament averse to well-disciplined group action. The history of mountain feuding, the record of the United Mine Workers and other unions of the coal fields, and the frequently cited readiness of mountain men to volunteer promptly for military service rather than to be drafted seems adequate evidence of their willingness in certain circumstances to accept group discipline and to give authority to some central office which prescribes behavior. It is evident that these are situations strongly charged with conflict and offering opportunity for the creation and release of hostility.

Add to the foregoing review of interrelated factors the abundant evidence that cooperative action directed towards various goals of community improvement are rather infrequent in the mountains and you have an interesting problem for a culturally oriented psychiatrist. What is there in this regional scheme of cultural values, in its common practices of socialization of the child, and in its system of interpersonal relations which explains the foregoing observations: individualism but a strong willingness to function in conflict-oriented group activities, and –conversely– the infrequency of formal organizations aimed at the amelioration of social economic conditions.

The urban expression of these cultural patterns relating to the individual and the group will probably be similar to what we observe in the rural habitat of these people. That is to say, infrequent participation in formal organization, a willingness to join labor unions, to participate in conflict situations, yet striving to maintain as inviolate and “my own business” areas of conduct subject in the city to the judgment and control of other persons are characteristic.

As evidence of the latter, urban police officials have spoken to me of their concern with the prevalence among mountain people of the pattern of settling conflicts by fighting and their strong feelings against any intervention by police officers. I have also encountered the pattern in my conversations with Kentuckians in Cincinnati.

Another cultural tradition which may be of marked importance in the city relates to criteria of success. There is reason to believe that the “way of life” of southern mountain people is marked by a strong tendency simply to accept one’s environment as it is rather than to strive for mastery over it. This would probably be reflected in the city as a lack of strong identification with urban goals and standards of achievement, and a rather quickly achieved level of consumption and employment. If such a basic cultural orientation is present it would obtain further reinforcement from the lack of knowledge which such rural people would have of the opportunities and possibilities of the urban environment. I would suspect that most of the children from the mountains would give much simpler and unspecific answers than would most urban children to such a question as “What are you going to be when you grow up?” Answers such as “a farmer,” “a housewife,” or “jus’ most anything” I would expect to occur frequently.

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Adults and children who leave the mountains for northern cities have in all probability been living in houses which by contemporary standards are simple and inexpensive if not inadequate. Thus, on moving to the city they may accept without much concern the crowded quarters in which so many of them are found by reason of the size of the family and limited income. Underlying the factors of experience and economics is also probably a basic cultural view in which elegance in housing is not regarded as a major goal of activity.

From reported examination of the various statements made about southern mountaineers by numerous professional people¹ and the reading of Harriette Arnow’s very moving novel of the experiences of a Kentucky family in war-time Detroit². I have formed a series of hypotheses about the urban adjustment of families from the mountains.

The basic theme of these hypotheses is that measure in terms of their satisfaction with urban living rank fathers highest, mothers next, and children lowest.

Hypotheses of explanation of this pattern of differential adjustment are based primarily on changes in the roles of each family member which urban living either makes possible or requires and the comparison of these new roles with those of their life in the mountains. There is neither time nor space to enter into a detailed development of these hypotheses.

Fathers are apt to be the most satisfied with the move to the city because they are able to fulfill more adequately their role as “breadwinner” than they were able to do in the mountains. This is, of course, a consequence of the greater employment opportunities available in urban areas. Satisfaction with the move to the city will be directly related probably to the type of work and level of pay they are able to obtain. Since agriculture is not as important a source of livelihood in Appalachia as the lack of cities and the great rural expanses might lead one to believe, most of the men will have had experience in various wage jobs, particularly those in mining and lumbering. Thus moving to the city is not basically a change in roles but rather a more successful experience in wage jobs with which fathers already have had some experience.

Mothers of migrant families, however, are required to make more radical changes in their patterns of daily existence than are their husbands and therefore will probably find less satisfaction personally in the city. Among rural non-farm as well as rural farm families of the mountains, wives generally are responsible for care of the garden, a flock of chickens, and milking the cow. The processing of food from these sources is also a major responsibility for her. Moving to the

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The Southern Mountaineer in Cincinnati, Report of a Workshop, April 29, 1954, Mayor’s Friendly Relations Committee, 105 City Hall, Cincinnati. (Prepared by the MFRC staff and this writer.)
THE DOLLMAKER. MacMillan Company, 1954.

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city will deprive her of all of these functions. What can replace or substitute for these traditional functions of the wife and mother role when one must live in a few small rooms in a crowded apartment building or rooming house in a section of a city where grass and trees are nearly as rare as paved sidewalks in the country? Perhaps mothers will devote more time to the care of their children in the pre-school years since most of them will not be able to let them out of their sight with the same feeling of security as when living in the country or a small town. Certainly the attention they will give to the care of a few rooms will not demand anything like the time and skill required of them in their former homes. On the whole, their functions in the urban setting will hardly yield them the sense of importance and resulting satisfactions they obtained formerly.

Children who accompany parents to the city find themselves in a world which denies them many, if not most, of the sources of satisfaction which they knew in the hills. In place of woods, hills, streams, and dirt roads for space for play and adventure they are given the sidewalk, a small unkempt courtyard, a noisy, dangerous street and an occasional city recreation center with a wading pool and cemented playground. This is not to deny the presence of splendid parks and recreation facilities in our cities, but these are often beyond ready access of children of migrant families. In the schools they will confront a sea of strange faces. They are not part of an educational system that is at the same time more complex and richer in opportunity yet more demanding of achievement and continued regular attendance than was their lot either in a small one-room school or in one of the newer consolidated schools. To complicate matters further they are the pupils of teachers who are likely to be products of urban, middle-class society. It is thus hardly a cause for surprise to find many of the teachers of these children in urban schools speaking of them as “problems” and indicating they do not understand them. We should also not be surprised if the children generally prefer to live in Kentucky and wish their parents would return there to live. Satisfaction with urban living is higher the younger a child is at the time of the move from the hills and the longer the stay in the city.

Exploratory interviewing among a relatively small sample of Kentuckians now living in Cincinnati was done by the writer for several weeks during August of the past summer. This was aimed at a test interview schedule designed to provide the data by which the foregoing hypotheses and others could be verified. Though the sample is far too small and of uncertain representativeness, the evidence so far seems to be substantially in support of the hypotheses and the explanatory factors. ####

[From copy of typescript in PMSS Collections]