This compilation documents daily life in the Appalachia mountain regions of North Carolina and Tennessee during the 1950s. Topics include mountain life, culture, food, bluegrass music, education, and farming.
Included Films:
The Children Must Learn
The Children Must Learn
Produced: 1940
Length: 13 Minutes
The problem of education has been a long one that touched even the most remote parts of the United States. The Children Must Learn is vintage documentation of 1940s rural America and the problems facing the children as far as education and poverty are concerned. Though heavily weighted in the ideal that rural communities are naturally poor and cities are inevitably wealthy, we see historically compelling shots of rural Kentucky in the 40s. The people are portrayed as poor and unhealthy – the propagandist message being that through receiving a better education of how to farm properly, instead of mathematics or science, wealth was a better certainty to the youngsters of tomorrow. Beautifully shot in the bitter realism of the depression era, the message of localized educational programs has never been clearer.
Southern Highlanders
Southern Highlanders
Produced: 1947
Length: 15 Minutes
Southern Highlanders documents the traditions, folk song, work, and environment of the Appalachian mountain people living in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina. An educational video that illuminates all aspects of early Appalachian life, this film also contains great shots of the Smoky Mountains. The history of this poor but hard working people is shown here, with footage of women doing laundry and men farming the land. Some of the best moments come when mountain people are participating in traditional folk music, singing and dancing. Appalachian people created some of the best American folk music. Scenes of housework and farming are made even more interesting by the fact that every backdrop is the beautiful tableau of the Smoky Mountains, rich in color, but its tinged by the sadness of poverty. Chock full of Appalachian mountain facts, Southern Highlanders is a party of Tennessee and North Carolina history.
