WEST VIRGINIA

West Virginia

West Virginia

Introduction

West Virginia is the third most heavily forested state in the nation and driving through this forest demands skill and care, for the narrow, twisting roads laid out in hollow bottoms and over gnarled ridges confront the driver with the dangers of the road and the danger from his companion on the road -- the tri-axle coal truck. Moreover, the driver is likely to be distracted from the forest's glories by the abandoned refuse of industrial civilization piles of coal tailings or "gob" and the strewn remnants of rusted metal around former glass making, mining, and refining facilities that once processed the coal, sand, limestone, natural gas, and oil abundant in the state.

Discussion

West Virginia is a very rural state. Only 41 percent of the state's 1.8 million people live in Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas, far less than the national average of 79 percent. Only eight other states have a more rural population. There are no large cities; indeed, Charleston, the state capital, is the largest city in the state and it has fewer than 53,400 residents. West Virginia's population is overwhelmingly white (95 percent) and ethnically homogeneous. The population is largely descended from North Briton stock, including Lowland Scots, Ulster Scots, and English from the northern shires. Contributing to its homogeneity, West Virginia has the second lowest percentage of foreign-born population in the nation, and the state's African American population is very small and decreasing. Fewer than 56,000 African Americans reside in the state, less than 3 percent of the state's population (Williamson, J. W. 1977).

West Virginia is the only state that lies completely within the Appalachian region. The Appalachian region is a section of the eastern United States that is dominated by the Appalachian Mountains, which stretch through a thirteen state area extending from Mississippi to New York covering 200,000 square miles. To understand the culture of West Virginia it is necessary to look at the larger context of Appalachian subculture, and while West Virginia is shaped by Appalachian culture in general, it also has its own unique worldview and values (Phillips, V. N. 1992).

A Bicultural People

Like other Appalachians, West Virginians have developed the ability to function biculturally. Exposure to the values of the greater society in addition to those of their own heritage has provided them the opportunity to utilize whichever values give most meaning to the immediate situation. While studies on one hand provide substantial evidence, the major factors contributed to the development and maintenance of Appalachia culture have all but disappeared under the leveling impact of mainstream society over the past fifty years; on the other hand they indicate that the Appalachian culture and values in West Virginia have demonstrated a remarkable persistence. Across the state there is a kind of cultural underlay that permeates life with varying degrees of intensity (Noe, Kenneth W. 1994).

Values Common to West Virginians

Traditionalism is defined as a respect for tradition, traditional values, principles or standards followed and revered by a people continuously from generation ...