Appalachia: Rich Land, Poor People 

It's amazing about community leader Robert Fulcher, and what a long journey he had taken, to be able to embrace Andrew Young as his brother after having experienced a lifetime of racial bias. Poverty knows no color. It's more amazing still, how backward people like to be, it seems. The couple profiled here can't afford to feed their present amount of children , yet they use no protection when having sex, and now pregnant, the woman smokes. Things for a lot of people, never seem to change.

There is no shame in being poor. I grew up very poor, but I didn't know it until selfish spoiled mean "rich" children demeaned , and mocked me. I didn't hold it against them. They wrongly, and ignorantly thought they were better than me. I would not trade my poor raising for anything. You see when your poor you learn humility and kindness. Those are priceless qualities

The main problem, especially in the mountain country, isn't lack of jobs. It is the fact these people didnt need jobs because they were all self sufficient until "civilization" came in and tore that system down.

I lived in Hazard Ky and my Dad never worked in the coal mines and it was in this time period me and my siblings was children. My mom and dad both worked with very little education. My dad worked for Bartlett’s tree company and my mom worked as a cook at the local school. They had six children and until I got married my mom and dad never received any government assistance. God blessed us abundantly. My Dad sought out employment outside the growing trend of the coal industry. I remember him saying these coal mines are not a stable job and he had 6 kids he had to think about. Dad would often say electricity will always be here and they will always need somebody to keep those lines clear. To this day Asplundh tree company the company who took Bartletts bid from them are still clearing the electrical line. Dad was certainly a smart man and my hero. Dad and Mom raised six children without any government assistance and they both worked into their old age.

My mom and dad were from southern West Virginia and when pop was 17 he joined the army.... best thing that ever happened to him. Got him out of the hills and gave him an education. My mom was a self-starter and left the hills and worked in a drug store for years to save up enough to put herself through nurses training and got her RN. They met, married... and never looked back. California was the next stop for them where they flourished and invested in land and finally broke the cycle of poverty. They are both alive at 90 and 88 and live a very comfortable life... but they still eat beans and cornbread, and they still grow a garden :) Can't take the mountains out of ones soul.

In 1982, I completed my student teaching in Lost Creek, West Virginia. Even at that time, there were places that I had to walk up a hollow to reach the home of one of my students. Some students still had mis-matched shoes and wore ropes around their waists instead of belts. I worked at the local “ramp festival” and truly enjoyed the company of the older women and their stories of the hills. I’ve never met friendlier, more god-fearing people than those West Virginians. Many had nothing but were willing to share all that they had.

I'm convinced there are very few areas in the U.S that know struggle like that of the Appalachians. My dad grew up in the Appalachians of Georgia. He was one of nine children. Back then, the only way to make money was to cruise timber, work in a factory, or run moonshine. Sat for hours many times and listened to my dad and his family talk about how all they had to eat most of the time was lard and cornbread. They received food stamps, but they didn't last long for a family of 11. My dad left the mountains at 15 and moved to Atlanta where he met my mother and started a family. He worked hard with limited education, recieved his GED, and has been with the same medical company for over 30 years now. He moved back to the mountains and brought us with him to get us out of the crime ridden neighborhoods of Atlanta. He was able to buy my grandma and grandpa a newer home, and helped them financially any way possible until the day they passed away in 2006. My dad has always refused to receive any help from the government. I've never, nor will I ever, meet anyone stronger and more resilient than those of Appalachia. Very proud to have known my old time Appalachain ancestors, and listen to their stories of perseverance.

"Poverty is a state of mind" Says the man in a suit and tie at a fine banquet dinner.

I know this was a while ago...but this country is still messed up. When you can pay athletes and movie stars millions of dollars and there are people still living like this. Shameful.

Proud Appalachian person. I love living in the mountains, it’s a simple way of life. Yeah I got a phone, I got a TV, I got a roof over my head and my truck is 20 years old. I don’t have anything fancy, I get by on 1 meal a day. You just do what you can to get by.

This shows how messed up the system is. These folks have been totally forgotten. What a shame. These are hardworking people who helped build this country and how convenient it is for our country to forget about them.i know this is an old documentary but it still goes on today in 2021.Something must be done.

I joined the Marines in 1966 to get away from this kind of poverty in West Virginia to be able to send a little money back home!! and to this day in 2019 the County I came from ,Wayne County,is still steeped in Poverty!!!--David.

After seeing this, the fact people are so obsessed with identity politics and sex scandals when judging politicians rather than thinking about how they can help the poor just disgusts me.

The problem was also the way these companies made them buy back everything they needed to live from them at major inflation and at the end of the month they worked just to pay back the company store

"Poverty is a state of mind." Wow, and yet I'm pretty sure he'd freak if he had to live in that "state of mind".

Outsiders don't get it and probably never will. I am Scotch- Irish, bred and born Appalachian. People don't leave because it is home, kinship, deep roots, memories, and history. People look like you and talk like you. That dirt piece is just property to outsiders, but it is ingrained in our blood. Appalachian folks I grew up around KNEW how to garden and can. They did whatever they could turn a hand at to survive. These last few generations grew up lazy and prefer drugs. It hurts my heart. Our culture is being destroyed and our legacy also. TVA and the various government agencies have cheated us more than can ever be told. Grandparents on both sides of my family had farmland go to forced sale for government use. Robbed them both. My family never used welfare and we helped one another out. Times have been a changin'. As for not being able to understand our speech, do some research and find out the basis of it. Watch some videos. Close your eyes and let the sounds flow over you. It is pure and has its own rhythm. Many people become enchanted by the cadence and wording/phrasing. It is not ignorant; it is heritage.

It is heartbreaking that our country has failed these folks, who helped make our nation great.

thank you for posting, my entire family is from this region, my daddy was born in a back room of one of those company homes, my grandparents did the best thing in the world when the mines closed, they moved. they were one of the fortunate families that could move right away , some could not due to sick family members or lack of funds for travel and settling down expenses. it's good to remember , in no way did poverty occur in these areas because of laziness, these people wanted to WORK, my how things change,

A tribute to.. Bill and eria Collins grandmother... grandfather... who worked in the coal mines in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky may you rest in peace...belisha collins...your granddaughter..

I can't believe he is only 38. he looks like 58. hard living.

I’ve heard my Dad say many times “we were poor, but we didn’t know we were poor. We always had plenty to eat” Grandmother had 10 children and they had a little farm w a cow, chickens, garden - they all worked hard and took care of each other with a strong faith in the Lord.

she was told she was eligible for disability and the social workers never came back to sign her up.... SAD

"I'm just a slave to the company store". Are we any better now? Don't think so. Debt controls us all.

My family lived on the same land over 100 years there was Some land sold but we still have 100 acres in a hollow of West Virginia . My mamaw the oldest and she told me many of stories. One thing I can say the land we still own we have rights to all mineral, oil,coal,timber, my great grandpa had 3rd grade education he went to work because his daddy was killed building a bridge we still drive over. He work the coal mines, railroads, he had his own saw mill and coal mine. When I was a kid I remember going up home and my papaw working his ass off. He always said pay cash grow and kill your own food don't waste. In the hollow ever one help each other out. I blessed to be a Great granddaughter of a coal miner. Learned not to be a asshole. You do positive that what you get.

20 billion in "aid" to Israel and thats just one country - wonder how many Americans could be feed with 20 billion$$.....

This is SO important for people to see NOW. THIS is how we got where we are today.

You have to respect these people , they're proud and hard working . It's a shame that we don't help our own .

Bless all the poor people every where.

What a great documentary from the 1960's! Such a far cry from the sugar coat programming and propaganda style of that time. I'm not one to watch old films because admit it's all rather cheesey but I love a good documentary...raw and real. I've always been mystified by the Appalachian, a culture still linked to the old pioneer American way.. very interesting.

I am sure my dad was in Vietnam when this was filmed. Bless his sole. If this was made in 68 I was maybe 1 . 11 years later he was gone. My grandfather past away in 77 or 78. My dad went home to be with him before he past. And dad already had the cancer. In 79 my dad went to be with his dad. So my grandfather starts talk at 18 minutes a 45 seconds. Don't know if I ever seen him alive before this video. I knew it was him because I could see my dad in him. It's saddens me to know how my dad grew up as a kid. Things are so different now. Thank you who ever made this video.

The pain in there eyes just kills me 😢

Ive seen this video hundreds of times and remind myself to watch it a few times a year to humble myself. I grew up poor and now I make decent money but I dont ever want my wages to outweigh my morals

I grew up in Harlan the ky and ended up moving to the city because my husband lost his coal mining job. Sure do miss the mountains I'd give anything to be able to go back and live.

These are my people. I am glad my grandparents left Kentucky and got a factory job in Indiana back in the day and ended up having money and a fine home. But now factories are leaving our country and this whole thing is happening again.

😳Frank Collins - 38 years old 😳 🙏Bless his heart.🙏

I would like to know how the kids from this family are doing today.

These people might be poor in material things but they are rich in so many of the more important things like living, loving and family. I watched another video yesterday and thought to myself “how hard is life but how simple and beautiful it is”. I’m completely disgusted with what is going on in this country; riots, lawlessness, crime, hatred, lies by the media, inaction and everyone’s political agenda in everything! Unless we turn to God and bring him and law and order back into this country, we are done. We will all be on government programs and will be told how to live, where to work and where to worship (if we’re allowed). I’m seriously thinking of buying land and going completely off the grid if I can.

Every young person that thinks they have it worse than their grand parents and great grandparents; should be reqired to watch this.

I grew up in the mountains. We had chickens for eggs. We had a cow for milk. We had mules to work the garden. We had no welfare checks or food stamps.We had hogs for meat. We also ate ground hogs and othe wild animals. What ever happened to living off the land.

This is really tragic because even today it hasn’t changed much and no poor community should be left to fend for itself

I am so honored an thankful to be a part of these mountains...i was born in these mountains an ill be buried in these mountains...you can never know how close u are to heaven this high up on the mountain..god bless you all..be thankful!!

They wanted the rich to stay rich and the poor to stay poor just the way it is , even to today eastern Kentuckians don't live we are allowed to exist

They have love and faith. Such a beautiful family.

Love these videos! We are trying to keep in history alive in our videos too! Especially in the Appalachian Region.

Wish there was a follow up film on the kids to see what happened to them. They were some of the most beautiful children I've ever saw

Im from Putnam County, WV. The "Mountaineer XPress" gas pipeline is going through our property. I am so frustrated. My husband is not from WV and I have a hard time explaining why I am so upset about it. There is no place in WV that you can buy and be confident that a big company is not going to throw their weight around, pass out a little money, and cause land values to go down along with degradation of the forests, so some some rich people can get richer. :( Look at WV using Google Earth. You can see the damage caused by mountaintop removal even when zoomed VERY far out.

I wonder what happened to frank? He really tried to take care of his family.

41:00 brings me so much pride. No prejudice or racism... Complete acknowledgement on the state of all MEN in that area at that time in our country. POVERTY CAN BE AN AMAZING UNIFIER! ❤❤❤ BLUE RIDGE DESCENDED. 💙💙💙

make a grown man cry. the rich don't know and don't care. God help them.

I would have loved to see this in color but the black and white is so haunting. Hauntingly beautiful.

frank collins seems like a very nice man hope his life got easier

"Doing it any other way is just socialism." Some things never change huh.

My granny married grandpa in West Virginia in 1915. He was a coal miner and died from black lung,They farmed and worked hard. She showed me the Company Store and told me how the miners were paid in Scrip. That was tokens you could spend only at the company store,where everything cost three times as much as in town. Since the town was far off and cash scarce, they bought everything from the company store and then charged the groceries. So everyone was in debt to the company store just like the song . It go’s “St Peter don’t cha call me cause yI can’t go , I owe my soul to the company store.”

My father and his father were coal miners! From Harlan County Kentucky. My father and his father and my uncles worked for Peabody coal. We did not live this, yes we had out houses, but not all houses had out houses, a lot had indoor plumbing. In 1968 Peabody had left Harlan County and this particular branch in Peabody went to new Lexington Ohio, 50 Miles from Wheeling West Virginia. My father worked for a union mine, yes they had little mini wars at contract time, but theses men stood strong and fought and kept good wages health care . When the coal camps of Blackstar Blackmont , insule. All went to Ohio,the people in that little village were shocked, that we HILLBILLYS were educated we were nice clothes and our parents drove new cars! My uncle was the dean of Cumberland community college No body could have grown up any more poor than he and my mom. He gave back to his Community by trying to get the young people out of the cycle of poverty with education. You see you are in charge of your destiny and your life, don’t depend on the government to feed you to care for you, they won’t , So you must change and do for yourself and sometimes fight for what you want what you deserve. It’s always been that way and it’s not changing !

Sadly, these problems still exist, in these hills. I live 20 mins away, from Pike Co, KY, in WV and folks are still scrimping by. Watching this family eating thier pinto beans and cornbread made me smile. These are like our regional favorites. We grew up eating them, at least once a week. (I'm 37) My mother, however, ate them everyday growing up, with chicken added on Sunday. Minimum wage jobs are fought for here. The mines are still the most lucrative way to make money, but there are layoffs everytime you turn around. Education is better, but ways of life cycles are hard to break. Leaving is not an option for many, as its expensive, and after paying your bills, theres not much left. So sad....not much has changed....

U dont have to go outside of our u.s.a. to see people who really need help.

Frank Collins 38 he looked at least 58 i just can't even begin to think how hard those peoples lives were yet i bet they didn't sit around complaining/blaming and feeling sorry for themselves, We don't know how lucky we are.

We use to play that game, throwing the ball on top of the roof of the house. My grandma's house had a tin roof. That brought back memories.

Both myself and parents and grandparents are from Harlan KY... I'm so proud of my heritage.

Illie bolder Scotch-Irish or Scots-Irish may refer to: The Ulster Scots people, an ethnic group in Ulster, Ireland, who trace their roots to settlers from Scotland Scotch-Irish Americans, descendants of Ulster Scots who first migrated to America in large numbers in the 18th and 19th centuries. They are not Germanic ...........I was born and raised in Eastern Kentucky and have lived here for 65 years. I have traced my Ancestors back to England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Native American...Cherokee. I had my DNA tested and the results came back to those Nationalities. I'am 64% British Isles, Scottish, Welch and English 20% Irish and 16% Native American. So I know where I came from. All my ancestors came here in the 1600,s except for those who were already here before the white man came. I remember when they came around making films like this. They came to our house but didn't film I didn't understand then but I do now. My Daddy worked in the mines,it wasn't a big operation just a dozen men worked in it. My Pa Paw was the boss, they didn't want to show the working part of Eastern Kentucky. Films like this doesn't show the real Eastern Kentucky.We raised our food in the garden my Daddy and Pa Paw butchered Hogs, we had Chickens for eggs and to eat and a cow for milk. There was NO Government Handouts!! We didn't have much when I was growing up but you know what we never complained. Mommy keep what cloths we had washed and us washed. I spent 23 years in the Army, seen most of this country and some of the world. I would not trade one Minute of living here in these old hills for a life time else where.

God bless Appalachia and her people!

Its a dammm shame how these big companies strip their land and use up the people leaving them with nothing socialism, greed . These people had there fare share of hard times .

Pinto beans, taters, turnip salad & cornbread,,,, gosh, that's some mighty fine eating!!!! I'd take that over a steak meal any day.

This was hard to watch. There is no excuse for someone in our great country to be this poor. He seems like an honest, hard-working man.

God I hope some one still has those photos. She is so very proud of them. 😭❤💔

I am fascinated by this region of the Appalachia’s.

Mr Cullins looks like a Cherokee. Am I wrong? I really admire these people for their dogged tenacity.

There are always slaves one way or the other. The filthy rich build their fortune on the dreams they promise to the poor. It may be coal, or clothing plants or musicians promising the rich life to poor kids who in turn provide the money for the millions amassed and mansions with kitchens larger than some home. Come nesara and gesara. Our backs are broken.

And people constantly degrade these people and wonder why they voted for the outsider candidate who actually respected them. I’m so tired to seeing my people used as scapegoats for all the countries problems. The only problem with us is what the government did to us over and over again. Appalachian oppression is real

What an excellent, but Heartbreaking documentary! Corporate greed & bought Govt is even worse since 1968 when this was made. People's right to life is still being ignored today in 2020.

I'ś 8 minutes in, and the worry his eyes and face shows is almost palpable.God bless the working man.

So glad I found this doc. , I enjoyed it and learned at the same time .

My home. My Daddy left a moved us north so he could make a better life for us. He was so proud that his sons served in the military and later obtained college educations . And that his daughter went on to obtain a Master’s in library science He and Momma raised an engineer, a teacher and a librarian. Two of us have Master’s degrees. He went where the work was and that was North. He stuck it out as long as he could, we were the last of the family to leave Kentucky.

It had to be so hard for these men to take government handouts.

I am an outsider and from a different country but I will tell you this these people had grid in their bones. It was an eye opener to whatch. May God bless their land and families.

And yet through all of this, their faith was strong and the laughter was loud. ..even now as it was then...

It's sad to see this type of poverty, but as long as they keep electing the same politicians over and over again, the result will always be the same.

It's so sad to see America has forgotten our own. Shame on our government. If I had riches I'd help all these people in West Virginia. God Bless them all. It's breaks my heart to see this..

One thing that strikes me is that so many of these families struggling as they did, still kept having babies. SMH. Don’t get me wrong, my family is from Southeast KY. I spent many years of my childhood there. My grandfather worked in the mines and my dad drove a truck hauling coal several years. But we were never on government assistance. I guess we were lucky. Eventually, in 1989, we moved away. Best decision my parents ever made. I’ll never go back.

I lived in a hippy commune east Tennessee at 13. The food there was so bad that I used to sneak off and bum food off of the locals. Of course, I didn't realize how poor they were. I just knew that they ate better and seemed to live better and have more fun then we did. have a soft spot for the Appalachians because of that, even though I am an urban Californian.

I was po when I grew up, yes po not poor, I couldnt afford the other "or". Thats how po I was

No comment about this nasty old man referring to these people as "things"? I was horrified that he would stand there and say that.

WHAT MOST PEOPLE DO NOT REALIZE IS THAT -- IF YOU'RE THIS POOR WHAT KEEPS YOU POOR >>> IS YOUR REFUSAL

The most important discussion in this program is the little boy saying if you don't have education you don't have a job.

Not much has changed In the mountains since then

When my aunt moved to east tennessee I went to visit her and played in the hills behind her house all day I could walk on that hill all day and never run into anyone. She had so much land I was amazed. It was the late 90s, so, long after this... and I remember they still had the rusted up abandoned moonshine stills all over the hills behind her house too.... i bet it looked like a Christmas tree at night there were SO MANY old moonshine joints. THIS is def why. I dont blame a single one of them now that I'm grown and know how it goes. Gotta keep food on the table any way. I remember I was a kid so I thought what kind of monster would run a mountain of moonshine like this?! I pictured a mobster. lol but it was these fellas! And I was scandalized and so naive and hadn't spent a day ever poor...bless these people. I hope they lived....

I grew up in a southern WV coal town in the 60’s and it was Heaven on earth. I wouldn’t trade my perfect childhood for anything in this world today. The best people ever in this world lived in my little town. Life was simple and peaceful. Evenings swinging on the porch, picking blackberries, going fishing - the best. I feel very privileged from my humble and stable Christian upbringing and have carried that all my 62 years.

My Daddy's entire immediate family all moved from Rainelle WVa to Charlottesville Va in the early 1960s, because my grandfather did not want any of his son's working in the coal mines, that was the only work available.

That woman talking sounds like Loretta Lynn

Yes and there still using our people, I've lived in wv for 47yrs and it's still getting took by big companies and government's. I don't think it will ever change, but I love listening to these mountain people. Brings back a lot of memories of my people that's done passed. This is the real people that built this country.

I've lived like this before. Stomping dirty clothes in the bathtub, cooking on a grill. That was rough times

and senator Byrd only lined his own pockets.

28:45 - 29:11 "If what we're doing is wrong then this whole country is wrong." What a defense! 😐

I have family roots from this region. Tough but kind and fair people. I also have family roots from Mississippi ( Choctaw/Cherokee ) I feel for them when they say the government stole the land, my American Indian side of the family know all to well what it's like to have that which was yours stolen from you and genocide practiced on you. I pray for our nation and I for one am a nationalist. We should take care of Americans First, the rest of the world can get in line. We do so much for other countries and their people and I am ok with that but only after we take care of ourselves first and foremost. Thank you for a truthful program.

I have been poor in the streets and owned my own my own house with all that comes with it. Let me say this owning my own house and all didn't make me any better,didn't make me feel better,didn't make me better in the eyes of God, but it did make some people envious of me. They wanted what I had so much one even took it. I didn't care about those objects,house. When I lived in a tent in the woods I was honestly happy,had a mate and was happy with her. She didn't desire more or better just wanted to be with me. So my point is a life of struggle may be hard but it's honest, natural. It brings a family closer together as a family. A poor family is closer and more loving then a rich family. I only came back to society because the death of my father and my grown children want this for me. But I long for the woods, I think about it all the time. It's a great story my time in the woods.

There is still so much poverty in rural areas in America. It is interesting to note that some today sell everything to move to just such an area as this to live off the grid, to find peace. They plant big gardens, some to sell, raise chickens for eggs, maybe a cow or two, etc. But small farmers can barely survive. Most of us have no idea what real poverty feels like, and because of that, cannot identify well with those who struggle. That is the problem with our elected officials. They don't have a clue. I think they should all be required to spend a month in Appalachia in a broken down old wood home, with no cell phones, no TV, no internet. They should have to survive by the sweat of their brow for the entire month. Then they can go to Washington, or wherever, with a brand new appreciation for what poverty feels like.

Interesting documentary, the more things change the more they stay the same. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. My dad's parents came from the south to Michigan to find work in the auto factories to make a living. Never heard what part of the south they were from but I'm sixty so probably around the time of this documentary. The transfer of wealth is not letting up anytime soon.

We are born survivors! 🙌🏼❤️🙏🏼 Glory be to God for such a beautiful, peaceful place... 🙌🏼❤️ Born and raised!

My grandparents worked in the cotton mills in North Carolina. Proximity Cotton Mill to be exact.

From 50:00 to 52:00. Would always love to see even more people wake up. That must have taken strength to share as he did.