There’s a new department open at Sinclair Community College dedicated to teaching all students about the Appalachian culture. Appalachian Outreach Coordinator Nora Stanger is excited to tell you more below:
Welcome to Appalachian Outreach! We are here to help you better understand the Appalachian cultural heritage.
Becoming familiar with any cultural heritage builds understanding of one another. Once we become familiar with our heritage we can better identify why we respond to life in certain ways and it helps us direct our path to the future.
The Appalachian region covers a great distance through the mountainous range extending from parts of New York all the way to Georgia. We mostly think of areas such as West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and Eastern Tennessee as being Appalachian, but actually Southeastern Ohio is even considered Appalachian.
Many people who currently reside in the Dayton area have their roots in the Appalachian culture. Waves of migrations from the mountainous homes of Appalachian citizens into more prosperous industrial cities occured right after World War II, and continued in greater measure into and after the 1950s.
Mostly this was caused by the loss of jobs in the coal mine industry. When this migration occurred we brought our culture, our heritage, our way of thinking and doing life with us wherever we went.
As Appalachians, this way of life was what comforted us in the new lands of northern city life. And so we banded together with others who were like us, forming pockets of communities within our new city homes.
It has been two to four generations now since the big migrations occurred and often, as is common with separation and time from our original homes, we lost sight of our Appalachian identity. And yet, we are still Appalachian.
Sometimes this can cause confusion and a feeling of being “different” than those outside our culture. Once we reconnect with our heritage we learn to appreciate our ancestors and their courage and hard work to get us to where we are today. This helps us better understand who we are and the unique gifts we bring into the world.
If your heritage is Appalachian or if you would simply like to learn more about our culture the Appalachian Outreach Department is here for you! Appalachian or not, our purpose is to assist you in better understanding this culture and in learning to better communicate with others from cultures different than your own.
In this way, we can build a stronger community in which we all prosper from the gifts we each ‘bring to the table’ of life.
Visit our website. We are currently located in Building 4, Room 343. You can contact me for more information at nora.stanger@sinclair.edu or by calling extension 4429.
Nora Stanger
Contributing Writer