You Can’t Eat Coal, and Other Lessons from Appalachian Women’s History

Abstract

Launched in 1964, the War on Poverty quickly entered the coalfields of southern Appalachia, finding unexpected allies among working-class white women in a tradition of citizen caregiving who were seasoned by decades of activism and community service. In To Live Here, You Have to Fight: How Women Led Appalachian Movements for Social Justice (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2019), Jessica Wilkerson tells how these women acted as leaders—shaping and sustaining programs, engaging in ideological debates, offering fresh visions of democratic participation, and facing personal political struggles. Their insistence that caregiving was valuable labor clashed with entrenched attitudes and rising criticisms of welfare. Their persistence brought them into coalitions fighting for poor people's and women's rights, healthcare, and unionization. The following essay is adapted from the epilogue of Wilkerson's book.

Keywords

• Appalachian Studies
• Gender and Sexuality
• Industry and Labor
• Social Class
• Social Movements
• Politics and Government