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Editorials - 05/31/01County residents need validation of heritage that MHC provides |
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Once upon a time, hillbillies and mountaineers were a stereotype in cartoons, books and mov-ies. "Revenuers" and "moonshiners" raced through the night in "Thunder Road," and as recently as the 1970s, mountain dwellers (and Sylva's Mill Street) were presented less than favorably as Burt Reynolds and Ronny Cox rafted down the Chattooga in "Deliverance."
Those raised in the deep coves and dark hollows of Jackson and other Appalachian counties, despite their toughness, independence and self-reliance, were often regarded as backward due to their lack of formal education. Western Carolina University's Mountain Heritage Center, itself targeted for extinction if state budget cuts become a reality, has been a force in counteracting such negatives. Through such exhibits as "The Scotch-Irish Migration," the MHC has presented those raised in the hills with a glimpse of how they came to be here, and how their dialects and crafts came with them across the ocean. And the center has been a true bridge for developing friendships and contact between lifelong Jackson County residents and university scholars. Efforts to record stories and oral history have sent MHC researchers out into the community to meet those who learned the lore from their parents and grandparents. The Mountain Heritage Center is one place on WCU's modern campus where everyone feels welcome. The exhibits of farm tools and implements from an earlier time are familiar to those who grew up in the mountains. Seeing the value placed by others on the artifacts of their past provides mountain children with a sense of self-worth that has sometimes been in short supply. An outgrowth of that spirit of cooperation between the county's institutions of higher education and community members has been an increased value on formal education by those who once saw no need for it. Jackson County's New Century Scholars program, a joint effort of the public schools, WCU and Southwestern Community College, seeks to provide the necessary support to students who can become the first in their families to attend college. What a shame it would be to lose a resource like the Mountain Heritage Center the same year that the first New Century Scholars walked across the stage to receive diplomas from Smoky Mountain and Blue Ridge high schools as they prepare to embark on the next step in their educational journey. What a tragedy it would be if state budget cuts cost us the Mountain Heritage Center, a treasure we need to validate our past. |
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