Given WV's unique history of succession from Virginia, how does the average rural resident view issues such as the confederate flag, identification as a 'reb', southerner or redneck? Are they similar to other rural southerners?
West Virginia's southern identity
- Thread starter hammerklavier
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I'll speak for my hubby, who's from WV. (Not so much rural, though.)
He has never flown a rebel flag and has no patience for anything even remotely suggesting racism.
He takes the incessant jokes about being a redneck, intermarriage, etc, with good grace, though it wears on him after a while (my family can be brutal
).
Is that the kind of thing you're looking for?
He has never flown a rebel flag and has no patience for anything even remotely suggesting racism.
He takes the incessant jokes about being a redneck, intermarriage, etc, with good grace, though it wears on him after a while (my family can be brutal
).Is that the kind of thing you're looking for?
first of all, i'd like to know how you're defining "other rural southerns" and what area you're comparing them (WVA) to?
There is no 'average' rural resident. Some are college professors, accountants, and professional people... yet others somewhat less 'refined' and these people may relate more toward the good 'ol boy stereotype. The civil war pitted WVa families against each other... and to be honest, once the corporations of the industrial north moved in with their coal mines and company stores... many wondered if they had chosen the right side to fight on.
Be that as it may... you can't paint them all with the same wide brush. They are as diverse a group as any other population area.
I'm just wondering if a Mountaineer calling himself a reb, redneck or southerner would be out of place?
If: a Mountaineer referred to themselves, out-loud and in public, as a redneck, or reb... it would very clearly define which part of that diverse population they hailed from...
I personally, identify myself as a southerner, because The South is... south of the Mason Dixon line, as is WVa, and that I much prefer the well-mannered polite society that I came from, over many of the other areas of this country that I have experienced.
So, yes to all of those terms, but depending on which one they use - some very different people.
They fly rebel flags some places in quebec and Oregon and probably every other of 49 states I've been in and there are red-necks and every sort of good and bad type of person in each of them too.
Of course a character can claim anything he wants to and have close friends who believe as he does wherever he lives. West Virginia is geneticly heavily southern but the mines brought a lot northerns there too and there has be no discouragement of anybody else moving there so it is just an average state with a distinctive regional accent used by SOME of the people who live there.
Of course a character can claim anything he wants to and have close friends who believe as he does wherever he lives. West Virginia is geneticly heavily southern but the mines brought a lot northerns there too and there has be no discouragement of anybody else moving there so it is just an average state with a distinctive regional accent used by SOME of the people who live there.
As a native West Virginian (though I've been living in Colorado for years), I would say it would be very unlikely that a West Virginian would call him or herself a Southerner. At least, the ones I have known wouldn't. My Mom ALWAYS corrects me if I refer to West Virginia as the South, even though it is culturally southern. (She was born and raised there.)
As for calling oneself a reb or redneck, I would say you would certainly get that in some of the very backwoods parts of WV (Hamlin on) or from someone who lives in the city such as Charleston (they are pretty much sophisticated in the city) if they were being sarcastic. Didn't see many rebel flags anywhere where I lvied, which was pretty close to Charleston, but the further back you get into the backwoods (like, Hamlin on-pretty much the farther you get from Charleston or Logan in any direction) there is VERY deep racism, particularly against blacks, the kind that would more typically be associated with the South. People there tend to strongly identify with the South as well as rebel flags, etc. Hope that helped!
As for calling oneself a reb or redneck, I would say you would certainly get that in some of the very backwoods parts of WV (Hamlin on) or from someone who lives in the city such as Charleston (they are pretty much sophisticated in the city) if they were being sarcastic. Didn't see many rebel flags anywhere where I lvied, which was pretty close to Charleston, but the further back you get into the backwoods (like, Hamlin on-pretty much the farther you get from Charleston or Logan in any direction) there is VERY deep racism, particularly against blacks, the kind that would more typically be associated with the South. People there tend to strongly identify with the South as well as rebel flags, etc. Hope that helped!
And West by god Virginia still owes the State of Virginia for spliting from the state. Even the Supreme Court agreed. I want my money damn it...
I grew up in the middle of coal mine country on the Kentucky/West Virginia border (on the KY side, but WV was walking distance). In fact, I joined the military to break the family tradition of working in the mines, primarily because I would like to see the age of 40 some day. I also have Hatfield and McCoy blood (Huge family feud in the 1800s).
Rural WV means many things. Having family in Morgantown, they were country, and would refer to themselves as hillbilly, but being so close to Maryland and Pennsylvania, they never referred to themselves as southern.
However around Williamson, WV, where I grew up, the area considered itself one of the furthest reaches of the south. We call ourselves southern, red necks, and hillbillies. (We even celebrate hillbilly days once a year in Pikeville, KY--something everyone from both sides of the river/border likes to attend.
I think that what you need to do is figure out what part of WV your character is from. If you need any more help, let me know, I'd be more than happy to help.
Rural WV means many things. Having family in Morgantown, they were country, and would refer to themselves as hillbilly, but being so close to Maryland and Pennsylvania, they never referred to themselves as southern.
However around Williamson, WV, where I grew up, the area considered itself one of the furthest reaches of the south. We call ourselves southern, red necks, and hillbillies. (We even celebrate hillbilly days once a year in Pikeville, KY--something everyone from both sides of the river/border likes to attend.
I think that what you need to do is figure out what part of WV your character is from. If you need any more help, let me know, I'd be more than happy to help.
West Virginia broke from Virginia in the Civil War, so displaying the Confederate flag would have no historic connection. But, I've seen that flag in very northern and very western parts of the USA. Unlike, say, South Carolina where they claim it to be part of their proud history, West Virginia could make no such claim.
It's beautiful, wild country, though.
It's beautiful, wild country, though.