Worlds Apart: Poverty and Politics in Rural America, Second Edition

329 Pages·2015·1.448 MB·English

by  Cynthia M. Duncan, Angela Blackwell

w or l d s a pa rt
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cynthia m. duncan
worlds
Poverty and Politics in Rural America
apart
Second Edition
Foreword by Angela Glover Blackwell

New Haven & London
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Published with assistance from the foundation established in memory of
Philip Hamilton McMillan of the Class of 1894, Yale College.
First edition published 1999 as Worlds Apart: Why Poverty
Persists in Rural America. Second edition 2014.
Copyright © 1999, 2014 by Yale University.
Foreword copyright © 2014 by Angela Glover Blackwell.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part,
including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107
and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press),
without written permission from the publishers.
Designed by Jeanette Olender and set in Granjon type by Newgen North America.
Printed in the United States of America by R. R. Donnelley & Sons, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Duncan, Cynthia M.
Worlds apart: poverty and politics in rural America / Cynthia M.
Duncan—Second edition.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–300–19659–7 (alk. paper)
1. Poverty—United States. 2. Rural poor—United States—Interviews.
3. United States—Rural conditions. 4. United States—Social conditions—1980–
I. Title.
HC110.P6D86 2014
305.5′690973—dc23 2014009145
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity
of the Council on Library Resources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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For Bill Duncan
A U
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Contents
New Foreword by Angela Glover Blackwell, ix
Foreword to the 1999 Edition by Robert Coles, xiii
Preface to the 1999 Edition, xvii
Preface and Acknowledgments for the 2014 Edition, xxi
List of People Profi led, xxiii
chapter one
Blackwell: Rigid Classes and Corrupt Politics
in Appalachia’s Coal Fields 1
“Good Rich People” and “Bad Poor People,” 3
Blackwell Yesterday: Developing Appalachia’s Coal Fields, 11
The Families That Run Things, 17
The Politics of Work in the Mountains, 30
Blackwell’s Have-Nots: Scratching a Living Up the Hollows, 39
Blackwell’s Haves: The Good Life on Redbud Hill, 53
Bringing Change to Blackwell, 58
Blackwell Twenty Years Later: Hunkering Down with Family, 71
chapter two
Dahlia: Racial Segregation and Planter Control
in the Mississippi Delta 89
Dahlia’s Two Social Worlds, 90
Work in Dahlia: Creating and Maintaining the Plantation World, 106
Class and Caste in the Delta, 112
White Planters, Politicians, and Shopkeepers, 127
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contents viii
Leadership in the Black Community: The Old and the New “Toms,” 139
Dahlia’s Emerging Middle Class, 156
Dahlia Twenty Years Later: New Jobs and New Politics
(with Gemma Beckley), 167
chapter three
Gray Mountain: Equality and Civic Involvement
in Northern New England 188
A Blue-Collar Middle-Class Mill Town, 190
Participation and Investment in the 1990s, 200
The Big Middle “Continuum,” 214
Diffi cult Times Ahead: Putting Civic Culture to the Test, 220
Gray Mountain Twenty Years Later: Holding on to a Blue-Collar
Community, 222
chapter four
Social Change and Social Policy 233
Cultural and Structural Causes of Persistent Poverty, 233
Class and Politics in Rural Communities, 237
Equality, Democracy, and Social Change, 244
Policies to Encourage Mobility and Build Civic Culture, 246
Policy for Poor People in Poor Places, 254
Appendix, 265
Notes, 289
Acknowledgments for the 1999 Edition, 297
Index, 299
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Foreword by Angela Glover Blackwell
President Barack Obama has called inequality the defi ning challenge for
America in the twenty-fi rst century. The economic model of recent decades
is failing nearly everyone except those at the very top. This is true not only
for the very poor but also for lower- and middle-income families. It is espe-
cially true in rural communities, where poverty and isolation combine with
spatial challenges and a history of disinvestment.
When the fi rst edition of Worlds Apart was published, the United States
economy seemed to be fl ying high. The stock market was soaring. The na-
tional unemployment rate was only 4 percent, the lowest in nearly a quarter
century. Yet poverty persisted. Professor Duncan painted an unforgettable
picture of what that looked like in rural America and examined the eco-
nomic and political forces that left so many remote communities behind.
Things are different now.
The apparent prosperity of the late 1990s and early 2000s turned out to
be a bubble that obscured deep structural problems in the U.S. economy.
Good jobs are disappearing, the middle class is shrinking, and inequality
has reached an all-time high. More than 100 million people—a third of the
population—live in or near poverty, and for the fi rst time in modern his-
tory, employment does not offer a sure path out. Millions of people work in
low-wage jobs that leave them struggling to make ends meet.
In the shadow of worsening economic insecurity, the nation’s overall ru-
ral population dipped from 2010 to 2012—the fi rst net loss ever recorded.
Only 230 rural counties had growth rates higher than the national average
of 1.7 percent, while 1,200 rural counties lost population.
America also looks different for another reason: the historic shift in de-
mographics. By midcentury, a majority of the population will be people of
color. Already, most babies born in the United States are infants of color. By
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