City-County Project Instructions
AMST 63: Hillbilly Highway: Appalachia and America
Dr. Whisnant
This project, which you will work on incrementally
during the semester, will count approximately 30% of your grade.
It will be your job to learn everything
your can about the city or county you choose (see list below), and to bring
your increasing knowledge of it to bear upon your reading and the classroom
discussions. What you need to know about the city/county includes,
but is not limited to, the following:
You must use your own imagination
and resourcefulness to locate the information you will need. A few
good places to start:
Published city and county histories
Published US Census data in the reference section
of Davis Library
Published newspapers in Davis Library microfilm collection
(2nd floor)
The US
Census Bureau state and county map and statistics pages
UNC Libraries' Virtual
Reference Desk [especially the "Government Information" section]
The Countries/Regions/US
States section of Yahoo
United States
Geological Survey home page, and USGS
Eastern Region section
For NC counties: 1997
North Carolina County and Regional Economic Development Scans
City Net [a
tourist-oriented site, but has useful information on government, etc.]
The point of this assignment is to (1)
give you a project that you will carry throughout the semester, about which
you will gain an increasing sense of authority and mastery; (2) to familiarize
you with the sources for learning the detailed history of specific places;
(3) to provide you with an area of expertise that you will be able to contribute
usefully to class discussion; and (4) to help you to understand in a concrete
way that virtually no generalization about "Appalachia" is tenable without
careful attention to local variations.
You will present what you learn about
the city/county (1) in a series of progressively elaborated draft
reports, (see below); (2) through your remarks in class at appropriate
moments, and (3) in a Summary County/City Profile at the end of the semester.
This report is to be prepared as a World Wide Web document, suitable for
uploading to the web. It should be designed so as to be as broadly
useful as possible to others (students, faculty, the general public).
Grades given on the successive drafts
will be advisory only -- to help you gauge the level of your work in relation
to that which is expected when you present your final report at the end
of the semester.
List of acceptable cities/counties [see me if you have
a particular interest in another one not included on the list]:
|
|
Counties
|
Gainesville GA
Asheville NC
Knoxville TN
Kingsport TN
Bristol TN/VA
Roanoke VA
Charleston WV
Hazard KY
Middlesboro KY
|
Fannin GA
Rabun GA
Union GA
Whitfield GA
Bell KY
Floyd KY
Letcher KY
Perry KY
Pike KY
Alleghany MD
Garrett MD
Ashe NC
Cherokee NC
Haywood NC
Madison NC
Swain NC
Transylvania NC
Pickens SC
Carter TN
Sullivan TN
Buchanan VA
Wise VA
McDowell WV
Raleigh WV |
Draft phases:
Draft
#1:
Founding and early settlement
Significant structural factors:
location
topography, and soils
trade/communication routes
natural resource base
Other factors you judge important (and why)
List of sources and brief account of investigative process
Example of a student's
Draft #1, Fall 1997
Draft #2:
Nineteenth century history and development:
Rail lines and/or turnpikes/highways
Industry
Religious and racial composition
Immigration and settlement patterns
Other factors you judge important (and why)
List of sources and brief account of investigative process
Draft #3
Twentieth century development to ca. 1965
Factors considered above plus others newly relevant
List of sources and brief account of investigative process
Draft
#4
Current profile (since ca. 1965):
census data on:
economy
population
(un)employment
% poverty
relative income levels, etc.
Anything else you consider to be important for understanding
the city/county currently.
List of sources and brief account of investigative process
These successive drafts will be judged
in terms of your definition of parameters to INVESTIGATE, your imaginativeness
and thoroughness in FINDING, SELECTING and ANALYZING, and your
effectiveness in PRESENTING what you have done.
Submitting your drafts:
(1) Use Netscape Composer ONLY to prepare the html document.
(2) Preserve each version of the project on the same
disc so that I can compare your progress on each new version.
(3) Submit the disc in a 5 x 8 manila envelope with your
name on it. For each successive version, write the number of the
version and the date submitted on the front of the envelope. I will
sign and date the envelope when I have read each version.