Appalachian Studies

Four-time Grammy Award-winning folk musician David Holt is a born troubadour. Behind his energizing musicianship is a deep love of hidden Appalachian wisdom and storytelling. In this TEDTalk, Holt demonstrates his mastery of the banjo and assorted other instruments and shares photographs and old wisdom from the Appalachian Mountains.

This program examines the surprisingly rapid growth of Islam in the heart of America’s Bible Belt, a predominantly fundamentalist Christian locale. Yet for Muslims living in Appalachia, the daily challenge lies not so much in acceptance by their neighbors as with practicing their religion in a country whose overall culture is so often at odds with their own beliefs.

In the hills of Central Appalachia, up winding, mountain roads, is a place where families face unthinkable living conditions. Isolated pockets here have three times the national poverty rate, an epidemic of drug abuse, and the shortest life span in the nation. In this program, Diane Sawyer travels to the Appalachian Mountains to report on children who live in rural poverty, and in particular, four who are determined to find a better life.

This program examines the 20th-century history of Appalachia through the prisms of economic hardship, spiritual perseverance, and the region’s rich musical heritage. Showcasing the power of the traditional string band, the video chronicles the rise of modern country music by way of the radio and phonograph.

This program explores a century of conflict and tragedy in the Appalachians, beginning with the cultural oppression and forced exodus of the Cherokee. Documenting Appalachia’s role in racial and ideological tensions leading up to the Civil War, the video examines the prevalence of slavery outside plantation culture and the unpredictable divisions among mountain communities that followed Secession.

The feud between the Hatfields and McCoys is perhaps the most famous family conflict in American history. Yet the events that took place near the end of the 19th century between the Hatfields and McCoys are part of a much richer and more complex narrative of the American experience.

A secretive billionaire family pushes a pill that triggers more deaths than guns or car crashes. From backwoods Appalachia to hi-tech San Francisco, Conor Duffy investigates America’s opioid scourge.