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The Appalachia region includes the states:
  • Mississippi
  • Alabama
  • Georgia
  • North Carolina
  • South Carolina
  • Tennessee
  • Kentucky
  • Virginia
  • West Virginia
  • Ohio
  • Maryland
  • Pennsylvania
  • New York
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Route 23

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In an attempt to find work, off Appalachians went to the Midwest, where automotive companies were in search of seasonal workers. According to Courtney Balestier, author of In Search of the Hillbilly Highway, many Appalachians believed they would take their earnings from the automotive companies and return to Appalachia. However, the companies would hire and fire people when they were needed. So, many Appalachians settled in Detroit and in the surrounding suburbs. Resulting in a rapid emigration from the windy mountain roads of Appalachia to the flat plains of the Midwest.

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2013: Net Migration into Kentucky

As you can see in the map to the right, there is still migration out from the Appalachian area into the Midwest.

 

Looking at the "Net Migration Rate" key at the bottom of the picture, the areas with the most immigration are Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.

 

The states with the highest rate of emigration are North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri. 

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Detroit, Michigan

J. Alexander, author of the Journal of Interdisciplinary History, studied the economic difficulties of white Southerners and white Appalachians in the North over a period of 40 years. Here is what he discovered: 

"As recent research suggests, migrants from the non-Appalachian South made a smooth economic transition, but migrants from the southern Appalachian region were nearly as impoverished as southern African-American migrants and international immigrants from the poorest developing countries. For these groups, the economic transition was a slow and difficult process."

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Created by Lyman Stone

In the graph to the right, created by Lyman Stone, he details the Appalachian population over a period of about 2 decades.

Focus in on the 1950s/1960s. There is a drastic dip in the population of almost 500,000 people. This represents the period of time when Appalachians moved out of the area into the Midwest.

As you near the 1980s, however, there is a change and the population starts to grow rapidly. An explanation for this could be those who moved to Detroit moved back into the Appalachian area.

It never got as high as it was in the 1950s since many Appalachians stayed in the Midwest. 

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