The Hillsville tragedy: Appalachian stereotypes as examined through the Carroll County Courtroom Shootout of 1912

This thesis is a community study that centers on the Carroll County Courtroom Shootout of 1912. The shootout provides an opportunity to examine the dynamics of a small Appalachian community by looking at the years leading up to 1912. This study focuses on issues of causality, including a series of intense political feuds, land disputes, and general hostilities between certain members of the court administration and members of a particular family within the county. This thesis adds to revisionist histories on Appalachia and serves as a corrective to views of the region as monolithic, isolated, and impoverished. By placing the Hillsville Shootout in a historical framework for the first time, one can explain and deconstruct some of the myths surrounding the Carroll County tragedy and more generally Appalachia itself.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Department dc:contributor.department

History

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1998

Author dc:creator

• Cheek, April C.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Shifflett, Crandall A.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Ekirch, A. Roger
• Jones, Kathleen W.

• Carroll County
• violence
• stereotypes
• Appalachia

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

etd-01242009-063139

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/40738