Between Western New York and Northern Georgia lies what is known today as Appalachia. Appalachia is split up into 3 different regions: Northern, Southern, and Central Appalachia. Central Appalachia consists of sixty counties and covers over four states: Tennessee, Kentucky Virginia, and West Virginia. (Power 33) In this region lies the highest concentrated rural non-farm population in the United States. Central Appalachia is known for its culture, its coal, and its people. The people also commonly know as "mountaineers" (power 34) with their families and neighbors make up the people of Central Appalachia and were commonly known as "the other America"(Power 34). The most distinctive trait that was and still is today thought of when referring to the Appalachian people is their poverty. Even though the people of Central of Appalachia were known for being poor, the area they lived in was the coalmine of the 70's. In the early 1970s coal was if not the largest, one of the largest energy resources and Central Appalachia provided a great deal of it. "In 1974 Appalachia supplied 65 percent of the coal produced in the United States." (Power 35). In Central Appalachia there were 1,460 mineral industry establishments, which made up 43 percent of the country's total. (Power 35) "Much of the Appalachian region's story is the story of coal."(Night 2) Underneath the mountains there was enough coal to provide the nation for with energy for the centuries to come. The coal mining industries had a negative effect on the Appalachian cultures and their "homes". .
The mining owners did not care about the safety and health of the coal miner. Thousands of workers died of the dreaded Black Lung, mining accidents, mine collapses, and other elements of unsafe working conditions. .
Some mine owners did care when mines collapsed, but only mourned the money that they lost with it. Miner's jobs were underpaid and uncertain.