The term "Pick yourself up by your bootstraps" used to be an expression denoting impossibility. I wonder if the conservatives know that and use it tongue in cheek when referring to the poor?
Reading about Carbon Hill brought to mind a YouTube channel, Joe & Nic’s Road Trip. In each episode, they drive through small towns, most of which likely had a life similar to that of Carbon Hill. Joe will tell you the basic demographic info — median age, percentage below poverty line, median income, median house value, crime stats. If Michael Harrington were to do a companion video for “The Other America,” the video would be very similar to the Road Trip videos. (Yes, I know Harrington is dead so he won’t be narrating any hypothetical video.) As Joe breezes through three or four towns in a 35-50 minute episode, you’re not going to get an account similar to that you’ve told about Carbon Hill. But one learns that the country hasn’t been totally paved over and that there is indeed another America, in fact many Americas. Thanks for giving us the story of one of those other Americas.
I love New Deal stories. We’ve forgotten so much history. Kids used to be asked by their history teachers to interview their grandparents on what it was like to live in that era. The Great Depression ended on Dec 6, 1941 (my mother was listening to the radio news of that event while feeding me in my high chair). After that, life changed so drastically that the history of the New Deal had to take a back seat. Interesting factoid - FDR and I share the same Delano ancestors.
First, how cool to be related, Marcia! I never had my students interview grandparents about the New Deal (I'm an early American historian, so only taught it as part of my survey class), but I did ask if their grandparents or great-grandparents used a lot of coupons, didn't trust banks, etc, and they were always astonished to realize that this was more a generational thing than an individual quirk!
My grandfather was mayor of a large coastal town in Virginia for two terms during the depression. He knew FDR personally as both had spent time in the same spas in the south to treat their crippling polio. Grandfather was a conservative southern politician but tried his damndest to get the Virginia legislature to accept some of the financial help offered by federal programs. But no - it was exactly like southern states turning down Medicaid in the 21st century. They wanted no part of it.
The term "Pick yourself up by your bootstraps" used to be an expression denoting impossibility. I wonder if the conservatives know that and use it tongue in cheek when referring to the poor?
Wow, I've always taken it . . . well, not literally, but as an expression of a belief that many hold. Huh.
Reading about Carbon Hill brought to mind a YouTube channel, Joe & Nic’s Road Trip. In each episode, they drive through small towns, most of which likely had a life similar to that of Carbon Hill. Joe will tell you the basic demographic info — median age, percentage below poverty line, median income, median house value, crime stats. If Michael Harrington were to do a companion video for “The Other America,” the video would be very similar to the Road Trip videos. (Yes, I know Harrington is dead so he won’t be narrating any hypothetical video.) As Joe breezes through three or four towns in a 35-50 minute episode, you’re not going to get an account similar to that you’ve told about Carbon Hill. But one learns that the country hasn’t been totally paved over and that there is indeed another America, in fact many Americas. Thanks for giving us the story of one of those other Americas.
Thanks, Ranulf! Joe and Nic's YouTube venture sounds like a great project!
I love New Deal stories. We’ve forgotten so much history. Kids used to be asked by their history teachers to interview their grandparents on what it was like to live in that era. The Great Depression ended on Dec 6, 1941 (my mother was listening to the radio news of that event while feeding me in my high chair). After that, life changed so drastically that the history of the New Deal had to take a back seat. Interesting factoid - FDR and I share the same Delano ancestors.
First, how cool to be related, Marcia! I never had my students interview grandparents about the New Deal (I'm an early American historian, so only taught it as part of my survey class), but I did ask if their grandparents or great-grandparents used a lot of coupons, didn't trust banks, etc, and they were always astonished to realize that this was more a generational thing than an individual quirk!
My grandfather was mayor of a large coastal town in Virginia for two terms during the depression. He knew FDR personally as both had spent time in the same spas in the south to treat their crippling polio. Grandfather was a conservative southern politician but tried his damndest to get the Virginia legislature to accept some of the financial help offered by federal programs. But no - it was exactly like southern states turning down Medicaid in the 21st century. They wanted no part of it.
That's a fantastic story, Marcia! 😍 Thank you!