Rural Communities: Legacy & Change

Although everyone used to live in rural communities (before there was such a thing as cities), a large chunk of people (1/4th of the population) still live in America's rural communities today. The problems they face in an increasingly complex economic and social environment are the subject of this new series from the Annenberg/CPB Project which premiered on PBS in January. We watched two programs: Legacy and The Town That's Been Through the Mill. Legacy visits four disparate locales (a mining town in West Virginia, a textile town in Georgia, a farming community in Iowa, and an upscale community in California). Whereas West Virginia miners might formerly have encouraged their sons to follow in their footsteps, today they hope for better for their offspring. Good pay is no longer considered enough to compensate for the health problems and risks involved in the profession. In Eatonton, GA, young Blacks have have the limited options of following their parents into the textile factory or joining the military; while in Iowa, farmers still hope their sons will take over the family farm. In Bishop, CA, parents do not necessarily want their children to follow their own paths to success: they're more concerned with making sure their children have the opportunity to make a wide variety of choices. In The Town That's Been Through the Mill, we see the effects of changing corporate policy within the timber industry on a small community. Once a major processor of timber, the little town of Oakridge, OR is fighting for survival after the recent closing of the town's central job supplier: the mill. With the timber industry now selling direct unprocessed timber to Japan and other countries, the Oakridge mill just couldn't survive. Interviews with the town's mayor (whose appliance repair business is doing okay, since people can't afford to buy new appliances) and Dan and Marsha Craft who try to put their earnings back into the community, but still have to drive over to neighboring Eugene just to buy clothes, are bookended with sobering comments from state government representatives who must decide whether to lend a helping hand to Oakridge or simply let economic evolution run its course. A bit slow-moving, Rural Communities nevertheless makes one think about the changing sociological landscape of America. Recommended. (See AMERICAS for availability.)