They'll Cut Off Your Project: A Mingo County Chronicle (WEST VIRGINIA & APPALACHIA)

ISBN: 1933202793

Author: Perry, Huey

Condition: New

In old England, if a king didnt like you, he would cut off your head. Now, if they dont like you, theyll cut off your project!As the Johnson Administration initiated its war on poverty in the 1960s, the Mingo County Economic Opportunity Commission project was established in southern West Virginia. Huey Perry, a young, local history teacher was named the director of this program and soon he began to promote self-sufficiency among low-income and vulnerable populations. As the poor of Mingo County worked together to improve conditions, the local political infrastructure felt threatened by a shift in power. Bloody Mingo County, known for its violent labor movements, corrupt government, and the infamous Hatfield-McCoy rivalry, met Perrys revolution with opposition and resistance.In Theyll Cut Off Your Project, Huey Perry reveals his efforts to help the poor of an Appalachian community challenge a local regime. He describes this communitys attempts to improve school programs and conditions, establish cooperative grocery stores to bypass inflated prices, and expose electoral fraud. Along the way, Perry unfolds the local authoritys hostile backlash to such change and the extreme measures that led to an eventual investigation by the FBI. Theyll Cut Off Your Project chronicles the triumphs and failures of the war on poverty, illustrating why and how a local government that purports to work for the publics welfare cuts off a project for social reform.