A Response to "Standing Pat"
Thursday, June 27, 2002
Jane T. George
The Times Records
Spencer, WV
On this day, the 139th birthday of West Virginia, I am thinking about what people who live here feel they have to be proud of. The papers I have read today are filled with problems that West Virginians have to deal with. There are also some excellent quotes from distinguished citizens about our state:
“ ‘ I am the hills. I will sing your song...There is permanence about my people, and strength. For hands that tamed the wilderness cannot die...-from Sing, Appalachia by West Virginia poet, Muriel Dressler‘(The Charleston Gazette, 6/20/02)”
“ ‘ In one of her songs, “Leaving West Virginia”, Kathy Mattea sang: “A place where all you need to be is what you are...A past that in the present somehow makes you feel secure...’ (The Charleston Gazette, 6/20/02)”
What follows here will be in part a response to an article on the front page of The Roane County Reporter, June 20, 2002 under the headline “Standing Pat”.
“There’s magic in the Council Circle with the fire at the center; it creates a closeness, a oneness of the tribes and leaders. The Indians (Native Americans) talked around the fire about the happenings of the day, about their problems and about their joys...It was a natural thing for 4-Her’s to adopt Indian names and customs, with the council circle being the most popular part...As we all sit together around a camp fire in a Council Circle we are united.” (quote from A History of Indian Lore of Jackson’s Mill by Herbert J. Moore, 1983)
Frank and I went to the meeting of the Native American History Council of West Virginia (NAHC) at Big Chimney on April 27, 2002. There was dialogue between Native Americans and people representing 4-H. Some people were representing both groups. One American Indian spoke of her grandchild(ren) who attend 4-H camp and have nothing to criticize. I came away from the NAHC meeting with the impression that the groups represented there were of one accord. We all want the children to have good educational experiences at camps and in other parts of 4-H. We are presently supporting the camping programs and awaiting the outcome of Sue Jones and David Snively’s work. (These are the Extension staff members who have been appointed to study the 4-H camping program.) Thank goodness both are native West Virginians and 4-H All Stars who know from experience what they are doing. There is a big fact about the 4-H camping program that is being overlooked. When William H. “Teepi” Kendrick set the wheels in motion to create our West Virginia 4-H camping programs, he and the others were thinking of American Indians as a total group, not of Seneca, Delaware, Cherokee and Mingo in particular. Some of the others were I. B. “Tubby” Boggs, who incidentally was a native of Roane County, Charlie Hartley, Herbert J. Moore, G. F. “Boone” Queen, Ernest Thompson Seton and countless others. Delaware, Mingo, Cherokee and Seneca happened to be some of the Eastern Woodlands tribes that lived here, crossed through and hunted our hills, valleys and woodlands. We always knew that totem poles came from the northwestern tribes.
At that NAHC meeting, Frank asked Elder Basil Crawford what the American Indians of West Virginia and the West Virginia hillbillies had in common. Elder Crawford said, “Everything. They are the same people.”
Conservation Camp, founded by I. B. “Tubby” Boggs, drew a lot from American Indian heritage. Tubby aimed to teach the youth of West Virginia, 4-Hers and others, how important it is to preserve our natural environment. A week at Camp Caesar in Conservation Camp learning about air, water and earth was probably worth six weeks of training anywhere else that you could mention.
“The hills, the lanes, the trees and the brooks,
Are more full of wonder that all of the books.
And always outside you can find something new,
You never are lacking for something to do...
So come where the wild things are waiting outside,
And let you soul taste of the joys that abide.”
This neatly sums up Tubby’s philosophy and I believe it to be the philosophy of the American Indian also. I. B. “Tubby” Boggs was a member of the WV State 4-H Staff.
The word RACISM? Wow! I know some things about racism. I was a staff member of the Huntington Job Corps for Girls where I learned what racism is via first hand experience! We too live in a democracy and need to “stand pat” about problems and obligations. The American Indians were the heroes in the days when I became a 4-H camper. THEY STILL ARE!
The people who live in Roane County are likely as typical of the attitudes and values of Appalachians as can be found anywhere; proud of our families, protective of children, cherishing tradition and concerned about our institutions. We are more cautious about individual worth than about changing something unless we are convinced that change is needed.
No, Mr. Harris, the target didn’t come from Roane County - not from this territory, not from West Virginia. We are not looking for problems or targeting people. We all need to join together to solve the real problems we face and not be about creating more problems. I feel safe in saying that I do not believe anyone in Roane County would turn away your daughter or anyone else who wants to join 4-H. 4-H leaders are inclusive people, not exclusive. Ill feelings can be put aside for the good of our youth. I am glad to hear that Mr. Harris is disappointed with West Virginia University (WVU). So were a lot of 4-H people until Dr. Hardesty rescinded the order affecting 4-H camping.
Lied to for 80 years? No way! You’d look long and far to prove that 4-H members were ever lied to about camping or any other part of the program. Indeed, the 4-H program in West Virginia has produced superior people during its entire 80 years of existence.
Speaking of thugs and big tantrums, we intend to see to it that the problem we are dealing with (thug, tantrum, whatever) is solved. We expect to get what we want - A continuation of our splendid 4-H camping program. After all, WVU Cooperative Extension-4-H, is a supplementary education program that has proven its worth over and over again.
I had a great friend in the person of Louise McNeill Pease who was our Poet Laureate. She wrote many times about West Virginia, drawing on her experiences growing up in Pocahontas County. Louise was a 4-Her and a leader from Buckeye, WV. She taught history and English at Potomac State, Concord and Fairmont State colleges. She was there at the 4-H Older Club Members Conference on June 20, 1963 when West Virginia was 100 years old. I’d like to share a bit from a poem she wrote on the occasion of the 125th birthday of the state:
“Where the mountain river flows, and the rhododendron grows,
Is the land of all the lands, that I touch with tender hands.
Dear land, near land, here at home - where the rocks are
honeycomb... (and) the mountain river runs.”
I believe that we need to listen to people like Louise who speak to us about our Appalachian heritage, American Indian heritage and 4-H heritage as we in the world of 4-H go forward into the 21st century. Let us not be so concerned about change, but rather, let us distill the essence of our 4-H camping programs so that by word and deed we can keep the 4-H spirit which has so moved many of our people to give of our best to club, community, country and world.
Jane T. George
WVU 4-H Extension Agent, Retired
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