| They'll Cut Off Your Project: A Mingo County Chronicle Contributor(s): Perry, Huey (Author), Biggers, Jeff (Foreword by) |
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ISBN: 1933202807 ISBN-13: 9781933202808 Publisher: West Virginia University Press OUR PRICE: $72.15 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: March 2011 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - 20th Century - Political Science | Public Policy - Social Policy - Social Science | Regional Studies |
| Dewey: 975 |
| LCCN: 2012357012 |
| Series: West Virginia & Appalachia |
| Physical Information: 0.69" H x 6" W x 9" (1.16 lbs) 290 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 20th Century - Chronological Period - 1960's - Cultural Region - South Atlantic - Cultural Region - Southeast U.S. - Geographic Orientation - Virginia |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In old England, if a king didn't like you, he would cut off your head. Now, if they don't like you, they'll 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 Perry's revolution with opposition and resistance. In They'll Cut Off Your Project, Huey Perry reveals his efforts to help the poor of an Appalachian community challenge a local regime. He describes this community's 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 authority's hostile backlash to such change and the extreme measures that led to an eventual investigation by the FBI. They'll 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 public's welfare cuts off a project for social reform. |