Although Stone and Pettit shared many of the beliefs of the home missionaries about mountain religion, as well as some of their emphasis on “uplift”, the two women observed that the missionaries often made little attempt to overcome their cultural biases. The churches main emphasis was saving souls while Pettit and Stone focused on improving life here and now. So with this in mind, Stone and Pettit decided to found Hindman as a Christian, but nondenominational, educational institution. The missionary emphasis on “uplift” was part of Stone and Pettit’s approach to service but was greatly outweighed by their focus on issues such as lack of health care, educational opportunity, the lack of community cooperation, as well as the increasing difficulty of making a living on the hill farms. They decided early on to stay out of the religious politics.
The settlement schools were created during the time when the Appalachian region of Eastern Kentucky was still physically isolated from the mainstream of American life. Though they were isolated, they were not completely cut- off from the outside world. This was before the highways were built, so they really were largely cut off from the rest of the world. Out of necessity, they had to…show more content… This was something she felt Whisnant didn’t appreciate. She also stressed that Whisnant’s criticism of Hindman Settlement School was flawed by his personal belief that political activity aimed at structural economic change in Appalachia was the only positive form of social action. Since the settlement women emphasized educational activities, he failed to see the significance of their
