Educating Rural Appalachia
The history of education in Western North Carolina, with a particular emphasis on Madison County, from the mid-nineteenth century through the late twentieth.
The exhibition, hosted by the Rural Heritage Museum on the campus of Mars Hill University, focuses on the dynamic relationship between community values and education, with a special focus on how students and their families navigated the economic, geographic, and racial challenges to education. Trends and changes in curriculum, assessment, and classroom design will also be explored.
In Madison County learning has taken many forms, from in-home instruction, common, subscription, and religious schools, to colleges of farming and craft. The curriculum of these schools, as well as their very construction, and in some cases closing, was deeply entwined with the changing needs and values of the Western North Carolina Appalachian community.
Experience the exhibit in a free online representation of the physical museum at tourwizard.net/ruralheritagemuseum/
The virtual exhibition features didactic panels showcasing a survey of schools within Madison County and highlighting the effect community values had on the curriculum, function, and format of these institutions. Get a sneak-peak at an original film, produced by the Museum, presenting the oral histories of several Madison County residents sharing their personal recollections and memories of past school-days.
