Interview with George Brosi, November 3, 1990

Interview Summary

Born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, George Brosi attended college in Minnesota where he was exposed to the Civil Rights Movement and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). After dropping out of school, Brosi obtained employment at a hotel in Gatlinburg, Tennessee where, in the summer of 1963, the Council for the Southern Mountains held their annual conference. He became involved with the CSM and worked that summer with Milton Ogle. Later that year, he learned about the Roving Picket Movement in eastern Kentucky, and the Economic Research and Action Project (ERAP) of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) organization. Brosi was assigned to the Ann Arbor office after joining the SDS and ERAP.

While visiting the Council for the Southern Mountains headquarters located in Berea, Kentucky in January of 1964, Brosi participated in the first Appalachian Volunteers (AV) school restoration project. He states that he realized from the beginning that these types of projects would not alter the economic situation in Appalachia because by repairing buildings, the AVs were merely reinforcing the power of the local politicians who were not interested in funding adequate educational facilities or educators for their communities. Brosi claims that once the AVs saw the same facilities fall again into disrepair, they came to the same conclusion and became more radical. Although Brosi believes that the War on Poverty helped to make people more aware of the need for change both in and out of the region, he feels that many of the outsiders, who he calls "foreigners," who entered Appalachia in the 1960s, had a detrimental effect. By adopting a paternalistic attitude and acting obnoxiously, the AVs and VISTA workers offered the mountaineers the choice of siding with them or with the local politicians, with predicable results.

Interview Keyword

anti-poverty organizations War On Poverty

Interview LC Subject

Appalachian Region Appalachian Region--Economic conditions Brosi, George Brosi, George--Interviews Economic assistance

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Interview Usage

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