  Savannah Member Username: Savannah Post Number: 14 Registered: 02-2008 |
I don't mean to exclude anyone, but could I please hear stories of people who's parents were from Ga. Ky. Tn. Ms.Al.? Mine were fron Ga.They came up in '54 I have first cousins from Hamtramk who are redneck polish. I know there must be others who share experiences like this | ||
Savannah Member Username: Savannah Post Number: 15 Registered: 02-2008 |
I should have capitalised Polish. Please forgive | ||
Kathinozarks Member Username: Kathinozarks Post Number: 1112 Registered: 11-2006 |
Hey Savannah, There was a thread a couple of months ago all about Appalachians in The D. Don't know how to look up old threads. Maybe someone else here can help you. What does redneck polish mean? | ||
Eastsiderules Member Username: Eastsiderules Post Number: 40 Registered: 01-2008 |
What the hell is redneck Polish. None of my fellow Poles,we who grew up in the shadow of Chene Street, would have gone anywhere near a hillbilly!LOL | ||
Jrvass Member Username: Jrvass Post Number: 504 Registered: 01-2007 |
Redneck Polish = the Slowski's  | ||
Danindc Member Username: Danindc Post Number: 3993 Registered: 10-2003 |
Hillbillies are pale, northern imitations of rednecks! | ||
Eastsiderules Member Username: Eastsiderules Post Number: 41 Registered: 01-2008 |
Jrvass, No, that's one of Kwame's gfs. | ||
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 4592 Registered: 10-2003 |
And don't forget the snowbillies up north, where my kin came from. See Appalachians in Detroit in the Hall of Fame forum... | ||
Savannah Member Username: Savannah Post Number: 16 Registered: 02-2008 |
I think of my cousins' relatives when I see that they want to teach school in Spanish. In one generation my cousins' fathers' brother was in the first graduating class of the Air Force Academy. They hit the ground running! Put the bumpkins on my side of the family to shame. | ||
Animalparade Member Username: Animalparade Post Number: 2 Registered: 02-2008 |
Hah! Redneck Polish? My mother's side of the family is fresh off the Polish Boat (TM) but sadly they aren't hillbillies. I feel like I'm missing out on my potential true heritage. | ||
Tkshreve Member Username: Tkshreve Post Number: 277 Registered: 07-2006 |
Hey lowell, couldn't they be called..... Snowmobillies? | ||
Ronjm23 Member Username: Ronjm23 Post Number: 4 Registered: 11-2007 |
My parents were 1st generation born in this country of Polish parents. They grew up on the west side near the old Cadillac plant. I don't recall them as being 'redneck.' However, they had misgivings about new european immigrants after WWII. Many used the derogatory term, "DP". It was an acronym for displaced people . It was sad because most were only 1 generation from being "DP's" themselves. These feelings, I'm sure, were fueled by fear & ignorance. | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 3635 Registered: 11-2005 |
I think the original poster meant one of the "redneck" relatives married a Pole so the kids were a combo. | ||
Savannah Member Username: Savannah Post Number: 17 Registered: 02-2008 |
Yes, Pam that's what I meant. Sorry if I was not clear. My dad's sister married into a Polish family. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 2009 Registered: 07-2004 |
Don't forget, lots of Poles came from Europe in the 19th century, but many of Detroit's 20th century Polish-American immigrants came from coal country, looking for better work. Just adding yet more complexity! | ||
Jiminnm Member Username: Jiminnm Post Number: 1613 Registered: 02-2005 |
My dad was referred to as a "polebilly." My grandparents emigrated from Poland, so he was 1st generation. My mother was from western Kentucky (not really a hillbilly, as that usually referred to those from eastern Kentucky or W. Va.). My father-in-law, though, is a real hillbilly. | ||
Eriedearie Member Username: Eriedearie Post Number: 1031 Registered: 08-2007 |
Savannah - I've copied a partial post from another thread about how I ended up in Detroit. My mom and me were born in the same house in a tiny town in Virginia that is situated along the West Virginia border. My birth father was born in a coal mining town in Pennsylvania and lived most of his brief life in West Virginia. My step father was born in the same town as me and my mom - yet they never knew one another growing up. Car factory - Fast forward to summer 1956 (or would that be...fast backward?) - first time I ever heard the words "car factory". Grandma and Grandpa told me that my mom and step father were coming to pick me up and take me to Dee-troit for summer vacation because that is where they lived now since there was so much work available up in the city at the "car factory." I didn't know what a car factory was but figured it must be a pretty big place if that's where cars came from. And I figured that if a factory was a pretty big place, then Dee-troit had to be a lot bigger than any town I had ever lived in. So I arrived in Dee-troit June 1956. The very first street sign I recall seeing in the city was the exit sign at I 94 East for Van Dyke Avenue. Turns out the house wasn't too far off of Van Dyke and that street name would become an integral part of my life from then till present time. First chance he got, my new Dad drove us around Detroit - by that time I had learned from a couple of the neighborhood kids how to pronounce the name of the city properly, however, my parents still say Dee-troit. Anyway, Dad took us for a tour of where the car factories were. And wow - was I ever right about them being big places. Gosh, a whole town like the ones I had lived in before could of fit inside those car factory walls! I remember going by some on Mound Road, Lynch Road and one in a place called Hamtramck. Dad worked at one on Mound Road. I think it was called the Chevy Plant. So when I hear the words "car factory", I am reminded of how a little girl, born in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, shuffled back and forth between there and the mountains of West Virginia, on to the Allegahny mountain region of Pennsylvania landed in such a flat, big Metro Area we all call Detroit! Oh, and BTW - my parents are still living and they have NEVER lived very far off of Van Dyke Avenue. | ||
Dbc Member Username: Dbc Post Number: 102 Registered: 09-2006 |
I can attest to that, Detroitnerd. My Dad's family worked the coal mines in West Virginia until they closed and then the family moved to Detroit (after a short stay in Baltimore) to work in the auto factories. My Great Grandfather came from Poland and settled in West Virginia, where my Grandfather (Dziadzia), his eight brothers and sisters, my father, and my aunts were born. My Great Grandfather lost his leg in the mines, and my Dziadzia left school at 14 to mine coal - and get black lung. (He received a black lung settlement check from the government until the day he died - at 91.) My Dad's mom (Babcia), whose parents were from Poland, was born in Alabama coal country before moving to West Virginia. She had a Southern drawl her whole life, and her father was killed by a slab of coal when she was very young. They lived near Scarbro, West Virginia, and the area had a Polish/Slavic church. There were quite a few Poles in the mines, and my Dziadzia's two best friends were from Slovakia and Slovenia. That said, although my grandparents' families made corn whiskey while in West Virginia (it was a dry county and the local constable was apparently well acquainted with my family, but try telling a Polish coal miner not to drink), my grandparents loved country music, and "Take me Home Country Roads" is the family theme song, Red Necks they were NOT! In fact, I've never heard of such a thing. Instead, my grandparents and the rest of my family on my Dad's side are just proud Polish Detroiters with a little Appalachian flavor. When you went over my Babcia and Dziadzia's old house on Gallagher, you were just as likely to hear Charlie Pride or Johnny Cash coming out of the 8-Track as you were Li'l Wally or Marion Lush. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 2010 Registered: 07-2004 |
Thanks for sharing, DBC! | ||
Alfie1a Member Username: Alfie1a Post Number: 35 Registered: 10-2007 |
its a good thing hillbillys and rednecks aren't hypersensitive | ||
Kathinozarks Member Username: Kathinozarks Post Number: 1113 Registered: 11-2006 |
If you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at? | ||
Alfie1a Member Username: Alfie1a Post Number: 36 Registered: 10-2007 |
agreed Kath. sorry i should not have put that in there and tried to change the track of this cool thread. proud U.P. redneck | ||
Dbc Member Username: Dbc Post Number: 104 Registered: 09-2006 |
LOL Jiminnm. As for Hillbilly vs. Redneck, I never thought of them as the same thing. To me, hillbilly is a less derisive term, and I envision a mountain man with the long beard, corn cob pipe, and a jug o 'shine with the XXX. No offense meant, but I always thought of rednecks as having gun racks and Confederate flags in their pickups. That said, my family restricted the term hillbilly to the white West Virginians that had been there for generations. Ironically, given their homebrew experience, Southern accents, and experience hunting squirrels, I can only imaging what those Chene Street Poles thought of MY family. | ||
Pam Member Username: Pam Post Number: 3639 Registered: 11-2005 |
Polish guy in the Country Music Hall of Fame: http://www.countrymusichalloff ame.com/site/explore-inductees .aspx?cid=135# | ||
Bigjeff Member Username: Bigjeff Post Number: 164 Registered: 08-2006 |
If I am not mistaken the term "redneck" comes from coal miners in West Virginia rebelling against their bosses. Other coal mining companies were trying to organize a union. To show their support, the non-union coal miners wore red bandanas around their necks. Non-union strongmen coined the term "rednecks." There was a show on the history channel called "hillbilly." They covered mostly all Irish and Scots coming over to America. Settling in rural Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, and all over the south east. Also, covered the art of producing, transporting, and consumption of moonshine. Lastly, covering the music and art of Appalachia! | ||
Grumpyoldlady Member Username: Grumpyoldlady Post Number: 32 Registered: 06-2005 |
My parents moved from western Kentucky after they got married in 1929. My dad worked many jobs in Detroit, finally for Briggs which later became part of Chrysler. After he and my mom got established in Detroit, little by little the rest of the family showed up at their door and stayed with them until they, too, had jobs and places of their own to stay. They may have been from Kentucky, but they had more class than just about anyone I know. Definitely not what your stereotypical "redneck" description would describe. They both grew up in coal mining country and lived on rural farms. Walking 2 miles to school was a reality. 1 pair of new shoes each year, a reality, too! They came from poor roots, but had their priorities in order. They knew the meaning of "family", "friendship", and being "neighborly". | ||
Kathinozarks Member Username: Kathinozarks Post Number: 1116 Registered: 11-2006 |
John Grisham's book "A Painted House" is a great story of a rural Arkansas cotton farm family in 1952. Great read to get a good feel for the people and times. A movie to savour(sp?) is The Song Catcher. Aidan Quinn is one of the leads. ImDb it for all information. Entertaining movie about a woman going to the mountains early in the 1900's to record the 'stories'. A touching story, it could possibly make you want to live in the mountains - or at the very least give you a new appreciation for all bluegrass music. | ||
Bigb23 Member Username: Bigb23 Post Number: 842 Registered: 11-2007 |
This thread brought to mind an 80's TV movie on the subject, starring Jane Fonda. Maybe it's on DVD. "The movie is the story of Gertie Nevels, a pioneer woman and the mother of five from the Kentucky hills who is forced to uproot her children to follow her husband Clovis to Detroit when he finds work during World War II. One setback follows another and shattering tragedy strikes the family. It's all up to Girtie to find new strength, courage and determination to keep her family together and strong." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T he_Dollmaker (Message edited by Bigb23 on March 26, 2008) | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 1105 Registered: 01-2007 |
Some of my kin folk herald from Buffalo. That makes them Buffalo Billy’s | ||
Mallory Member Username: Mallory Post Number: 242 Registered: 05-2006 |
That's why in Taylor, everything west of Telegraph is called Taylor-tucky. | ||
Figebornu Member Username: Figebornu Post Number: 149 Registered: 01-2008 |
I grew up in the Chene/Grand Blvd. area and some of my best friends were Polish. That neighborhood experienced, for a while, a high level of ethnic diversity this city has not seen for some time. (Message edited by figebornu on March 27, 2008) |
