Free Spirits: A Legacy of Wildness Bell Hooks
Appalachian Heritage, Volume 36, Number 3, Summer 2008, pp. 37-39 (Article) Published
by The University of North Carolina Press
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/aph.0.0087
For additional information about this article
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/250425
Access provided at 13 Oct 2019 21:49 GMT from Ashford University
FREE SPIRITS: A LEGACY OF WILDNESS
bell hooks
Sublime silence surrounds me. I have walked to the top of the hill, plopped myself down to
watch the world around me. I have no fear here, in this world of trees, weeds—and growing
things. This is the world I was born into—a world of wild things. In it the wilderness in me
speaks. I am wild. I hear my elders caution mama, telling her that she is making a mistake,
letting me “run wild,” letting me run with my brother as though no gender separates us. We
are making our childhood together in Kentucky hills, experiencing the freedom that comes
from living away from civilization. Even as a child I knew that to be raised in the country, to
come from the backwoods left one without meaning or presence. Growing up we did not
use terms like “hillbilly.” Country folk lived on isolated farms away from the city;
backwoods folks lived in remote areas, in the hill and hollers. To be from the backwoods
was to be part of the wild. Where we lived, black folks were as much a part of the wild,
living in a natural way on the earth, as white folks. All backwoods folks were poor by
material standards; they knew how to make do. They were not wanting to tame the
wildness, in themselves or nature. Living in the Kentucky hills was where I first learned the
importance of being wild.
Later attending college on the West Coast I would come to associate the passion for
freedom, for wildness I had experienced as a child, with anarchy, with the belief in the
power of the individual to be self-determining. Writing about the connection between
environments, nature, and creativity in the introduction to A Place In Space, Gary Snyder
states: “Ethics and aesthetics are deeply intertwined. Art, beauty and craft have always
drawn on the self- organizing ‘wild’ side of language and mind. Human ideas of place and
space, our contemporary focus on watersheds, become both models and metaphors. Our
hope would be to see the interacting realms, learn where we are, and thereby move
towards a style of planetary and ecological cosmopolitanism.” Snyder calls this approach
the “practice of the wild” urging us to live “in the self-disciplined elegance of ‘wild’
37
mind.” By their own practice of living in harmony with nature, with simple abundance,
Kentucky black folks who lived in the backwoods were deeply engaged with an ecological
cosmopolitanism. They fished, hunted, raised chickens, planted what we would now call
organic gardens, made homemade spirits, wine and whiskey, and grew flowers. Their
religion was interior and private. Mama’s mama, Baba, refused to attend church after
someone had made fun of the clothes she was wearing. She reminded us that God could be
worshipped everyday anywhere. No matter that they lived according to Appalachian
values, they did not talk about themselves as coming from Appalachia. They did not divide
Kentucky into East and West. They saw themselves as renegades and rebels, folks who did
not want to be hemmed in by rules and laws, folks that wanted to remain independent.
Even when circumstances forced them out of the country into the city, they were still
wanting to live free.
As there were individual black folks who explored the regions of this nation before slavery,
the first black Appalachians being fully engaged with the Cherokee, the lives of most early
black Kentuckians were shaped by a mixture of free sensibility and slave mentality. When
slavery ended in Kentucky, life was hard for the vast majority of black people as white
supremacy and racist domination did not end. But for those folk who managed to own land,
especially land in isolated country sites or hills (sometimes inherited from white folks for
whom they had worked for generations, or sometimes purchased), they were content to be
self-defining and self-determining even if it meant living with less. No distinctions were
made between those of us who dwelled in the hills of Eastern or Western Kentucky. Our
relatives from Eastern Kentucky did not talk about themselves as Appalachians, and in
Western Kentucky we did not use the term; even if one lived in the hills where the close
neighbors were white and hillbilly, black people did not see themselves as united with
these folk, even though our habits of being and ways of thinking were more like these
strangers than those of other black folks who lived in the city–especially black folks who
had money and city ways. In small cities and towns, the life of a black coal miner in Western
Kentucky was more similar to the life of an Eastern counterpart than different. Just as the
life of hillbilly black folks was the same whether they lived in the hills of eastern or western
Kentucky.
38
In the Kentucky black subcultures, folks were united with our extended kin, and our
identities were more defined by labels like country and backwoods. It was not until I went
away to college that I was questioned about Appalachia, about hillbilly culture, and it was
always assumed by these faraway outsiders that only poor white people lived in the
backwoods and in the hills. No wonder then that black folks who cherish our past, the
independence that characterized our backwoods ancestors, seek to recover and restore
their history, their legacy. Early on in my life I learned from those Kentucky backwoods
elders, the folks whom we might now label “Appalachian,” a set of values rooted in the
belief that above all else one must be self-determining. It is the foundation that is the root
of my radical critical consciousness. Folk from the backwoods were certain about two
things: that every human soul needed to be free and that the responsibility of being free
required one to be a person of integrity, a person who lived in such a way that there would
always be congruency between what we think, say, and do.
These ancestors had no interest in conforming to social norms and manners which made
lying and cheating acceptable. More often than not they believed themselves to be above
the law whenever the rules of so called civilized culture made no sense. They farmed,
fished, hunted and made their way in the world. Sentimental nostalgia does not call me to
remember the worlds they invented. It is just a simple fact that without their early
continued support for dissident thinking and living I would not have been able to hold my
own in college and beyond when conformity promised to provide with a sense of safety and
greater regard. Their “Appalachian values,” imprinted on my consciousness as core truths I
must live by, provide and provided me with the tools I needed and need to survive whole in
a postmodern world.
Living by those values, living with integrity, I am able to return to my native place, to an
Appalachia that is no longer silent about its diversity or about the broad sweep of its
influence. While I do not claim an identity as Appalachian, I do claim a solidarity, a sense of
belonging, that makes me one with the Appalachian past of my ancestors, black, Native
American, white, all “people of one blood” who made homeplace in isolated landscapes
where they could invent
themselves, where they could savor a taste of freedom. 39
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Paper Goals: ENG 121 This is my draft, please check my thesis statement, paragraph structure, grammar.
Proofing Summary:
Hi Jessie,
I’m Ethan, your writing tutor for the Writing Center. I have reviewed your submission and have several suggestions that will help you revise. Please feel free to
contact us through a 24/7 live writing session with any follow-up questions or for any clarification.
Below, you will find a revision plan along with margin comments within your
paper. Use my suggestions as a starting point for the revision process. Note that I have not proofread the draft for minor errors, but rather, focused on larger
concerns such as idea development. For a complete look at grammar and punctuation, please use Grammarly.
You have done a nice job of providing a clear introduction to the author and the main ideas of the article in your introduction paragraph. Good work!
For your revisions, I suggest focusing on:
1. Thesis
In the thesis statement, you should include the main idea from the article, as well as how this idea relates to your personal experience, as well as a wider group
in society.
2. Paragraph Development
Some of your paragraphs could use a bit more focus and organization.
In general, all paragraphs need to have 3 pieces:
P-Point—also known as your topic sentence where you state what the paragraph is about
I-Information—where you present your information (facts, details, quotes, and reasons)
E-Explanation—where you explain the relevance or importance of your information
Please be sure to do all of this when writing your paragraphs. For help with this, click here:
http://writingcenter.ashford.edu/body-paragraphs
3. APA Formatting
Remember to format your references in APA style. For a guide that will help you to format whatever kind of source you are using for your references page click
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Good luck in the course!
Ethan
Writing Consultant
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The page number should be placed in the upper right of
each page. Click here for more information on overall
paper format:
http://writingcenter.ashford.edu/introduction-apa
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You have done a very good job here
in this introduction paragraph of
introducing the author, the article title,
and the main ideas of the article.
Good work!
You have a run-on sentence here. A comma
cannot do the work of separating 2 complete
thoughts, but a semicolon (;) can! Or you can
use a period and make 2 sentences. For more
help on this, click here:
http://writingcenter.ashford.edu/run-ons-comma-splices
In a critical response essay, the thesis statement
should indicate what you determined the main
message from the author to be in sharing the
essay and showing how you can relate to that, or
why that would be important for others to know
about that idea. For example:
“Sedaris shows the value of continuing education,
which is important to anyone who might try to
learn a new skill or go back to school after an
absence for awhile.”
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In a short essay like this, you typically
should avoid including long block
quotations, as the primary focus of the
essay should be on your own words, with
quotes and other citations included as
support. Click here for more information
on integrating quotes into your arguments:
https://writingcenter.ashford.edu/integrating-research
There is good information in this paragraph, but
the paragraph as a whole could use a bit more
focus and organization. Here is a rough outline to
help you revise your paragraphs, and explain
yourself a bit more:
a. Topic sentence that states the topic or point of
the paragraph
b. Give a Fact/Detail/Reason/Quote that
supports your point
c. Explain this fact
d. Give another point on this topic
e. Give another Fact/Detail/Reason/Quote to
support that next point
f. Explain this fact
g. Give more Explanation & Analysis to your
purposes for writing
h. Closing Sentence
For more help with paragraph development, click
here:
http://writingcenter.ashford.edu/body-paragraphs
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Here it seems that you have referenced Hooks'
essay, but have not provided a citation. You
must provide an in-text citation any time that you
summarize, paraphrase, or directly quote
another person’s words or ideas. For help on
when and how to do this, refer to this guide:
http://writingcenter.ashford.edu/citing-within-your-paper
As you revise the body of your paper, be sure
that it is divided into clear, unified paragraphs.
Each paragraph should have a clear topic
sentence and should make a distinct point.
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In a conclusion paragraph, you should typically
begin by rephrasing the thesis statement, then
provide a brief summary of the main points that
were covered in the body paragraphs of the
paper. Click here for more information on writing
a clear conclusion paragraph:
http://writingcenter.ashford.edu/introductions-conclusions
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Please properly format your References. Your
citations should be in alphabetical order and
double spaced with hanging indents. Also, be sure
that your sources are cited properly, because
many of them are incorrectly cited. For help
formatting your references page, click here:
http://writingcenter.ashford.edu/format-your-reference-list
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Running head: A LEGACY OF WILDNESS
Free Spirits: A Legacy of Wildness
Jessie R. Harper
ENG 121
Professor Kathryn Zurlo
Running head: A LEGACY OF WILDNESS
Free Spirits: A Legacy of Wildness
Growing up in the countryside, away from the bustling activities of the cities, is undoubtedly the
best experience a person can ask for. This is the experience that Bell Hooks (2008) describes in
the book “Free Spirits: A Legacy of Wildness.” Having grown up in the mountains of
Appalachia, the author describes the valuable lessons derived from living in the countryside. In
the mountainside, people live according to nature, and they do not seek to alter the cause of
nature. The activities of the inhabitants show a keen eye in ensuring the environment is
protected. This is achieved by using natural methods of farming, keeping chicken, and engaging
in fishing. This ensured that the communities are self-sustaining. Hooks cherishes her
countryside upbringing because it encouraged her to be self-determining, taught her the
importance of taking responsibility, and she learned the history of her ancestors.
In the countryside, the author learned to be responsible, she spoke how she used to “fished,
hunted, raised chickens, and planted what we call organic gardens” This taught her to be
responsible. The author felt free and at peace in the wilderness. Reading this reminds me of
myself growing up in a foster home, with several brothers and sisters, which we were not related
by blood, but we called each other brothers and sisters, being free and playing together out on the
streets in New York. We had chores and various responsibilities at home. Learning to be
responsible starts at home, the type of environment, role-model which surrounds a person's life;
helps him/her to accept responsibilities throughout their life span.
Self-determining is another lesson learned by growing up in the countryside. A person develops
their self and identity through their adolescent years. During this time some Adolescence
struggles with self-identity. The article stated self-identity with various cultures can be different.
Running head: A LEGACY OF WILDNESS
However, the North are of particular interest, their attitude is characterized by an unusual duality
in their view of life.
“The mythological consciousness and uniqueness of the traditional way of life
on the one hand, and a special position in the system of relations with the dominant
majority of the population on the other hand. Some studies are exploring
certain aspects of self-identity among adolescents from different ethnic groups”. ”.
(Flotskaya, Bulanova, Ponomareva, & Flotskiy 2019).
Due to I am in the United States Army, many of my soldiers and friends are from various
cultures, which I observed they are self-determined. One of my closes friends are from Jamaica,
he shared some of his home stories with me, He was raised in the countryside of Jamaica, his
morning chores was making sure the animals were fed, he had to carry buckets of water from a
hill, down a hill, and helped take care of his siblings. His motto is Never to give up!. He is a selfstarter and has great morals and Integrity. Therefore, I agree with the author's self-determination
has a lot to deal with your environment and upbringing.
Hooks' mother left her to mingle with her brother while young irrespective of their different
genders. They both “run wild” together, freedom was fun for both Hook and her brother.
When Hook’s got older self-determination was not a problem due to her childhood upbringing
and the environment she was raised. Hook was not forced to conform to a particular way of life,
and this helped her maintain her identity during and after college in the post-modern world.
Getting to learn and experience the ways of the ancestors. The Country folks grew food and
engage in fishing just like their ancestors. According to Hook, city folks stereotype various
cultures, some people think living in the country is backward, and lives in isolated farms. This is
something Hook learns while attending college, I am guilty of stereotyping people from third
Running head: A LEGACY OF WILDNESS
world countries until I visited my friend in Jamaica. My friend lives in a huge house, which I
thought life in Jamaica was backward. Sometimes we have to take that time to learn another
person's culture instead of stereotyping.
Hook learned of the history of her black ancestors who lived in Appalachia before and after the
slavery, which they were part of the wild living also. Cheating and lying were something Hooks
ancestors did not engage in. They believe in Integrity.
Living in the wilderness there is a sense of identity unique to the countryside. People living in
the countryside portray an identity unique to themselves, they learn to appreciate the simplest
things in life. This reminds me when I visit family members in South Carolina with my foster
parents, everyone was different. City folks were different from country folks. The way of living,
speaking, food, lifestyle was peculiar. I could not understand why Country people who
Lives in the countryside have an identity uniqueness to themselves. Probably, due to country
people are not exposed to all the “hustle and bustle of life”.
With my experience simulates living in the country and city, people have values, they work and
have families. The only difference between country and city living; is their environment.
Hook spoke about ways of black people in the Appalachian’s are more similar to that of other
white folks in the region than to black folks with money in the cities and the value of
Self-determining applies to all people in the area irrespective of their race. Hook stated
presently, diversity in Appalachia is no longer silent, she’s proud of her culture and where she
came from. Her “ancestors are black, Native American, white, all “people of one blood”. (Hooks,
2008).
Running head: A LEGACY OF WILDNESS
Conclusion
The countryside has enabled Hook’s to be self-determining, it has taught her the importance of
responsibility, and she has also gotten a chance to discover her ancestry. While growing up,
Hook’ learned the Appalachian values, which taught a person to be self-determining. With the
freedom to dictate the direction life takes comes a responsibility. One also learns the ways of the
ancestors and the uniqueness of the countryside lifestyle. These values and lessons Hook’s
learned in the countryside were instrumental in helping her succeed in modernity.
Running head: A LEGACY OF WILDNESS
Reference
Flotskaya, Bulanova, Ponomareva, & Flotskiy. (2019). Self-Identity Development among
Indigenous Adolescents from the Far North of Russia. Behavioral Sciences., 9(10).
https://doi.org/10.3390/bs9100106
Hooks, B. (2008). Free spirits: a legacy of wildness. Appalachian Heritage, 36(3), 37-39.
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