Hindman Settlement School is a

settlement school Settlement schools are social reform institutions established in rural Appalachia in the early 20th century with the purpose of educating Mountain whites, mountain children and improving their isolated rural communities. Settlement schools have p ...

located in

Hindman, Kentucky Hindman ()Rennick, Robert. ''Kentucky Place Names''p. 141. University Press of Kentucky (Lexington), 1987. Accessed 30 July 2013. is a home rule-class town in, and the county seat of, Knott County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population ...

in Knott County. Established in 1902, it was the first rural settlement school in America.Hindman Settlement School
Retrieved on 2010-05-29 It is financially supported by the

Daughters of the American Revolution The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (often abbreviated as DAR or NSDAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-p ...

Mission

The mission of Hindman Settlement School is "to provide educational and service opportunities for the people of the mountains, while keeping them mindful of their heritage." The Settlement's major work today includes education and service programs that address critical educational needs of the region's youth, promote cultural awareness, and address emerging issues of health and food insecurity through increased access to nutritious, locally-grown foods.

Dyslexia

In 1980, community members led by

Lois Combs Weinberg Lois Ann Combs Weinberg (born December 18, 1943) is an American politician and an advocate for improvements in public education in Kentucky. A native of Eastern Kentucky, Weinberg has served on the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees, the ...

, founded an

Orton-Gillingham The Orton-Gillingham approach is a multisensory phonics technique for remedial reading instruction developed in the early 20th century. It is practiced as a direct, explicit, cognitive, cumulative, and multi-sensory approach. While it is most comm ...

based program to tutor children struggling with dyslexia. The program offers afterschool tutoring and a five-week-long intensive summer school program. During the

COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

the school offered its afterschool tutoring program and the summer school program through virtual classes. Due to the popularity and ability to reach more students, the school has continued to offer both virtual and in-person offerings. Beginning in 2020, in partnership with

AmeriCorps AmeriCorps ( ; officially the Corporation for National and Community Service or CNCS) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government that engages more than five million Americans in ...

, the program has provided in-school reading intervention services in 20 schools across five counties. As of 2024, over one thousand students have been served through the AmeriCorps partnership. Following Weinberg, the program has been led by Ann Titsworth and Ola Pigman.

Literary

The literary program has nurtured the Appalachian literary tradition for more than a century. The program hosts several events throughout the year including the Appalachian Writers Workshop, the Ironwood Writers Studio, the Troublesome Creek Writer's Retreats, Winter Burrow Literary and Arts Conference, and the Oak Ledge Writing Residency.

Notable staff

James Still

James Still was a notable poet,

folklorist Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

, and novelist during his life, spanning 95 years from 1906 to 2001. James Still's friend, Don West offered him a job organizing recreational programs for a settlement school in Knott County, Kentucky. James Still gladly accepted the invitation to teach in Knott County. James Still soon became a librarian at the Hindman Settlement School Library and spent the rest of his days in Knott County. James Still is buried on the Hindman Settlement School Campus.

Fred Williams

Fred Williams was principal at Hindman Settlement School in the mid-1940s. A close friend of

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ru ...

, Williams was a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

missionary who pioneered indoor and running water sanitation in rural India (

Asansol Asansol is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the second largest city in West Bengal. It is the 33rd largest urban agglomeration in India by population. Asansol is the district headquarters of Paschim Bardhaman district. Accordi ...

) and fought to eradicate caste-based discrimination.Gandhi's American Ally, 2008. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/norm-williams/gandhis-american-ally/

Marie Stewart Museum & Craft Shop

The Marie Stewart Museum & Craft Shop supports the activities of the school. The store sells traditional

Appalachia Appalachia ( ) is a geographic region located in the Appalachian Mountains#Regions, central and southern sections of the Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America. In the north, its boundaries stretch from the western Catskill Mountai ...

n crafts and has an online site. Upstairs is a small museum with exhibits about the Hindman Settlement School and regional crafts.

The school and the study of folksong

The School's goal of integrating traditional culture with education led it to welcome visiting outsiders who sought to document the musical heritage of the Appalachians, notably in

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

. The fieldwork teams of

Loraine Wyman (Julie) Loraine Wyman (October 23, 1885 – September 11, 1937) was an American soprano, noted for her concert performances of folk songs, some of which she collected from traditional singers in field work. Paul J. Stamler has called Wyman "the f ...

with

Howard Brockway Howard A. Brockway (November 22, 1870 – February 20, 1951) was an American composer. Brockway was born on November 22, 1870, in Brooklyn, New York. He spent five years in Berlin, studying composition under Otis Bardwell Boise and piano und ...

, and

Cecil Sharp Cecil James Sharp (22 November 1859 – 23 June 1924) was an English collector of folk songs, folk dances and instrumental music, as well as a lecturer, teacher, composer and musician. He was a key figure in the folk-song revival in England dur ...

with

Maud Karpeles Maud Karpeles OBE, (12 November 1885 – 1 October 1976) was a British collector of folksongs and dance teacher. Early life and education Maud Pauline Karpeles was born at Lancaster Gate in Bayswater, London, in 1885. She was the third of fiv ...

, working in the years of the First World War, found a wealth of beautiful melody and texts from singers at the School or from the local neighborhood.

Flood of 2022

On July 28, 2022,

Governor of Kentucky The governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Kentucky. Sixty-two men and one woman have served as governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; sinc ...

Andy Beshear Andrew Graham Beshear ( ; born November 29, 1977) is an American attorney and politician serving as the 63rd governor of Kentucky since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 50th attorney gen ...

declared a state of emergency after several counties in Eastern Kentucky experienced a thousand-year flood event. The weather event created major flooding of Troublesome Creek that affected nearly all buildings in the Hindman downtown area. Hindman Settlement School sustained significant damage as multiple buildings were inundated with several feet of water.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Settlement schools Arts centers in Kentucky Appalachian culture in Kentucky DAR schools Educational institutions established in 1902 Museums in Knott County, Kentucky History museums in Kentucky Education museums in the United States 1902 establishments in Kentucky Hindman, Kentucky Schools in Knott County, Kentucky