I Can Make Us a Living, If You’ll Just Be Happy with the Living I Make: The Struggles of Early 20th Century Rural Appalachian Life as Lived by Emma Bell Miles

Despite being educated, Emma Bell Miles (1879-1919) spent most of her adult life in a hand-to-mouth existence on Walden’s Ridge in southeastern Tennessee. Married to an unskilled laborer, Miles, who had formal training as an artist, and had published short stories, essays, and one book (Spirit of the Mountains, James Pott, NY) by 1905, constantly worked towards a better living situation for herself and her family, which included five children. The family lived in a variety of places on Walden’s Ridge and Chattanooga, Tennessee, even once living in a tent. Often they were down to just ten or fifteen cents to buy food with. Sickness was never far off, as the family was basically powerless to save their youngest son who died in 1913 from scarlet fever, not quite four years old. Miles also battled tuberculosis in the last four years of her life, spending time in a Chattanooga sanitarium. Miles had to see the family broken up and the children sent off to others more able to provide for them. The family’s plight, as well as Miles’ depression and drastic measures she resorts to is detailed in the journals Miles kept from 1908-1918. The presentation will focus on entries in Miles’ journals, with comments and background information provided by the presenter, who has edited the journals for publication in early 2014