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Like with any state, the diversity present will depend on the area that your daughter is moving to. If she is in or near one of the larger cities in the state, she will find diversity. Maybe not as much as you can find in larger cities or as much as you may be used to but we still have diversity. In Huntington for example, having Marshall University brings international students and having large medical centers brings in many foreign doctors. We have many different cultures represented here and from what I've seen, all are treated with respect. With regards to ethnic food, we have Indian, Thai, Moroccan, Japanese, and Chinese all represented. We also have a Greek Festival in Huntington and a foreign food festival at Marshall as well.
Now if you are going to one of the more rural areas, diversity will be harder to come by. Hope this helps.
Charleston is a pretty diverse city, with a reasonable amount of every culture, ethnic group, race, ect...
I go to WV State University and it is Very Diverse with students coming from everywhere to learn and pl;ay sports. Maybe not to the same level as WVU or Marshall, but still there is a lot of respect among "the people" in this city.
Now I know the truth is that some rural areas of WV are not the best places to live for anybody of "non-white" characteristics, but I can say honestly that the vast majority of West Virginians accept everyone and will help anyone if needed!
If you're looking for the types ghetto culture that you find in the large cities, which in reality amounts to a kind of segregation, then you likely won't find much of that in any part of Appalachia except Pittsburgh and some of the towns on the west side of the Hudson in New York State. At the same time, overall the tradition here is not one of discrimination. We tend to have an egalitarian attitude where folks are judged by their character and actions, not by their skin color. If your daughter is a "minority", she would be well received in West Virginia, the same as anyone else would be well received, as long as she basically conforms to societal norms of behavior and participates in a productive life style.
That said, there are larger concentrations (like Bailey said) of minorities in the towns than in the rural areas. They don't tend to be clustered together in segregated communities, but you will find more of them in Charleston, Morgantown, Huntington, Wheeling, Weirton, and Martinsburg than you will in the rural areas. There is a very large and growing black population in the Martinsburg area. They generally get along quite well with those of the majority group.
There is not a lot of diversity in WV; at least not where I came from. But, I did not see discimination either against what diverse population there was.
WV has always struck me as a 'live and let live' kind of place.
DK, you're right that discrimination and diversity are different. However, in places of greater diversity, there is, overall, less likelihood for discrimination due to the tolerance built for the many colors seen on a day to day basis.
By no means am I trying to start an uproar of any sort. I just wanted some insight.
I certainly don't want to start any uproar either, but my own experience is it depends on the manner in which the diversity takes place. In areas that have minority ghettoes, for example, there is in reality a de facto segregation in place and racial attitudes tend to be more polarized. Also in places like that, there is a lot of racial prejudice on the part of minorities themselves at times. In places where folks are mixed together (which would be most of Appalachia) there tends to be less prejudice and bigotry overall. I say that having lived in WV, NY, CT, CA, and OK.
Bluefield and WV State are two historically black colleges which have since been integrated so their student populations are now only 13% and 16% black.
The real problem will be sex, booze and drugs....
the test will be inside the individual just like it is on any american campus...
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