The Poles of Cleveland


Book Description







The Polish American Encyclopedia


Book Description

At least nine million Americans trace their roots to Poland, and Polish Americans have contributed greatly to American history and society. During the largest period of immigration to the United States, between 1870 and 1920, more Poles came to the United States than any other national group except Italians. Additional large-scale Polish migration occurred in the wake of World War II and during the period of Solidarity's rise to prominence. This encyclopedia features three types of entries: thematic essays, topical entries, and biographical profiles. The essays synthesize existing work to provide interpretations of, and insight into, important aspects of the Polish American experience. The topical entries discuss in detail specific places, events or organizations such as the Polish National Alliance, Polish American Saturday Schools, and the Latimer Massacre, among others. The biographical entries identify Polish Americans who have made significant contributions at the regional or national level either to the history and culture of the United States, or to the development of American Polonia.







Cleveland's Slavic Village


Book Description

Slavic Village began as part of the Connecticut Western Reserve, a parcel of land surveyed and populated with East Coast residents seeking adventure and fortune in the 19th century. As industry came to the Cuyahoga River valley, immigrant workers-first Irish, then Poles and Czechs-settled in the area to be near jobs in the rolling mills, chemical plants, and garment factories. They left their mark on the neighborhood's architecture, food, and culture, and many of their descendants still call the area home. Slavic Village has produced a number of interesting personalities, including Olympic sprinter Stella Walsh and former Cleveland mayor and current United States congressman Dennis Kucinich.




Polish American History before 1939


Book Description

The history of private lives of the first and second generations of Polish immigrants in the United States is viewed from the perspective of migrants themselves. What did the migrants do? How did they behave? How protagonists (men, women, children) with their own words presented their experience? Their experience is compared with one of the other groups. The book discusses migration processes, formation of neighborhoods, experiences at work, daily and family lives, functioning of parishes and tensions related to it, and construction of people’s identities and their constant reformulations. Migrants created mutual-aid societies, which played not only economic, but also ideological and political roles. Experiences of immigrants’ children at home and at school are presented, mostly in their own words and from their own perspective. Cultural activities reflect constant changes of groups’ self-identity. The book also depicts the relations between the Polish migrants and members of other ethnic groups – in the streets, public spaces, politics, and within the Catholic church. People lived in pluri-cultural, culturally diverse, contexts, and thus relations with “the others” were complex. The panorama ended in the year 1939, when after the Great Depression, the group entered into a new period of transformation during the war.




Biography


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The Forgotten Legacy of Stella Walsh


Book Description

Stella Walsh, who was born in Poland but raised in the United States, competed for Poland at the 1932 and 1936 Olympics, winning gold and silver in the 100 meters. Running and jumping competitively for three decades, Walsh also won more than 40 U.S. national championships and set dozens of world records. In 1975, she was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, yet Stella Walsh’s impressive accomplishments have been almost entirely ignored. In The Forgotten Legacy of Stella Walsh: The Greatest Female Athlete of Her Time, Sheldon Anderson tells the story of her remarkable life. A pioneer in women’s sports, Walsh was one of the first globetrotting athletes, running in meets all over North America, Europe, and Asia. While her accomplishments are undeniable, Walsh’s legacy was called into question after her murder in 1980. Walsh’s autopsy revealed she had ambiguous genitalia, which prompted many to demand that her awards be rescinded. In addition to telling her fascinating story, The Forgotten Legacy of Stella Walsh provides a close look at the early days of women’s track and field. This book also examines the complicated and controversial question of sex and gender identity in athletics—an issue very much in the news today. Featuring numerous photographs that help bring to life Walsh’s story and the times in which she lived, this biography will interest and inform historians of sport and women’s studies, as well as anyone who wants to learn more about a Polish immigrant who was once the fastest woman alive.




Ohio


Book Description

As the state of Ohio prepares to celebrate its bicentennial in 2003, Andrew R. L. Cayton offers an account of ways in which diverse citizens have woven its history. Ohio: The History of a People, centers around the many stories Ohioans have told about life in their state. The founders of Ohio in 1803 believed that its success would depend on the development of a public culture that emphasized what its citizens had in common with each other. But for two centuries the remarkably diverse inhabitants of Ohio have repeatedly asserted their own ideas about how they and their children should lead their lives. The state's public culture has consisted of many voices, sometimes in conflict with each other. Using memoirs, diaries, letters, novels, and paintings, Cayton writes Ohio's history as a collective biography of its citizens. Ohio, he argues, lies at the intersection of the stories of James Rhodes and Toni Morrison, Charles Ruthenberg and Lucy Webb Hayes, Carl Stokes and Alice Cary, Sherwood Anderson and Pete Rose. It lies in the tales of German Jews in Cincinnati, Italian and Polish immigrants in Cleveland, Southern blacks and white Appalachians in Youngstown. Ohio is the mingled voices of farm families, steelworkers, ministers, writers, schoolteachers, reformers, and football coaches. Ohio, in short, is whatever its citizens have imagined it to be.




Ohio


Book Description

The new edition of the most up-to-date, interdisciplinary history of Ohio currently available Now in its second edition, Ohio: A History of the Buckeye State surveys the long and rich history of Ohio from its earliest geological periods to the present day. Designed for undergraduate students and general readers alike, this accessible volume describes the pivotal events in Ohio’s history while discussing the major social, economic, and political trends that have shaped the state over time. Concise chapters cover Ohio prehistory and the First Ohioans, European contact, the formation of the Northwest Territory, early statehood and national politics, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the two World Wars, the 1950s and 1960s, and more. Incorporating the latest scholarship from history, archaeology, and political science, the second edition moves the story of Ohio into the second decade of the twenty-first century. Revised chapters contain new data and updated coverage of early Ohio society, major economic developments, early statehood, Ohio and national politics, and Ohio from the 1970s through 2020. Explores the breadth of Ohio’s past using a clear and engaging narrative style Includes thematic chapters focusing on major social, economic, and political trends Discusses Ohio’s influence on national nineteenth-century politics Covers the geological and topographical history of Ohio Examines Ohio’s transformation into an industrial state from 1865–1920 Contains numerous high-quality maps, drawings, and photographs Written by two authors with decades of combined academic experience in teaching Ohio history, Ohio: A History of the Buckeye State, Second Edition remains an essential resource for college-level students enrolled in courses on Ohio History, professionals working in historical societies, museums, and other institutions that focus on the state’s history, and general readers looking for a highly readable study of Ohio’s past.