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This rich collection brings together the work of eight leading scholars to examine the history of Polish-American workers, women, families, and politics.
This book is the second in a three-part, multi-authored study of Polish American history which aims to present the history of Polish Americans in the United States from the beginning of Polish presence on the continent to the current times, shown against a broad historical background of developments in Poland, the United States and other locations of the Polish Diaspora. According to the 2010 US Census, there are 9.5 million persons who identify themselves as Polish Americans in the United States, making them the eighth largest ethnic group in the country today. Polish Americans, or Polonia for short, has always been one of the largest immigrant and ethnic groups and the largest Slavic group in America. Despite that, common knowledge about its social and political life, culture and economy is still inadequate – in Academia and among the Polish Americans themselves. The book discusses the major themes in Polish American history, such as organizational life and the structure of the community facing subsequent waves of immigration from Poland, its leadership and political involvement in Polish and American affairs, as well as living and working conditions, and the everyday life of families and communities, their culture, ethnic identity and relations with the broadly understood American society, starting from the outbreak of World War 2 in Poland in September, 1939, and ending with the highlights of the 21st-century developments. It depicts Polish Americans’ transition from a ‘minority’ through ‘ethnic’ group to Americans who take pride in their symbolic ethnicity, maintained intentionally and manifested occasionally. This volume will be of great value to students and scholars alike interested in Polish and American History and Social and Cultural History.
In the last, rootless decade families, neighborhoods, and communities have disintegrated in the face of gripping social, economic, and technological changes. Th is process has had mixed results. On the positive side, it has produced a mobile, volatile, and dynamic society in the United States that is perhaps more open, just, and creative than ever before. On the negative side, it has dissolved the glue that bound our society together and has destroyed many of the myths, symbols, values, and beliefs that provided social direction and purpose. In A History of the Polish Americans, John J. Bukowczyk provides a thorough account of the Polish experience in America and how some cultural bonds loosened, as well as the ways in which others persisted.
Pacyga chronicles more than a century of immigration, and later emigration back to Poland, showing how the community has continually redefined what it means to be Polish in Chicago.
A Corner for Everybody is a unique collection of close to five hundred letters from Polish American readers, which were published in the Polish-language weekly Ameryka-Echo between 1902 and 1969. In these letters, Polish immigrants speak in their own words about their American experience, and vigorously debate religion, organization of their community, ethnic identity, American politics and society, and ties to the homeland. The translated letters are annotated and divided into thematic chapters with informative introductions. Polish Americans formed one of the largest European immigrant groups in the United States and their community (Polonia) developed a vibrant Polish-language press, which tied together networks of readers in the entire Polish immigrant Diaspora. Newspaper editors encouraged their readers to write to the press and provided them with public space to exchange their views and opinions, and share thoughts and reflections. Ameryka-Echo, a weekly published from Toledo, Ohio, was one of the most popular and long-lasting newspapers with international circulation. For seven decades, Ameryka-Echo sustained a number of sections based on readers’ correspondence, but the most popular of them was a “Corner for Everybody,” which featured thousands of letters on a variety of topics. The readers eagerly discussed everything from occurrences in local communities, to issues paramount to the formation of their ethnic identity and assimilation, church, religion, gender, politics, relations with new immigrant waves, and other ethnic groups. The letter-writers debated the American labor movement and strikes, described hardships of the Great Depression and World War II, and argued about American domestic politics, and foreign policy. They also keenly followed changes in their homeland and called for work on behalf of the Polish nation. The Ameryka-Echo letters are a rich source of information on the history of Polish Americans, which can serve as primary sources for students and scholars. They also provide a new, fascinating, and lively look into the passions and experiences of individuals who created the larger American historical experience.
The first authoritative, comprehensive historical dictionary of Poland in English, this volume includes over 2,000 entries on people, events, places, and terms important to Poland's history from 966 to 1945. Entries include English and Polish language bibliographic sources. The student of Polish history seeking specific information on a person or event in medieval times, the troubled era leading to the late 18th century partitions of Poland, and the Polish nationalist struggles before 1919, reborn Poland in the interwar years, or the trauma of World War II will be amply rewarded by the accurate, concise information provided in this unique historical dictionary. Each of the alphabetically arranged entries is followed by pertinent bibliographic sources in both English and Polish languages. A list of abbreviations, a note on the Polish alphabet, and a series of historical maps precede the entries. Helpful cross-references are provided throughout the text and in the index. A general bibliography precedes the index. After five years of work, George Lerski completed the original manuscript in 1992, shortly before his untimely death. The special editing subsequently undertaken preparatory to publication has remained faithful to the original work, its concept, organization, and purpose.
The Polish American community has long been identified with three characteristics that the early immigrants brought with them to America, writes Pula: "an affection and concern for their ancestral homeland, a deep religious faith, and a sense of shared cultural values." Prominent among these values are family loyalty, a desire for property ownership, and pride in self-sufficiency.
Chronicles the experiences of immigrants in two iconic South Side Polish neighborhoods in Chicago to demonstrate how Poles created new communities in an attempt to preserve the customs of their homeland.
This volume presents 145 primary source documents of Polish immigrants from different waves and backgrounds speaking about their lives, concerns, and viewpoints in their own voices, while they grapple with issues of identity and strive to make sense of their lives in the context of migration. Poles have come to America since the Jamestown settlement in 1608 and constituted one of the largest immigrant groups at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. As of 2020, the Census Bureau lists them as the sixth largest ethnic group in the country. The history of their experience is an integral part of the American story as well as that of the broader Polish diaspora. Each of the ten comprehensive chapters presents a specific theme illuminated by a selection of letters, press articles, fragments of memoirs and autobiographical fiction, interviews, organizational papers, and other publications, as well as visual sources such as cartoons, posters, and photographs. Brief introductions to the documents and a "Further Reading" section offer historical context and point readers to additional resources. The book provides students and scholars with a broad understanding and an incentive for future study of the Polish experience in the United States.