Deindustrializing youngstown: Memories of resistance and loss following 'black monday', 1977-1997

History Workshop Journal

Volumn 54, Issue 1, 2002, Pages 100-121

  High, Steven ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 33947118483     PISSN: 13633554     EISSN: 14774569     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/hwj/54.1.100     Document Type: Article

References (105)

1. For a cross-national comparative study between the United States and Canada see Steven High, Industrial Sunset: the Making of North America's Rust Belt, 1969-1984, forthcoming Toronto, 2002. A second forthcoming book focuses specifically on Youngstown: Sherry
2. Lee Linkon and John Russo, Steeltown, USA: Work and Memory in Youngstown, forthcoming Lawrence, KS, 2002.
3. Jon C. Teaford, Cities of the Heartland: the Rise and Fall of the Industrial Midwest, Bloomington, IN, 1994, p. 220.
4. Youngstown, a Heritage to Share, Youngstown, 1976.
5. Youngstown once had a 'tightly knit, highly cohesive and well-stratified local upper class': John N. Ingham, The Iron Barons: a Social Analysis of an American Urban Elite, 1874-1965, Westport, CT, 1977, p. xviii.
6. Barry Bluestone and Bennett Harrison, The Deindustrialization of America: Plant Closings, Community Abandonment, and the Dismantling of Basic Industry, New York, 1982, p. 152.
7. A similar shift took place in Trenton, New Jersey: John T. Cumbler, A Social History of Economic Decline: Business, Politics and Work in Trenton, New Brunswick, NJ, 1988.
8. Philip Bracy's interview with Jack C. Hunter of Youngstown, 24 April 1981. The transcript of the interview is held at the library of Youngstown State University. Historian Judith Stein has sketched out the various factions within the valley's political leadership as well as within the local district of the United Steelworkers of America in Running Steel-Running America: Race, Economic Policy, and the Decline of Liberalism, Chapel Hill, NC, 1998, pp. 244-7.
9. Bluestone and Harrison, Deindustrialization of America, p. 252.
10. Irwin M. Marcus, An Experiment in Reindustrialization: the Tri-State Conference on Steel and the Creation of the Steel Valley Authority', Pennsylvania History 54:3, 1987, p. 181.
11. 'The Fight Against Black Monday', 27 minutes, colour, ABC TV, 1978. For a brief summary of the programme see: Terry F Buss, F Stevens Redburn and George E. Cheney, 'Studying the Politics of Economic Decline', Teaching Political Science 8:4, July 1981, pp. 511-6.
12. Bill Moyer's Journal also featured the effort to purchase Youngstown area mills on 26 June 1980: 'It's Not Working', 60 minutes, colour, PBS, WNET/Thirteen, New York, Show 521.
13. Dale Peskin, 'Many have Looked at Youngstown, But Few Have Seen', Youngstown Vindicator, 17 September 1978, B3. In this article, Peskin argues that the outside media overstated the hardships faced by area residents after Black Monday. In consequence, the Youngstown story then being told was only a 'half a story'.
14. Staughton Lynd, 'The Genesis of the Idea of a Community Right to Industrial Property in Youngstown and Pittsburgh, 1977-1987', Journal of American History 74:3, 1987, pp. 926-58. The Pittsburgh area experimented with the use of eminent domain to achieve worker or community ownership of closing mills in the early 1980s.
15. See Irwin M. Marcus, 'An Experiment in Reindustrialization: the Tri-State Conference on Steel and the Creation of the Steel Valley Authority', ', Pennsylvania History 54:3, 1987, p. 180.
16. Terry F Buss and F Stevens Redburn, Shutdown at Youngstown: Public Policy for Mass Unemployment, Albany, 1983, p. 14.
17. Donna DeBlasio's interview with J. Philip Richley of Youngstown, 12 June and 11 December 1991.
18. University of Akron, United Rubber Workers Research, RG 15. Box 2. File: Plant Closings or Permanent Curtailments, 1979-80. Ohio Public Interest Campaign, Public Interest, Nov./Dec. 1979. Its headline: 'No More Youngstowns'.
19. Staughton Lynd, The Fight Against Shutdowns: Youngstown's Steel Mill Closings, San Pedro, CA, 1982.
20. Film quoted in Charles J. Shindo, Dust Bowl Migrants in the American Imagination, Lawrence, KS, 1997, p. 162.
21. Dale Maharidge and Michael Williamson, Journey to Nowhere: the Saga of the New Underclass, Second Edition with Introduction by Bruce Springsteen, New York, 1996, p. 8.
22. Maharidge and Williamson, Journey to Nowhere, p. 9.
23. Dale Maharidge quoted in an on-line article written by Washington Post Staff Writer Richard Harrington, 'Steelworker's Song: Bruce Springsteen Gives Voice to a Story of America's New Homeless', 5 December 1995. www.luckytown.org/tgotj/y.txt Monday March 12, 2001.
24. Maharidge and Williamson, Journey to Nowhere, p. 9.
25. Maharidge and Williamson, Journey to Nowhere, p. 191.
26. Historian Hayden White has written that a narrative is never neutral because it involves choices. He also warned that narrative becomes a problem when 'we wish to give to real events the form of a story'. This is because a story is far more coherent than real life. See his The Content of the Form: Narrative Discourse and Historical Representation, Baltimore, MD, 1987, pp. 2-4.
27. White, Content of Form, p. 28.
28. For a biographical account of the life and times of Bruce Springsteen see Dave Marsh, Glory Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s, New York, 1987
29. and Jim Cullen, Born in the USA: Bruce Springsteen and the American Tradition, New York, 1997.
30. Bruce Springsteen quoted in Bryan Garman, 'The Ghost of History: Bruce Springsteen, Woody Guthrie and the Hurt Song', Popular Music and Society 20:2, 1996, p. 108.
31. In a different context, historian William Westerman found that Central American refugees in the Sanctuary movement quickly learned that North American audiences wanted personal testimonials, not reasoned political arguments. William Westerman, 'Central American refugee testimonies and performed life histories in the Sanctuary movement', in The Oral History Reader, ed. Robert Perks and Alistair Thomson, London, 1998, pp. 224-34.
32. Garman, 'Ghost of History', p. 69.
33. Garman, 'Ghost of History', p. 75.
34. Springsteen acquired a copy of Joe Klein's biography Woody Guthrie: a Life in November 1980, and soon began playing 'This Land is Your Land' in his concerts. However, he chose not to sing the highly political verses of Guthrie's original version of the song.
35. Bruce Springsteen, 'Introduction', in Maharidge and Williamson, Journey to Nowhere, p. 1.
36. 'youngstown' by Bruce Springsteen. Copyright ©1995. Bruce Springsteen (ASCAP). Reprinted with permission.
37. As previous note.
38. For the local reaction to the song see the following articles that appeared in the Youngstown Vindicator: 'Boss wants to perform in city', 6 December 1995;
39. 'Fifth Avenue Sellout: Springsteen Tickets Go Fast', 28 December 1995;
40. 'Concert Offers Valley Hope', 13 January 1996;
41. 'Glory Days are not Forgotten', 18 January 1996;
42. 'Singer's Own Experiences Aided in Getting Song's Tone Right', 1 February 1996.
43. Dale Peskin, 'Area's Coalition Has Own Ballad', Youngstown Vindicator, 10 January 1978, A1.
44. As previous note. Tom Hunter's lyrics were printed in their entirety.
45. Bob Dyer, Akron Beacon Journal, 4 December 1995. Found on www.luckytown.org/tgotj/y.txt, Monday 12 March 2001.
46. Jim Cullen, Born in the USA, p. 41;
47. Maharidge quoted in Richard Harrington, 'Steelworker's Song: Bruce Springsteen Gives Voice to a Story of America's New Homeless', 5 December 1995. www.luckytown.org/tgotj/y.txt, Monday 12 March 2001.
48. 'Black Monday: Twenty Years Later', Youngstown Vindicator, 14 September 1997, p. 1.
49. George Walker, 'Steel missed, hearth and soul', Youngstown Vindicator, 14 September 1997, p. 1.
50. '"Black Monday": One Year Later', Youngstown Vindicator, 18 September 1978.
51. Dale Peskin, '"Black Monday" Observance Held', Youngstown Vindicator, 19 September 1978, p. 1.
52. As previous note.
53. '"Black Monday" 'Two Years Later - Tax Loss Hurts, But Massive S & T Layoff Didn't Put Area on Skids', Youngstown Vindicator, 16 September 1979, p. A2.
54. '"Black Monday" Two Years Later - Part III: Groups to Attract New Industry Emerge; Some Fade Out', Youngstown Vindicator, 18 September 1979, p. 4.
55. 'District Mills Remain Dark', Youngstown Vindicator, 19 September 1982, p. 1.
56. '1977 'Headlines' Recalled', Youngstown Vindicator, 19 September 1977, p. 2.
57. 'Steel Workers Have Had Difficulty Finding Jobs Since 1977 Shutdown', Youngstown Vindicator, 20 September 1982, p. 1.
58. 'CAC. Hunt Steel, Others Provide Hope for Valley', Youngstown Vindicator, 22 September 1982, p. 1.
59. Philip Bracey's interview with Mayor Phillip Richley, 10 April 1981, YSU.
60. John Lis, '100 gather to remember fateful Black Monday', Youngstown Vindicator, 20 September 1987, p. 1.
61. Thomas Ott, '"Black Monday" still a painful memory', Youngstown Vindicator, 19 September 1987, p. 1.
62. John Bodnar, Remaking America: Public Memory, Commemoration, and Patriotism in the Twentieth Century, Princeton, NJ, 1992, p. 15.
63. 'Hopewell Group Makes Plans in Struthers - Will Begin Memorial', Youngstown Vindicator, 23 May 1976.
64. A case in point was the Struthers High School Art Club which proposed to paint a mural entitled 'Cradle of Steel'. Struthers High School Art Club, 'Cradle of Steel: Commemorating Our Nation's Bicentennial', 1975, in Youngstown Public Library Vertical File: Blast Furnaces.
65. Letter to the editor from Mrs Marian Kutlesa, President, Struthers Historical Society, Youngstown Vindicator, 30 October 1979.
66. 'Hopewell Memorial Message of a Year Ago Has Bitter Ring Today', Youngstown Vindicator, 25 September 1977, p. A2.
67. Editorial, 'Segal's Steel Memorial', Youngstown Vindicator, 16 May 1980.
68. The two model steelworkers were reportedly chosen by the local union on the basis of their skill at work: the best first-worker and the best second-worker. Michael Braun, 'City Dedicates Segal's Tribute to Steelmakers', Youngstown Vindicator, 15 May 1980.
69. Norman Leigh, 'Monument to steel heritage may get respect at museum', Youngstown Vindicator, 5 September 1988.
70. Dale Peskin, Youngstown Vindicator, 2 October 1979.
71. Louis Zora quoted in Norman Leigh, 'Monument to steel heritage may get respect at museum', Youngstown Vindicator, 5 September 1988.
72. The development of any such project necessarily involves 'unstable alliances and sustained conflicts of vision, interest, and objectives':
73. Michael Frisch, 'De-, Re-, and Post-Industrialization: Industrial Heritage as Contested Memorial Terrain', Journal of Folklore Research 35:3, 1998, p. 243.
74. While the abandoned mining landscapes of Butte, Montana and the picturesque mill towns of New England have been everywhere celebrated and preserved, this was not the case in Youngstown, Ohio. The wounds were too fresh. William Wyckoff, 'Postindustrial Butte', Geographical Review 85:4, 1995, p. 484;
75. Mike Wallace, 'Industrial Museums and the History of Deindustrialization', Public Historian 9:1, winter 1987, p. 10;
76. and his 'Razor Ribbons, History Museums, and Civic Salvation', Radical History Review 57, 1993, pp. 234-5.
77. Dale Peskin, 'Meshel, Society Envision Steel Museum', Youngstown Vindicator, 7 January 1979.
78. See for example: George R. Reiss, 'Meshel Proposes Brier Hill Plant Become National Steel Museum', Youngstown Vindicator, 10 July 1983, p. A-10.;
79. 'Blackwell Wants to Create Steel Museum', Youngstown Vindicator, 11 December 1985, p. 5. The building of the steel museum did not satisfy everyone. In 1992, the Jeannette Blast Furnace Preservation Association was formed by a group for whom the steel museum's displays would 'never replace the real thing'.
80. See Mark C. Peyko and John Rose, 'Time Runs Out for Jeannette', Metro Eye, October 1996, p. 7.
81. Norman Leigh, 'Work will begin soon on Wood St industry museum', Youngstown Vindicator, 25 March 1988.
82. 'Steel Industry Enshrined', Progressive Architecture 3:90, pp. 84-7.
83. For local reaction to this article see Norman Leigh, 'Steel museum debut remains a top secret', Youngstown Vindicator, 9 November 1989
84. and 'Spotlight on Museum Illuminates Political Shortcomings in Ohio', Youngstown/Warren Business Journal Opinion, November 1989.
85. 'The (Empty) Steel Museum: A stillborn monument to a dying industry', Newsweek, 30 October 1989, p. 84.
86. Tim Roberts, 'State Grant will Help Industrial Museum Get Started', Youngstown Vindicator, 3 July 1983.
87. Nancy Christie, 'May Groundbreaking for Industrial Museum', Youngstown Business Journal, mid-April 1986, p. 6.
88. Karen Guy, 'Dr. DeBlasio heads museum project', Youngstown Vindicator, 18 March 1985.
89. Editorial, 'the industrial museum's importance', Youngstown Vindicator, 8 February 1986, p. 4.
90. Gary C. Ness, Director of the Ohio Historical Society, to staff, 11 January 1990
91. Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor, Archives, Collection MSS0114. File: Museum. Also
92. see hand-written report dated 11 January 1990.
93. Donna M. DeBlasio, 'Oral History, Deindustrialization and the Museum Exhibit: "By the Sweat of Their Brow: Forging the Steel Valley"', unpublished paper given to the American Oral History Association Meeting in Buffalo, New York, October 1998. For an excellent discussion of the trials and tribulations of a labour historian active in public history
94. see Craig Heron, 'The Labour Historian and Public History', Labour/Le Travail 45, spring 2000, pp. 171-97.
95. Donna DeBlasio quoted in Norman Leigh, 'People giving soul to industrial museum', Youngstown Vindicator, 14 September 1987.
96. As previous note.
97. Curtis Miner, Exhibition Review, '"By the Sweat of Their Brow: Forging the Steel Valley", at the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor', ', Journal of American History, December 1993, p. 1, 020.
98. Brian O'Donnell and Lizabeth Cohen, for example, have shown that visitors either emerge from these museums with an 'optimistic view' or gain a 'lament over the loss of a romanticized workers' community': Brian O'Donnell, 'Memory and Hope: Four Local Museums in the Mill Towns of the Industrial Northeast', Technology & Society 37:4, October 1996, p. 817;
99. and Lizabeth Cohen, 'What Kind of World Have We Lost? Workers' Lives and Deindustrialization in the Museum', American Quarterly 41:4, 1989, pp. 670-81.
100. Deindustrialization is also invoked at the EcoMusée in Montreal, Quebec. Here, the visitor is separated from a number of small photographs of people and abandoned homes by a waist-high padlocked gate. Montreal's display of deindustrialization is also situated half-way through the horseshoe-shaped permanent exhibition. While the first half documented the world of the industrial worker, the second focuses, instead, on community redevelopment and housing co-operatives. as a result, the political message delivered in Montreal is much more hopeful than that in Youngstown.
101. Panel reproduced in Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor. Archives. Collection MSS 0114. File: Museum.
102. In what is surely the most extensive oral record of mill closings anywhere, fifty-five former steelworkers were interviewed in the early 1990s by the steel museum. Passages from five of these interviews made it into the exhibit. These five interviews were chosen on the premise that the story should include: 'an immigrant, a union activist, a woman, a manager, and an average steelworker'. Nobody spoke on behalf of the Ecumenical Coalition. The steel museum's emphasis on shop-floor perspectives recorded in the 1990s was in sharp contrast to an oral-history project conducted by Youngstown State University ten years earlier, which focused on the failure of resistance.
103. During its first two years of operation, there were less than five thousand official visitors per annum. This figure has climbed to nearly 10, 000 in 1995 and 15, 000 in 1997. Chris Whitley, 'Steel museum passes the test of its mettle', Youngstown Vindicator, 6 July 1997, A1, p. 4.
104. Bill Elder, 'Valley's glory days come alive', Youngstown Vindicator, 27 December 1993.
105. Michael Frisch noticed that those interviewed by Studs Terkel in Hard Times recalled the 1930s as an individual or family experience. These memories, he surmised, effectively depoliticized the depression. Was this a limited view of history, as Frisch claims, or were people bound to experience history as biography? In retreating to biography, have we deferred deeper political judgements? Michael Frisch, A Shared Authority: Essays on the Craft and Meaning of Oral and Public History, Albany, NY, 1990, p. 12.